The weather gods smiled down upon us again this week and the much predicted rain events passed us by and the course continues to play with a fair amount of run for the ball with the optimum landing angle. Almost enough to get some of the longer hitters amongst us into trouble by running out of fairway. Despite the ideal conditions, numbers turning out were only average with fourteen members and two guests chancing their arm for the medal and the ProPin jackpot.
Gordo obviously took some notice of Oliver’s scorched earth policy last week and gave the front nine a fair old blitzing with three over par and the equivalent of 23 Stableford points. He put a bit of pressure on himself in the back nine by convincing himself that Harry was pushing him for the prize and eased in with a 39 which was just enough the gazump a few other contenders with a net 65.
One of the gazumpees was Mehm who loudly bemoaned his fate to be bridesmaid again. He was joined on the 66 mark by Brendon and MalA who both had their chances if it hadn’t been for a quadruple each. Mal helped his Eclectic score along with a couple of birdies that came from chips-in. Speaking of birdies, we managed 14 today which isn’t too bad from a relatively small field and doesn’t include a couple from ChrisV and Ryan who got to know a few more members today and put in a couple of pretty respectable second cards. One more to go chaps and you can start to play properly – just kidding. Though there was a rumour that Ryan was advised by members of his group that he should take it easy after his couple of birdies on the back nine.
Although Gordo always had the upper hand, Harry did put in a better round this week to be two strokes off the pace right alongside Targe who submitted an identical card with 85 off the stick for a net 67. Not too much harm to the handicap from those scores.
Noodles had a pretty good front nine with 38 off the beater but he seems to have lost concentration on the back nine again this week. Maybe the texts started coming in again? Apparently one bad shot that Noodles had was down to a butterfly settling on his ball just as he was about to take a stroke. Being the good Buddhist that he is, Noodles made every effort to spare the butterfly’s soul and made a mess of his shot as a result. Or maybe his mobile vibrated in his pocket.
Last but not least amongst the point scorers today was none other than MalF. This old horse has been off his oats a bit of late but this just might be the start of a hint of the sparkle coming back into his eye and a purple patch just around the corner.
The ProPin jackpot from last week that signally failed to attract a bigger field was on the 18th and with the pin up the back there weren’t a lot of contenders. Gordon hit a beauty but had convinced himself that it had rolled back down the swale to the lower deck but, lo and behold, there it was nicely perched close enough the take the money from 3.59m. The Nearest the Pin for a ball on the 4th was awarded to Noodles though the Stewards were tempted to call for a swab due to lack of evidence. His playing partners did eventually own up that it was a legitimate claim.
The Bonus Trophy event that was run in conjunction with today’s Medal was won by none other that Yours Truly. No not me – Gordo. That’s just the way he announced it – with a big smile on his face.
Chris V had a smidgen or two of the lucks today. On one shot that was going to be well across the green, the ball hit the Beast’s ball dead centre and propelled it about 4 metres while stopping dead itself. Talk about rub of the green. Whitey on the other hand knew he was going to be in for a hard day’s night when he lost his ball with the first shot of the day.
Ed continues to pull out miracle shots, this one from amongst the trees on the fifth to about 150mm from the pin. And he reckons he meant it. Bob’s comeback continues and he went the full distance today. It was a bit of a tough day at the office but he is probably saving himself for something big down the track. Watch out in a week or two. Whilst on the subject of injuries, RodG will be out for a week or two with a bad case of Golfer’s Elbow and Bill will be putting his knee in the hands of the surgeons late in the week but Bill is confident of being back in a few weeks better than ever. Get back soon, both of you – and Trevor where ever you are.
Good to see people making use of the on-line registration page though Targe seems to be having a bit of a problem with the technology. Either that or he can’t make up his mind whether to play or not. Or maybe he’s just got that footballers disease – yeah no.
According to Birthday Birdie, there will be a bit of a rush on candle sales this week with Mehmet and RodG saving up their puff to blow them all out. Maybe Gordo should get a fire watch put on their houses in case of accident. Rumour has it that there is another birthday imminent in the Mehmet household. Hope everything goes well.
Results for Saturday, 05 April 2014
1st Gordon Hill(65) 2nd Malcolm Adey(66) 2nd Mehmet Akdag(66) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(66) 3rd Harry Boughen(67) 3rd Targe Mifsud(67) 4th Stephen Butterfield(70) 5th Malcolm Fleming(72)