Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition – the rains have come at last. It has taken a while but one of the much anticipated rain events has at last delivered and you had to hit the greens to have a chance. A bit more grass and the soft ground meant that the old ‘bump and run’ had a fair chance of pulling up short of the mark. And it wasn’t impossible for the ball to plug in the softer spots. The freshly cored greens added a little something extra when combined with the dew that hung around for most of the morning. More than a few putts were left just that little bit short of the mark. This reflected in the rather paltry birdie count of three from the lot of us though ChrisV did add an extra one on the 17th after a cunning second shot through the leaves of the big tree to take a bit of loft and pace off the ball and to add a bit of spin to pull it up on the green just half a metre away from the pin.
The softer track and the lack of run showed up in the scoring as well and a couple of squares breasted the tape to share the spoils. The scores – not the blokes. Damo didn’t sound all that confident that they would hold on when the cards were handed in and his face fell when Targe announced that he had come in 1 up. Targe was announcing that he had come in 1 up in his matchplay against Whitey. The match ended up a fairly close run thing after Targe had put in an early burst to be 3 up after three. Speaking of matchplay, we should now be well into the second round so time to get the finger out and get those matches arranged.
As it turned out, Targe and Whitey filled second place in the event today with -1 and in the process Targe also collected the top points in the Seniors. And, speaking of Seniors, Bob and Trevor joined forces with SOS to take third place on -2. As a result of some serious discussion about their cards and totals, SOS was inspired to offer them the use of an abacus to help sort it out.
The announced placings for 4th and 5th needed a little re-arrangement. In the first instance, there was a slight error in allocation of points on Gordo’s card which moved him to -4. In the second instance, Ed’s inside card was inadvertently put in the stack with a one point difference. The upshot was that Gordo stayed on 4th, Blighty moved up to join Gordo and Ed stayed on 5th.
No names, no packdrill for the four hapless souls who didn’t get points. Whitey managed to get closest on the 15th for the nearest the Pin for a Ball but the 12th remained unscathed for the ProPin and so there will be yet another Jackpot that should help to get people out of bed early enough to get to the course on time. When the first group was announced to the tee this morning it looked as if we would have one or two groups at the most so either people slept in or they didn’t read the blog to see the earlier start time as a result of the end of daylight saving. Damo was proposing that there should be a ‘late fee’ for those paying their competition fee after the event.
ChrisV and Ryan put in their final qualifying card today and they now have an official Club handicap. We look forward to see how well they really can play over the coming weeks.
Not only did Gordon get his face plastered all over the web-site last week, he has now branched out into other matters relating to things burning and getting hot. A casual stroll through Bunnings turned up pallets of the darn things.
Not sure whether it was down to the new arrival in the house or because he was worrying about his Eclectic score, but Mehm didn’t have a very good day at the office. So much so that, with the early clubhouse placings still having him in the points, he said if he was still there at the end of the day, he didn’t want them. Happy with the Eclectic now Mehm?
Keith must have won Lotto or inherited some money as he was resplendent today in some brand new shoes. It looked like he was planning to dazzle the opposition with the vivid white uppers and fluorescent green soles. Ed reckons he had a quiet day today but that would have to be heard to be believed.
The Birthday Birdie almost forgot to mention that Constable SOS will be celebrating this week. Maybe he will go easy on the ne’er-do-wells on the day.
Results for Saturday, 12 April 2014
1st Damien Lee(□) 1st Chris Priems(□) 2nd Targe Mifsud(-1) 2nd Rodney White(-1) 3rd Trevor Jackson(-2) 3rd Bob McDonald(-2) 3rd Stephen O’Sullivan(-2) 4th Andrew Blight(-4) 4th Gordon Hill(-4) 5th Ed Kloprogge(-5)