Firstly, there is just a small matter to correct from last week. It was erroneously reported last week that the reason that Stef did not have a trophy to heft was because the Real Priems couldn’t bear to be parted from it. It seems that the honourable editor caught the disease from JohnQ and confused the Winter Cup with the Autumn Cup and the real culprit for the absence of the trophy was none other than Stef himself. Belated congrats to Stef for back-to-back wins and apologies to Rob for casting nasturtiums.
Enough of that. Now for the annals of the nineteen players who made it out on to the slightly damp course at Ivanhoe this morning. The weather was quite chilly to start with and the short sleeves and shorts were not quite so much in evidence. A number of people were hunched over like half open pocket knives and jostling for the slivers of sunlight that were filtering through onto the first tee. The predicted showers did arrive about half way through the back nine and really only served to put Brendon off his eagle putt on the 14th and cause some inconvenience juggling wet weather gear and umbrellas. A hole later and you would hardly have known that it had rained.
The weather certainly wasn’t cold enough to re-freeze Michael’s shoulder(s) and he was able to reel off six birdies on his way to his 36 points to take out the first place in the field. Not a bad tally out of a total of fourteen birdies for the whole field though the scoreline does suggest that the other twelve holes were rather more variable in outcome. However, in the process, he only managed to improve his eclectic card by one stroke and so Brendon remains at the head of the field but his birdies were ineffective in improving his position and the lead remains the slimmest of margins.
Both Rob and SOS reckoned that they should have done better than their 35 points and a couple of serious gashes on each of the cards confirmed that this was the case. In the event, their scores were enough to settle second place behind Michael. They were joined by George who managed to reach the same score with seven singletons on the card. A significant difference in totals between the front and back suggests that it took a while for him to warm up.
Brendon could perhaps claim to have been distracted by his match against Harry. The fortunes in the match oscillated over the first nine with the form of both going through alternating purple and brown patches that left Brendon down one at the turn. However, Brendon hit his straps on the back nine and finished the job on the 15th, 4 and 3, while Harry’s form continued up and down like a bride’s nightie, all but ruling out his chances to stem the flow. In another ‘coulda’, Brendon managed not to score a point on the 18th and the violins played Waltzing Matilda. Whilst on the subject of Matchplay. Rob and Bob have next week to play their match or to agree a result one way or another. We would hate to see a walkover at this late stage in the event though.
Noodles was in the last group and joined in with Mehmet trying to bait certain members of the group in front about slow play. If it was slow, it must have given him time to think about his shots as he managed to come in 4th with 32 points. We haven’t seen Sharpie for a while as he struggles with a foot problem that requires him to use a cart and so it was that he shared with Stef today. It’s rumoured that he has had a chance to play at other locations in recent times but he was still asking whether he could get himself re-handicapped by putting in three new cards. Obviously, the request was completely unfounded as he was able to get himself a spot on the podium. However, by forgetting that he actually got a stroke on the 18th, he managed to tip poor old Chrispresident out of the shared glory of 5th place. Maybe next time Chris.
Now for some shattering news. For the first time in who knows how long, there was not a Senior on the podium today. In actual fact, there were only three Seniors in the whole field and so Harry, Targe and Simon collected the goodies in that department. In other goodies news, Michael got beaten out of both of the pin comps today. The BallPin ended up going to SOS on the 4th and on the 15th, Targe managed to put it to 3.5m to gather the ProPin. And, while on the topic of the ProPin, the Committee decided that the Club would put an extra dollar per head into the ProPin pool on Monthly Medal days. The comp fee will remain the same for qualified members but the ProPin fee for Social rounds on MM days will go up to $2. So, another reason to turn up next week.
Damo didn’t feature in the prize list today and maybe it was because he was a bit shell shocked. George shanked one off the 8th tee and it whistled past Damo coming down the 7th. He might have had time to recover from that by the time he got to the 17th. But, Rob was trying to repeat his eagle effort from last week to round out the dozen and went close again as the green had not yet been cleared. Perhaps a little less enthusiasm is required.
Without seeming to want to pick on Damien, he was one contributor to the collection of draughties today. He managed one on the 11th, ChrisV saved his for the 14th and Harry followed closely on the 15th. Not a bad tally at all but not a record we should be trying to emulate.
After some discussions about who was next to putt, a proposal was put forward that there should be a new measure of length to replace the metre. Hence forward, all putts will be measured using the new length standard, the Targe. To celebrate, Targe managed to sink a three Targe putt on the 17th. Representations will be made to the R & A and the ISO to have this decision ratified.
The Birthday Birdie is going to be terribly out of condition with no good wishes to be dispensed for quite a little while so he will just take it easy in his little armchair with his blanket over his knees until he needs to stretch his wings again.
Simon is still open to receiving information from members on shirt sizings but if you don’t nominate and your size runs out after the order is received you might just have to breathe in or swim in it depending on what is left.
Don’t forget that nominations are open for the Annual Challenge weekend at Numurkah from 19-21 August. Let Gordon know and transfer the necessary funds into the Club bank account (full fee only, no deposit, refundable with suitable notice). Details are on the dodger that was circulated and bank details are also on the web-site under Contacts.
We have an Ambrose scheduled for later in June. This will be a social round on 25 June to celebrate the passing of the Solstice and the start of longer days and/or the astronomical start of winter. Because of the game format, members will not be able to play in the inside comp or submit cards for GL handicapping purposes. This event requires that we have the tee groups planned in advance so that the handicap distribution is fair and, if possible, the groups are equal in size. So, we really do need to have a firm indication of your intention to play in this event well beforehand. Certainly no later that 20 June so that the necessary calculations can be made.
Results for Saturday, 28 May 2016
1st Michael Gourlay(36) 2nd Robert Priems(35) 2nd Stephen O’Sullivan(35) 2nd George Tenaglia(35) 3rd Brendon Mitchell(33) 4th Stephen Butterfield(32) 5th Craig Sharp(31)
Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen (29) 2nd Targe Mifsud (28) 3rd Simon Powell (24)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 15th Targe Mifsud BallPin 4th Stephen O’Sullivan