After the run of Indian Summer that we have been having over the last fortnight, maybe the weather is starting to turn and we will start to move into a proper winter pattern. There were signs about this morning, there was a bit of a nip in the air (no not the JAL A380 flying over-head), there was quite a bit of dew on the fairways and greens and as the sun crept over the cloud-bank there was a bit of steam rising from the tomb-stones at the tees. It wasn’t a day to be skulling your shots as anything along the ground pulled up very smartish but then if you got a bit of loft the ground was soft enough to take the sting out of it as well. With the tees located to the backside for the most part you would have to say that the course was playing ‘long’. And that was sort of reflected in the scores or was everyone just playing cagey and protecting their handicap.
There was a lot of discussion about the announced winner’s score and the effect on his handicap but it seems that a combination of an error in calculating points and untidiness in filling out the card resulted in the claimed points being agreed but in error. As a result, Eddie is still the ‘winner’ but he has been joined by Dennis and Noodles who all finished officially on 36 points to share the top spot. You’ll have to bring one of those balls back, Ed.
It was something of a baptism by fire for Dennis who joined us for the first time in a while away from his duties at the Darklands and he would have streeted it in it it wasn’t for the five (yes five) gashes that graced his card. He was helped more than somewhat by three birdies one of which was down to a putt from off the green on the 7th. Oliver reckoned it would be longer than all his putts for the round combined. Just to prove it wasn’t (or was) a fluke, Dennis chipped in for a par on the 8th. Almost enough to compensate for the draughtie on the 3rd, hey Dennis. Welcome back.
Moving up into second place with a creditable total (for the day) of 35 points were Mehmet and Brendon who played very similar rounds of two halves using the front nine as warm up and coming home blazing on the back. Maybe there is a message there. Mehmet will be able to feed the kids tonight as he collected the Jackpotted ProPin on the 12th having left it 31cm (or was it 38cm?) from the hole. One of the groups behind thought that he must have written the details in Turkish but it turned out that the cardboard was upside down but it looked much the same either way. Mehm and Gordo had a bit of a flutter on the 18th about whether either of their balls had gone in or who would be the closest. Surely Gordo couldn’t do it again? But the upshot was the downshot to the left that showed Mehm just that little bit closer and in line with a chance to collect more moolah from the inside ProPin.
Just one point further back was Targe who continues to be there or thereabouts but who has (along with everybody else) a fair bit of catching to do to make up ground on Eddie. There might be a chance to do a bit of that over the next little while as Ed tells us he will be flying about the country with his birds during the ‘pigeon’ season. When somebody asked how come the birds were so big, some (un)kind soul suggested that it was because they were full of hot air.
Chrispy didn’t hang around for the presentations as he had to rush off to support his team and might not have expected to count so highly in the rankings
And, completely unexpectedly, those elevated into the dizzying ranks of point scorers were that trio of good guys, Snags, Harry and the Beast. Sounds like a good name for a Breakfast Radio show.
While on the subject of the Beast, he was the one to get his name on the marker for the Nearest the Pin on the 4th and collected a ball for his trouble. The overall lowish scores didn’t seem to affect the birdie tally too much with 15 all up but then there was Dennis. Another of the trio, Snags, played his matchplay round against Zimmer and although it wasn’t a match that was graced by great golf Craig came home quite convincingly 4 and 2. The Matchplay is getting down to the pointy end now though there are still a few matches to get out of the way shortly.
Another player who had his share of troubles out there was Brendon who also scored a draughtie somewhere out on the course. It has also been reported that a couple of members were shooting the breeze together but while in adjacent cubicles in the Men’s. It seems it wasn’t only the conversation that was ripe. And was that the cleaner seen making a quick exit?
The Birthday Birdie has been out and about and a number of members were noted scoffing Devonshire Teas to mark the event that took place this week. Twenty-one is it Gordo? And in the next couple of days Targe and MalA will be fronting up to welcome another milestone on the Road to Retirement.
There was an executive decision to declare next Saturday as part of June and extend the Bonus Trophy event to five weeks. The rules are pretty much spelt out in the page headline but one of the main points is that you can join the event at any time until the start of the third week (14 June) but any cards before the entry fee is paid will not be eligible. You can only ‘bet’ on your future prospects.
Now, because of a slight software glitch, the Eclectic table was not updated for the first week of the Autumn Cup. This has now been fixed and, hopefully, it is all tickety-boo. If you think there are any more anomalies, please let the handicapper know and he will investigate your claims.
On another note, today’s result reinforces the need for players and their markers to check the individual hole scores and points allocated rather than just the total strokes and points tally for each nine and/or overall. It only takes a couple of moments to read them back.
Results for Saturday, 24 May 2014
1st Stephen Butterfield(36) 1st Ed Kloprogge(36) 1st Dennis Tiernan(36) 2nd Mehmet Akdag(35) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(35) 3rd Targe Mifsud(34) 4th Chris Priems(33) 5th Harry Boughen(32) 5th Bill Eastoe(32) 5th Craig Sharp(32)