Fifteen players, five birdies – even the ones who were here don’t seem to been much on the ball. Also, the ProPin on the 15th went begging but then again Ed wasn’t here. So with low numbers and a dearth of birdies how did the scoring go on a course that was a bit damp in places but the preferred lies gave you a chance to clean the gobs of mud off the ball and maybe get it to perch up just a little on a nearby knob of turf – no further than a hand-span of course.
As you can see from the score-line, it wasn’t a day to really blow the lights out but still not bad and there wasn’t a great deal to separate the top place-getters. King of the road today was Blighty who played under his handicap on both nines to be four under his handicap at the end of the day. Andrew was also at pains to point out that this was his first win for the year though some kind soul had the temerity to suggest that this wasn’t bad as he had only played twice so far – not true but amusing enough.
Mehmet, unfortunately, is still waiting for his first win and he must have held out hopes with the score that he carded. Perhaps he only missed out because of the ‘worm ball’ that sent his putt astray on one hole. Noodles didn’t actually have a worm ball but the recollections were so strong that he missed both a birdie and a par putt on the same hole. Which probably explains why Noodles came in with +2 to take the points for third place. This wasn’t Nood’s only distraction. After spotting a group of attractive young things teeing off on the first, his plan was to play a draw from the 10th to take advantage of what opportunities presented themselves. Unfortunately, the draw turned out to be a slice and he ended up on the 13th instead. Probably only crusty old coots in that direction.
Chrispy reckoned that if he had played his own fairway he would have finished about 5 up rather than the singleton that he finished with. It seem that the power fade just wasn’t connecting with the usual amount of wood-work to keep him on the correct patch of grass. Simon didn’t waste any time in re-aligning his swing after his long break away from the game and managed to join Chrispy on the podium in his very first competition event. Other than that, they were at diametrically opposite ends of the field. This also opened Simon’s book in the Seniors event behind Blighty who took out top honours as well on that score.
There were a couple more seniors in the last of the point scorers with Gordon and Taner being the go-to boys getting points in Championship and Seniors as well. They were joined by Ryan who, arguably should have been higher up the scale but for a couple of brain fades at critical times. One notable occasion saw him execute a duck-hook with double axel (one of Mehm’s favourites) that looked to be heading the ball for a leisurely trip to Dight’s Falls but in good Priemsy style some wood-work intervened and returned the ball to be in play at least.
The lack of birdie action also meant that any movement on the Eclectic table was also minimal (other than Simon with his first card) with about three people recording improvements. Pepsi still has a handy margin but as we are over the hump there is a need for some action to catch him.
In the IGL, Saints defeated Tigers, Hawks defeated Bulldogs and Magpies defeated Blues. That put the Hawks back to the top of the Table while the Saints and the Magpies are still level pegging at the tail. Next weeks round will break that tie and could put one or the other back into contention. All teams need to get numbers to the ball to maximise chances for victory.
As for the rest, well there is always next week or the Nearest the Pin. And the ball on the 12th went to – tadaaa – Craig. So, will the jackpot on the ProPin bring out any more from the wood-work next week. Surely, with a Monthly medal up for grabs as well there should be a few more numbers on the ground. Although Dennis didn’t make the winners list there were comments about him wearing an eye-patch and carrying a parrot on his shoulder but it seems he will be recognisable next week by the heavy metal headwear with eye slot that he will be wearing.
Stefan didn’t have a great day of it though many would have liked to have carded his off the stick score if not his points tally. Things were going so bad that at one stage Stef decided to sit down on the job without thinking of the consequences of the large number of ducks that are currently grazing and leaving deposits on the course. Needless to say, Stef’s white shorts showed the result to great advantage. However, on the 13th he put his tee shot into the tank on the left. Played his third to just off the back of the green and then chipped in for his par. At least there was one high-light hey Stef? Damo got more and more anxious as the round progressed, mainly because he had an appointment with his son to go to the footy and it was seeming more and more likely that they would miss a fair bit of the first quarter. This might have contributed to the production of a divot the size of a small carpet that travelled almost as far as the ball which barely made it past the ladies tee on the 15th. At least it didn’t count as a draughtie.
Whitey, who was a major whinger about the number of Par events being played wasn’t making much of a fist of it until he gave up on the rest of the clubs in his bag and started using his trusty putter/driver. This upset Chrispy when he didn’t make it to the 15th with an iron and Rod did with the putter and then proceeded to sink the putt for his birdie. Plus, Rod beat his handicap on the holes that he played with said trusty club. Watch out Three Club Challenge. One consolation is, there will be three weeks of Stableford coming up soon so, how many people will complain about that?
One other observation made by Rod was that in umpteen rounds he has not played exactly to his handicap in any type of competition. Could be an interesting statistic to consider in there somewhere.
Results for Saturday, 27 June 2015
1st Andrew Blight(+4) 2nd Mehmet Akdag(+3) 3rd Stephen Butterfield(+2) 4th Simon Powell(+1) 4th Chris Priems(+1) 5th Gordon Hill(-1) 5th Taner Kemal(-1) 5th Ryan Porker(-1)