The ground staff have obviously been out and about. A nice new path from the 1st green to the 2nd tee and the new ‘tiger’ tee and water feature is coming along nicely. The 1st green is likely to be a much more hazardous spot when that comes into play. Still, it will give a whole new aspect to a hole that rates almost equally as the hardest on the course though there is a rumour that it will also become a par 5 which will compensate a little for the change in aspect and length. They also shouted themselves a new truckload of sand and spread a layer on the greens which gave a myriad of excuses for missed putts. The sand made it faster, the sand made it slower, the sand got between the club and the ball, the sand deflected the ball, the sand was wet, the sand dried out. You name it, the sand caused it, but it never once helped. Funny that! But, either it did help or the conditions were not as bad as some would like to believe. The twenty-one players who made it to the course managed to tally up 17 birdies for the day and more than one of those were only millimetres away from being eagles (or holes-in-one), but more of that later.
In recent times, Whitey has been bemoaning his lack of form but maybe it has just taken a while to shake off the effects of a summer filled with applying the willow to the cherry. Whatever the reason, he has picked a good event to strike some of the form needed to take out a major. The scorecard suggests that the further he went, the better he played so if that carries over to next week the rest of the field might not see his heels for dust.
But he doesn’t have the field to himself just yet as there are a couple of likely lads breathing right down his neck and there promises to be some tensions in the leaders group as they strive to wrest the trophy from his grasp. Matt was unlucky not to be the one to hold the lead after a bit of a brain fade on the 16th that put a big fat zilch on his card from a spot that could easily have netted a doubleton and the lead. Right next to him is the Beast who also had a very steady round but managed to splotch out on the 12th, the ‘easiest’ hole on the course so another potential leader gone begging. The big question that is on everybody’s lips is whether Mehmet’s non-winning streak is about to end. The lad who missed out on the recent coup attempt by putting off his military service could also have grasped the lead if not for the 12th hole where a score could not be recorded.
There’s obviously something very comforting about coming in with a score of 35 points. Maybe it is because you know that any future handicap pain will be slightly compensated by a bit of a let out on the first round score. And so it was that Michael, Ryan, Chrispy, Rob and SOS proved to be indivisible at the half way point with a not impossible task of being able to snatch victory from the leader’s grasp.
Bob might have been the last to front up to the registration desk and throw the groupings into chaos but the chipping practice that he was so intent on that he lost track of time must have paid off and he was able to come in at 4th place on his own. Then there is a bit of a gap to a group of players that will need to work reasonably hard if they want to hoist the silverware next week. Harry, Noodles and Dennis will have to keep their heads fairly well down to bridge the eight point gap, unless of course they can manage to pull off a Bradbury. If Dennis can keep up the improvement between his first ten holes (10 points) and his last eight (21 points) then he could very well be the man to do the job.
While on the subject of Dennis, he did manage a draughtie on the 4th and it must have been close to being an airie as the ball reportedly only moved millimetres off the tee. However the next shot finished less than a metre and a half from the pin but the putt didn’t fall and he missed the unlikeliest of pars, by the barest of margins. Perhaps it was a hint of the forthcoming change in his fortunes but his second shot on the 8th was heading for the billabong without a doubt when it struck the 100m distance marker dead centre and finished nicely in the middle of the fairway. The resulting five was one of the few highlights of the first ten holes for Dennis. Ryan managed a draughtie on the 14th and his second shot was deemed to be brilliant by the group in front however they didn’t realise that it was his second not his first shot.
Rob must have had his driver working well late in the round. On the 14th, he hit the pin on the second bounce and the ball finished with a good chance at robbing the Eagles Nest which is now pushing on towards double figures again. Unfortunately, the putt did not drop for him and he had to be satisfied with just the birdie. If the putt had fallen, not only would he have collected the Nest but he would also have wrenched the lead in the Eclectic table from Brendon. There were a few moves on that card today including the move onto the card by Paul who played his first competition round with us today. And, just so you know, the Eclectic Table has been updated after this round so you don’t have to worry all week about whether any changes will show up. Though it was a bit off line and finished on the teaching range, Rob’s drive on the 16th was also a cracker and shots like that very much suggest that his handicap does not truly reflect his potential. Still, as the old saying goes – you drive for show and you putt for dough.
Gordo started out well but, by his own admission, he should have been reaching for the Butter Menthols after the 8th when the wheels fell of and he started blowing black smoke as well to gather only 11 points over the next 10 holes. Harry managed a bit of a draw on the 17th that left him in amongst the shrubbery down by the fence with no sensible relief from the preferred lie rule in force and with no backswing to speak of. The club pushed up such a heap of leaf litter that Harry was quite convinced that he had merely succeeded in burying the ball rather than extricating it. The calls of congratulations from the playing partners eventually awoke him to the fact that the ball was actually out on the fairway in quite a good position to attack the green.
SOS managed to score a birdie on the 4th and that was after his ball hit the pin on the hop and went close to falling in for the big Hole in One. Pepsi was playing in the same group and his ball also finished within gimme distance of the hole and he too scored his birdie. JohnQ, also in the same group, hit a shot from the tee that barely missed by running across the edge of the hole. Unfortunately, it wasn’t John’s first shot from the tee but it was indeed remarkable that three people should go so close getting it in off the tee in the one playing group. And there was no other loot to be had for their efforts. The BallPin was on the 15th and the marker had stayed in place from the first group to the last when Mehmet the Beast Killer was able to put his name ahead of Bill’s. The same name appeared on the ProPin at the 18th when Mehm managed to put his tee shot to 27cm to collect the money and a birdie to boot.
A couple of weeks back, Damo was walking up the 9th munching on a sausage roll (or something similar) when a magpie flew at hims and snatched at the food, hitting Damo in the face and knocking the food to the ground where it went under the wheel of his buggy. Gordo swears that it was the same magpie but this time it was on the 10th and the food in question was a potato cake but the result was remarkably similar with a hit to the face and the food lost. So, for all you food munchers out there, keep your eyes open (or maybe closed would be safer) particularly, it seems in the vicinity of the club-house where the birds have obviously learned that the pickings are more likely and easy.
Chrispy must be taking an interest in art and particularly the French Impressionists. On a number of occasions, before, during and after the round, members were onto him about his predilection for that particular favourite of his, Degas.
Registrations for Numurkah have been a bit slow coming in with lots of people hemming and hawing about whether they can make it or not. Make up your mind guys and let Gordon and SOS know.
Everybody should feel free to come along next week even if you didn’t play this week. But if you do decide to come, please let us know so that we can adjust the catering if required. There will be the usual bar-be-que and I am sure that Rob will bring along the trophy so that we can have a presentation after the final scores have been totted up. Maybe he will be able to make it back-to-back!
Results for Saturday, 16 July 2016
Leaderboard Round 1: 1st Rodney White(39) 2nd Bill Eastoe(38) 2nd Matt Hunt(38) 2nd Mehmet Akdag(38) 3rd Michael Gourlay(35) 3rd Ryan Porker(35) 3rd Chris Priems(35) 3rd Robert Priems(35) 3rd Stephen O’Sullivan(35) 4th Bob McDonald(34) 5th Harry Boughen(31) 5th Stephen Butterfield(31) 5th Dennis Ward(31)
Seniors Leaderboard: 1st Bill Eastoe (38) 2nd Bob McDonald (34) 3rd Dennis Ward (31) 3rd Harry Boughen (31)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 18th Mehmet Akdag BallPin 15th Mehmet Akdag