What a beat up! Twenty-one members turned up to see the front runners in the Championship slug it out for the trophy of the year and they all lay down and came in with the same score and outside the points and so the position from last week was entirely unchanged. Congratulations to Ryan on becoming the Club Champion for 2015 in his first full year in the event. Mehmet managed to run the whole year without taking a winner and probably set some sort of Club record in the process to come in as runner-up. Just proves you don’t necessarily have to be a winner to be a grinner. Gordon did have a chance to pip Mehm for second if he had won today’s event but, in the event, he would be pretty happy with his third placing. Noodles was just a little too far behind to catch up with Gordon with today’s win of the December Monthly Medal which really was the main event today.
And he did it in very fine style with equal par on the back nine and only five over on the front to come in with a nett 62. Not bad for a bloke who was on the verge of giving it away a week or so ago. Of course the big question now is, will he be able to repeat the performance over the next two weeks in the Vin O’Meara and the remaining two weeks of the Stroke Play Championship. Some of the bidders in the Auction seemed to think that he could.
CraigC had a bit of a shaky start to the front nine with a couple of hiccups further along the track before really getting his mojo together and running in just one over par on the back. So, for a long time it looked as if his 68 nett was going to be enough to collect the prize but it was not to be. Still he can be consoled by the fact that he put his tee shot on the 15th to 1.9m of the hole that was more than enough to collect the dividend from the ProPin if not the Monthly Medal.
Pepsi showed his credentials for the VOM after a couple of average rounds in recent times and carded a 69 nett but there is no truth to the rumour that he wanted to get a let out on his handicap to improve his grip on the Eclectic. Noodles and the Beast were in contention to overtake him and both did their best by carding fresh birdies but the handicap cut for Noodles did not help his cause and the Beast fell short of pulling off an unlikely win in the event by a mere 0.3 of a stroke. While on the topic of birdies we managed a fairly substantial tally of 18 today and that did not include any from the follow up on Craig’s ProPin or from Harry’s Nearest the Pin for a ball on the 12th. Embarrassingly, Harry’s second putt was longer than his first though it was a down-hiller.
Next to zim up to the podium to collect his points was Zimmer who also seems to have positioned himself well for the next couple of weeks and certainly seemed keen to bid himself up in the Auction. Following close behind were an unlikely pair of Bob and Blighty who collected a couple of Seniors points for their matching 71 nett scores. Those points for Blighty were enough to break the tie and give him outright second in the Seniors while the points for Bob and Craig weren’t quite enough to catch Harry who had to settle for third spot in the Seniors Championship. Gordon didn’t really need any more but he took one just the same.
Bob might have been a bit lucky to finish where he did after his tee shot on the 17th was on the verge of being declared lost or out of bounds in the scrub when it was discovered by one of the group. A punch shot out of the thicket finished off the edge of the green and Bob proceeded to chip/putt it in for a birdie. Go figure. However the ‘unusual’ shot of the day would have to go to Noodles on the 6th tee which was low and off-line so much that it hit the ‘tombstone’ half way up the tee in front. The ricochet headed the ball in the direction of back down the 5th but imparted so much spin that the ball curved back onto the 6th and finished on the fairway up by the bunker. Maybe not the 250m that the fellows were claiming but still a pretty good result. Other than that, he was apparently lovely to watch – but then all the girls say that.
Chrispy spent some time on the driving range during the week and got a few pointers on how he should be hitting the ball without his power fade. He’s not game to try it on the course because he can’t bring himself not to aim way to the left. SteveK and ChrisV are still scratching their heads after balls were lost on the first after not appearing to be headed for any trouble. No crows or black holes were noticed in the vicinity and the walk back to the tee was a long one.
Brendon and the Beast decided to play a match on the back nine for a coffee and Bill was licking his lips at the prospect with Brendon dormie with three to go. The prospect of having to buy the coffee was so much anathema to Brendon that he set to and won the last three holes to square the match and so avoided having to buy the coffee. The things some people will do to save a quid. Blighty reckoned he was going alright until he had two fat ladies on the 16th. It’s been a while since the last game of Bingo but the recollection is that two fat ladies is actually 88. But then again maybe he really did have two fat ladies on the 16th and didn’t score too badly.
Gordon was trying to deter bidders in the auction by continually referring to the fact that he couldn’t putt, an obvious reference to the fact that he had taken 5 putts from about a metre an the 6th. It wasn’t that he was proud of the fact, it was just that he wanted to keep his price down to reduce his potential half share cost. Trevor was a keen bidder in the auction usually after announcing how badly the horse had performed in today’s event. Very likely another ploy to keep the price within his budget, which he seemed to have spent almost to the cent by the end of the day.
In the Club Stroke Play Championship, the nett score leader board will be the same as printed below. For the off-the-stick event, the current standings are AndrewP (72), Noodles (73), Zimmer (78), CraigC (79), Michael (81). A full Leaderboard will be published in due course.
The tallies for the Calcutta will also be circulated and monies owing have to be paid before tee time next Saturday. Any horse sold that does not front next week, the buyer will have the money refunded. Money for horses that start but do not finish will remain in the pool. Purchasers are responsible for offering half shares to the jockey and collecting the money for same. That is, the Treasurer will only accept the full amount owing for a horse in one transaction. The monies will also be collected for the Calcutta raffle ($25 to buy yourself). This is not compulsory and the best placed horse from those entered will be declared the winner. Ties will split the pool equally. Please read the Calcutta Rules under the Rules Menu above.
The Vin O’Meara marks the start of a new Competition Year and the winner of this event often goes on to become Club Champion so, if you have nominated, come along and increase your chances for the end of the 2016 year.
Results for Saturday, 28 November 2015
1st Stephen Butterfield(62) 2nd Craig Cameron(68) 3rd Andrew Petricola(69) 4th Kazim Akdag(70) 5th Andrew Blight(71) 5th Bob McDonald(71)
Seniors Results: 1st Craig Cameron (68) 2nd Andrew Blight (71) 2nd Bob McDonald (71) 3rd Gordon Hill (72)