The last chance to win a Medal for this year. the thrill of the chase bidding for the horses in the Calcutta, the thought of sizzling snags (no, not Craig), the beautiful weather or just the prospect of good golf and good company. Whatever it was, it brought the numbers out in droves again and we had pretty much a full complement out on the tees. Kiwi Dave was here again and the time that he has been putting in coaching son, Brendon, seems to be paying off at last. Though, it must be said that Brendon did not card the best score submitted. That honour went to Mark, who, unfortunately did not meet the criteria of having played in the last month to be eligible for the Medal. Still, that’s the way the golf ball bounces sometimes.
Brendon did not have it easy though as his nett score was tied with Stefan however his higher handicap won the day for him in the count-back that was necessary to break the tie. Stefan will have to come back next year and tidy up his front nine to try for some heavy metal to hang around his neck.
CraigC was playing in exalted company today as he was teamed up with Michael and Pepsi, our two low markers but he seems to have been unfazed by the prospect and kept his head down to bring home the third place bacon. It seems that the anticipated shoot- out between Michael and Pepsi went off with more of a whimper than a bang and some are wondering whether Pepsi went a bit flat in the face of such opposition. Michael kept on bubbling however and put together another of his 70 off the beater rounds to claim his fourth (mostly fourth) placing in a row.
Next in line, and playing exactly to his handicap was the Man Who Never Was, at least to some of our newer members, so rarely does he grace the hallowed fields of Ivanhoe with his presence. And Rodger didn’t have it on his own-some as he was joined by none other than that son of a gun, Targe.
The ProPin was set at the 12th today and from the back tees it didn’t seem to be that easy a target but at least one member managed to put it within spitting distance of that very elusive beast the hole-in-one. Well done Stefan for putting it within about 300mm of the hole which pretty much excluded anybody else from the competition. A similar difficulty was in play on the 12th for the Nearest the Pin for a ball and the Denizen of the Darklands, Dennis was the man to put it pin high but a few metres out to the west of the hole. Dennis didn’t manage to get the birdie but there were a total of 15 today which is a pretty fair average for the number of players in the field.
One man who did get a birdie was Paul who was playing today to put in his second card towards his handicap and he did it pretty easily on the 6th. However, the hole of the day for Paul, had to be the 11th when his drive hit the pine tree and bounced hard left to finish at the feet of a player on the 2nd. The second shot threaded through the spotted gums towards the green. A less than successful chip ended just off the green and he proceeded to chip it into the hole for the ‘easiest’ of pars.
So, there was some very good scoring done today and you would have to say that there was some pretty ordinary scoring done as well. Some of the less-do-wells spread their misfortune out over the whole round but at least one made an heroic effort to concentrate a very sorry tale into a single hole. Even the computer objected at the prospect of having to digest a score of twenty-two (yes 22) on the one hole. How can this be you might ask. Well, all it requires, is for you to put nine balls either into a water hazard or out-of-bounds. And it seems that Mehm did this from a spot that he didn’t even have to play the ball from after the first one went into the hazard, but, he just kept blazing away. Must have a good supplier of balls or he gets them really cheap somewhere.
One of the upshots of this was that none of the contenders for the Title of Club Champion managed to gather any points from todays event and the almost undisputed Champion for 2014 is none other than Ed. He came in at the beginning of the year with the stated intention of taking out the big one and, lo and behold, he went out and did it. It wasn’t a one horse race, however, as it was one of the closest run things that we have had for quite a few years. Mehmet might have had a chance today, except for the 17th, but he will have to settle for runner-up and set himself a target to do better next year. Chrispy hung on to gather third place and if it hadn’t been for his gypsy caravan weekends and trips to Mansfield, the ultimate prize might very well have been his.
The Seniors Championship was also a bit of a close run thing and once again it has turned out that we have a dual Champion as the man at the top of the list at the end of the year was none other than Ed again as he squeezed out Bill and Oliver who were in with some sort of a chance to the bitter end.
Then there was the Eclectic. This required the scoring of a goodly share of birdies and the occasional eagle to be in with a chance. And the one who came in with the chance was our number one twit(ter) in the person of Noodles who grossed 52 for a nett of 46.2, almost a stroke in front of his nearest contender Oliver. And both had eagles to their name.
Next week sees the start of a new competition year with the prestigious Vin O’Meara stroke event that also forms the last two rounds of the stroke play Championship. Sorry about todays result Mehm.
Of course, the Vin O’Meara is the subject of our annual Calcutta Auction that was carried out after todays event. The state is obviously in a very good position after four years of a Liberal administration as the bidding was vigourous with plenty of competition for the favoured runners. Whether the same will be able to be said next year is still somewhat up in the air. The top price was paid for Stagehand who will be under the capable hands of jockey Ed Kloprogge. Whilst there has been more than a little noise from the owners camp during the year, the recent form has been a bit under the weather and it is the brave punter that puts his eggs in this basket. But then again, if you want to make an omelette, you first have to break some eggs.
There are a few changes coming up in the competition in the coming year and president Gordo will be making an announcement on the committee decisions in the very near future. In the meantime, we look forward to the next couple of weeks of competition and the Champion of Champions event on the 20th December that will be our break-up and presentation day as well. If we can get an early indication of number for this event that will help immensely with the catering for the Christmas lunch. To this end we will be surveying over the next two weeks and advice by e-mail or phone would be greatly appreciated if you are not attending the events.
Results for Saturday, 29 November 2014
1st Mark Berthelsen(64) 2nd Stefan Belevski(65) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(65) Medal (c/b) 3rd Craig Cameron(66) 4th Michael Gourlay(67) 5th Rodger Clarke(68) 5th Targe Mifsud(68)