Well, how about that, a whole round played from the back tees. And more to come over the next couple of weeks as the Course Championship plays out its course. Sounds as if Ed might have had some input in urging the Course Management for such a move. Perhaps he thought it might nobble a few of his pursuers in the Championship Table. In the event it was Old McDonald (that is Bob) who showed that his performance a few weeks ago in the Fred Kitson was no flash in the pan and obviously the longer shots required suited his game. The bare stroke under his handicap means that most of the pain comes from the winners penalty and it will be interesting to see if Bob can back up again next week and show some of the lower markers a thing or two about playing from the ‘tigers’.
The fine weather has done no harm to the condition of the course and there were favourable comments about the condition of the greens and fairways. It seems that a few people were seeking to explore other areas of the course with a number of OOB’s, particularly on the 13th. Some sort of Great Attractor seems to have settled up there amongst the houses with Chrispy, Snags and Trevor (twice) finding the dreaded course boundary. It seems Snags almost found one of the actual houses. Noodles was maybe a bit luckier in that his got caught up in the temporary fencing which allowed some much needed relief and maybe saved him from a worse fate.
The other Craig had no such problems and in his first outing with us for a few weeks managed to match his handicap for second place on his ownsome and also picked up a nice little dividend in the form of the ProPin on the 15th which stood at a very healthy $24 in line with the full complement that presented at tee time today. Though there were a couple that were running a little late when the first tee time was imminent. Some people just can’t get out of bed in the mornings.
Another one of the quiet achievers who has been gracing the podium a bit lately was Keith who was only a single point behind Craig and there were a couple that got away, particularly on the back nine where three misses separated Keith from a really great score. It was also noticed that the ibises on the course were looking quite relaxed, so the trauma of a few months back seems to faded from their memory.
There was a fair cluster filling the 4th level on the podium stairs and all of them could very easily had significantly better scores. The group included Gordon, Pepsi, SOS and Michael. The golf gods didn’t smile on Pepsi today with a number of birdie chances just slipping by or perching on the lip of the hole. And despite the longer course there were a reasonable number of the little feathered ones today with 12 in all. There were some Eclectic improvements but nothing of significance in the front runners. With only two weeks to go, time is running out to make a last minute bid for the prize but a couple of well placed birdies could make all the difference.
The last single point fell to RodG who seemed to find it hard to believe that he was left in the points table, but there you go, it’s not over till the fat lady (or at least the President) sings.
The Nearest the Pin for a ball was on the 12th and it must have been pretty hard to hit as over half the field had been through before Harry put his name on the marker and nobody managed to get inside him, so he has a ball to collect for that.
The interesting thing is that none of the front runners on the Championship Table were able to garner any points today so the status quo remains with six with a mathematical chance to taking or tying the Championship. So, the Leader Board will prevail with the setting of most of the last two groups over the next two rounds so that they can try to sledge one another out of the running. The Seniors is still a three horse race so there is still some interest there as well.
On the subject of racing, the Calcutta on the Vin O’Meara will be run on the 29th after the December Monthly Medal. There are a swag of rules associated with this and they are on the web site under the Rules tab. So that we can set the Order of Sale and get the Form Guide in place we need to know who will be playing and who wish to be available for the Calcutta Auction. An email will be sent out that everybody should respond to with their intentions to avoid unnecessary work and confusion on the day.
In other news from the course.
SOS was so intent on looking for somebody else’s ball that he didn’t see some course furniture and promptly tripped over it but his Academy training obviously sank in well and he executed a perfect commando roll to avoid potential injury. There is no news as to whether he drew his weapon or was actually travelling ‘commando’ at the time.
Chrispy had a pretty bad day of it and at one stage decided (if you can decide to do something stupid) to kick his bag in disgust. No injury to himself but it seems that the bag is a little worse for wear. Another member, in a fit of pique, helicoptered his wedge some considerable distance after a duffed chip.
One player thankful for the ‘rub of the green’ was Oliver whose ball, a few centimetres off the green at the 4th, was struck by another players ball and knocked well onto the green in the direction of the hole. Others benefitting from lucky chance were Michael and Keith when shots that would have been well off the green or even OOB hit the pin for a save and in at least one case the ball might even have dropped in.
Ryan blasted the ball from the tee on the 11th and went close to reaching the green. Was he happy with the result – not really as the ball ‘came off the heel’. Just imagine the result if he had centred it.
After the round, Craig was noticed sitting next to Mehm and was absent mindedly stroking Mehm’s knee. It was the one that Mehm had bandaged so maybe Craig was just massaging it. The bandage didn’t stop Mehm taking his characteristic metre long backward leap as he strikes the ball and his playing partners had to be reminded not to stand too close behind on a couple of occasions.
Results for Saturday, 15 November 2014
1st Bob McDonald(37) 2nd Craig Cameron(36) 3rd Keith Delzoppo(35) 4th Michael Gourlay(33) 4th Gordon Hill(33) 4th Andrew Petricola(33) 4th Stephen O’Sullivan(33) 5th Rod Grant(32)