Well, Movember is upon us and it is not clear whether Mehm is being sponsored for his efforts but there were definite signs of hirsuteness about the young Turk’s chops (that’d have to be lamb of course) when he fronted up with a determined look in his eye though he did get off to a bit of a shaky start over the first few holes. But, the head seems to have kept down pretty well after that and he emulated the Melbourne Cup winner by leading the field home by a couple of lengths (well, strokes to be precise).
It was a good day for scoring as the warm weather has dried the course out quite a bit with a bit of run to be had and the rough not quite so thick and grasping as it has been in the recent past. The greens were fairly speedy but that doesn’t seem to have affected the ability to make birdies. There were fourteen an all and a couple of notable ones. One from Michael who who followed up on his Nearest the Pin effort at about a metre from the hole on the 4th and another from Trevor who swept all before him for the ProPin on the 18th with a 1.7 metre effort.
There were a few improvements in the Eclectic scores as a result and the event is still fairly open with about half a dozen within one and a half strokes so some birdies (or eagles) over the next few weeks could turn the field over itself. On the main Club Championship, there are still half a dozen with a mathematical chance of making the top podium spot over the three weeks of competition that are left in this year’s calendar. Mehm, of course, leapt right into calculations with today’s effort and any of the six are easily capable of making up the points. The Seniors also still has a few permutations that could eventuate but it is really only a three horse race at this stage. Speaking of Championships, the Course management will be running their stroke play championship over the next three weeks in the usual three grades and our Stroke Play Championship will kick off on the 29th (December MM) and run on over the two rounds of the Vin O’Meara. So more than plenty of reasons to turn up for good fellowship and, just maybe, some good golf over the next six or so weeks leading up to our Champion of Champions, Presentations and Christmas Lunch on the 20th December.
The larger field was good to see today and there were a couple of faces that we haven’t seen for a while, including Targe and Dennis. Let’s keep the home fires burning and with any sort of luck with a few more back from gallivanting and returning from injury and so forth we will see the whole block of tee times filled on a regular basis.
And, no, I haven’t forgotten the rest of the field. In second place was one of our more senior players who quietly lurks around and every so often gets one of those soft little smiles of his when he hands in a good card. Unfortunately not quite good enough for Keith to add to his trophy cabinet but a very creditable effort and his handicap will suffer just a little as a result. Blighty was also there or thereabouts and just a single stroke behind though it seems that there might have been a bit of Chrispy’s technique of using the trees to advantage and finishing with par where, in different circumstances, bogey (or worse) or out-of-bounds might have been in the offing.
Bob is also keeping up his run of recent form and played nicely to his handicap to snag the fourth spot alongside Michael who seems to be intent on showing that the handicap that he so recently acquired with us was no fluke by playing to it on a regular basis though there were also a couple of double bogies to belie what might have been.
And so we come to the one point brigade and quite a brigade it was. Brendon brought along his Dad, Dave, to show him how much better the courses are in Australia than New Zealand but as a result he had to restrain himself so as not to get a clip around the ears for misbehaving. Targe is back, not so much in golf form as back from his break at being shop-keeper and whatever else has kept him away for the last little while. Joining them for the point was Gordon who has also been a little on again off again in recent times but who assures that he is back.
And now for the also-rans – well at least those who didn’t get a podium spot today. Ryan was spotted looking as if he was in trouble on the 13th but it seems that it was unclear whether his first tee shot had gone into the left hand hazard so he played a provisional and again and again until he reached his original ball which had made it into the hazard. He dropped the ball and played it out for a respectable enough bogey rather than who knows what for his provisional. On the 16th, the group had the pin nicely surrounded with three putts of a metre or so and one maybe only half or less. The short putt person pleaded to the golf gods for a full set of single putts and it seemed as if the golf gods were going to smile upon the group as in turn one, two, three of the longer putts fell into the hole. Needless to say, Oliver was close to tears when the final putt rimmed the cup and didn’t fall.
We’ve booked six spots for next week so another good turn-out would be good. Bren (Gun) Mitchell is going to bring Dad and Dave along again (only one person unfortunately) so an ideal chance to see who’s really to blame not to be missed. Don’t forget, if you are not happy with the way the Club is being run, all Committee positions will be open for contention at the AGM and nominations are open so that you have time to prepare your campaign and arrange financing and vote rigging. The Committee will be meeting in the next week to finalise next year’s Calendar and a few others matters relating to the end of year festivities.
Results for Saturday, 08 November 2014
1st Mehmet Akdag(64) 2nd Keith Delzoppo(66) 3rd Andrew Blight(67) 4th Michael Gourlay(68) 4th Bob McDonald(68) 5th Gordon Hill(70) 5th Targe Mifsud(70) 5th Brendon Mitchell(70)