Is the course open? Yes, but there will be no inside comp. It’s going to rain all day. It’s about to clear any time. We’ve got a quorum, we can have a comp. Could be some easy points. A lot of people will miss out if we play. This is just a sample of the palaver that was going on at the Club at about 0700. In the event, the radar carried the day and it was decided that the round would go ahead as the numbers were surprisingly high for what the outlook was early on. As the groups, half sloshed their way down the fairways, thoughts turned to what might be the score to have at the end of the day. Somewhere about square or a bit either way seemed to be the popular guesstimate.
Just goes to show that the conditions are not necessarily an indication of the potential for people to score. This was certainly the case for our clear Club-house Leader, none other than Whitey who also seems to be trying to prove that he can grow a beard. A fantastic effort, after going OOB on the 3rd and eventually turning with -1, he absolutely demolished the back nine to equal par for the nine and return +7 points. That must be going close to being a record, making the round a PB by quite a number of strokes. And, as an aside, it will cost him at least 2 strokes regardless of the final outcome next week.
Just a little further back than first thought is the redoubtable pigeon fancier, Ed, who seems to have a bit of trouble distinguishing his elevens from his tens having claimed a stroke on the 6th two weeks in a row. Still, +3 has him well within striking distance but if he does manage to snare this one his Championship Points tally would really be putting the pressure on somebody to catch him.
Another week and Damo proves that the lowering of his handicap is no obstacle to being right up there. The break was a bit smaller this week but still a break and with luck and some well placed sledging he could easily upset the apple-cart of the two leaders.
The next group have a bit of work to do with a shared score of -1 and a turn-around of more than seven points required to collect the silver-ware. However, Par is the sort of competition that can bring big swings so ChrisV, Oliver, Harry and Bob shouldn’t give up the ghost just yet. As for the rest, perhaps they should hope for a major out-break of flu or gastro-enteritis amongst the leaders.
But, it will be worth coming next week, even if you didn’t play today. Because of the confusion around the start, the bonus trophy event was post-poned for another week so even if the silverware is out of reach or you didn’t play today it will still be worth turning up for your chance to enter and win the round of golf for four with carts and a beer afterwards. Only $5 will get you a place in the contest. There will also be a bar-b-q afterwards so an even greater reason to turn up. To help with the catering, please go to the web-site and register (coming or not) so that we can warn the caterers if we are going to be inundated (by people – not rain – we hope).
We had a prospective new member along today in the person of Andrew Hall who just happens to be Dick’s brother. Welcome Andrew and we look forward to seeing on a regular basis, which is more than we have been able to say for Dick in recent times. There was quite some discussion as to whether Andrew was younger/older/better looking but in the end there was no firm decision though it was opined that from a distance (possibly a fairly large one) he could be mistaken for Blighty. And wouldn’t you know it, as a guest, Andrew entered the ProPin and managed to get within the distance (not by much it must be admitted) and scooped up the Double jackpot on offer. He wasn’t persuaded by the announcement of “Club Rules” that visitors had to share the pot with the Captain/President. The Nearest the Pin on the 4th for a ball was well contested but in the end it was Damo who got the nod and picked up the ball. And, after last weeks dearth, there were 12 birdies this week while the Eagles Nest went unmolested and builds slowly towards a reasonable number.
Chrispy kept his playing partners entertained while showing off his skills as a ventriloquist – at least it sounded as if he was saying something even though his lips weren’t moving – or maybe it wasn’t his vocal chords that were vibrating. Anyway, he managed to pull a shot from somewhere in that region of the anatomy when he played a shot from the practice fairway over the trees by the 16th green and went close to landing the ball on top of Harry’s. The plug mark suggested that you would have been hard pressed to fit a cigarette paper between the two balls. The near vertical landing meant that Chrispy’s ball finished only a few hundred mm away.
Ed managed to lose one of his hats (while he was wearing it) and Ed doesn’t even come from Tasmania. Perhaps that was what distracted him from his scoring on the 6th. Maybe some kind soul will hand it in at Lost Property though it is obviously very valuable if the plaintive cries that were still rising as everybody was heading for the car-park were any guide.
Zimmer had a close call on the recent weekend away and showed up with a slight re-arrangement to his forehead after a practice swing by one of his playing companions went more than a little too close the Akdag visage. Luckily the damage was not too severe and Zim will have another war story to add to his collection. There was another close call today on the 10th tee when Bob’s cart started to roll off down the hill. Despite cries to ‘leave it’, Bob took off like Usain Bolt and crash tackled the cart halfway down the hill leaving his companions more than a little concerned for his well-being. Bob picked himself up and fortunately seems to be little the worse for wear though it is understood that the Match Review Panel is investigating the legality of said tackle.
Brendon announced that he would have get on home as he was ‘on a promise’ however it seems that it was another sort of promise after a late night and an assurance that we were unlikely to play and he would be home early.
The Birthday Birdie has had a quiet time of it over the last couple of weeks and once again, no celebrations in the coming week. There have been some hints from certain members that there might be something in the wind (and not referring to Chrispy).
Condolences also to the O’Sullivan family for the recent passing of Stephen’s mother. The Club’s thoughts are with you at this difficult time which must be tempered only slightly by the recent news of impending parenthood.
Results for Saturday, 10 May 2014
1st Rodney White(+6) 2nd Ed Kloprogge(+3) 3rd Damien Lee(+1) 4th Chris Vinecombe(-1) 4th Oliver Gross(-1) 4th Harry Boughen(-1) 4th Bob McDonald(-1) 5th Mehmet Akdag(-3) 5th Chris Priems(-3) 6th Tony Mifsud(-4) 7th Brendon Mitchell(-5) 7th Stephen Butterfield(-5) 7th Gordon Hill(-5) 7th Targe Mifsud(-5) 8th Kazim Akdag(-6)