Last week, Noodles, so he says, made an accurate prediction of how many members would front for today’s event. Without knowing what that prediction was, it’s hard to say whether he would have picked twenty and a half. How come half a player you might ask. Well, Ed was in such a rush to get away to a wedding (not his own) that he set about spifflicating poor young Noodles in the matchplay round, 8 and 7, just so that he could get away after the 13th. Some unkind souls were suggesting that he was just protecting his handicap. The weather was fine and mild and the course was refreshed from the recent rains but not over-dampened and so it is a bit hard to explain why we only managed to card 4 birdies between the lot of us. And two of those were down to Pepsi.
Despite the lack of birdies, there has been some movement in the Eclectic Table and Jason now has a slender lead most likely due to the handicap hit that Bob took after today’s event. Now, for a bloke who comes out at the start of the day crying about how much he hates Par and spends a fair part of the round complaining about how poorly he is playing, he didn’t do too badly coming in with a score of +2. And he reckons he only went bad after Trev commented on how well he was going. Bob didn’t have it on his own though as both SOS and Brendon were able to emulate the achievement to collect the points and share the podium.
It wasn’t a day for the Priems clan as far as keeping track of their scores went and as a result, Chrispy probably owes Rob a ball. Rob missed a point that he won on the 4th and that brought his card up to square and he was able to join JohnQ on the second podium step. Chrispy, on the other hand gave himself a point of the 6th, and that had the effect of dropping him down a step to join Harry in 3rd place. Not quite as far up the Championship Table as you thought, eh Chris.
The irrepressible Allan (aka Thunderbirds-are-go) continued on his merry way and moved further up the Table with a very impressive Strike Rate of 5.75, streets in front of anybody else on that measure. He was joined by Ryan, who, despite being accused on not being able to add up by Noodles, managed to card up a -2 as well. Four members crowded onto the lowest podium level with Jason, Trev, Targe and Pepsi getting up close and personal with their scores of -3.
The Matchplay round is getting along and only two matches remain in Round 2 with two weeks to get them out of the way. You (should) know who you are. The other two matches today were a bit more of a competition with Rob and Whitey fighting it out to the last with Rob snatching victory at the 18th to take the match 1 up. Rob said afterwards that he found it quite disconcerting as this was the first time that he had ever had to give strokes to an opponent. Your life is now complete Rob, you can die happy. Rob’s bro, Chris, went into battle with Mehmet and the to’s and fro’s went a bit like the troop movements at Gallipoli although Aussie Chris seemed to have to best of it at the turn. That is until they reached habibi corner and Mehmet made a comeback to almost push Chrispy back into the sea. A square card at the 18th brought on a mass migration of members to the practice green for the first chip-off that we have seen in quite some time. The chipping part of the contest went to Chris and the pressure was on Mehm to sink his putt and put the pressure back on Chris. The putt slipped by and Chrispy calmly slotted his to take the match.
The BallPin today was on the 4th and Pepsi eventually collected the ball after squeezing out Targe and SOS who had made prior claims. The mobile ProPin was on the 12th and, given the small number of birdies scored, it is perhaps no surprise that there were no contenders and the prize will Jackpot to next week. The fixed ProPin on the 18th was already a Jackpot so maybe there was an incentive to try a bit harder on this one. As it was, Brendon managed to put his to 4.29m and he was a very happy man to collect the double lot of cash. It must be said that he did resemble a mendicant type with the saucer full of money at his feet after the presentations. And you’ll be pleased to know that Brendon hasn’t lost his grip, he’s just getting a set of new ones and today’s divvie will go some way to paying for them.
Although Jason did make it onto the points table today he made the going a bit hard by trying desperately to have to shout a round for his playing companions. On at least three holes, his drive is reported to have barely made it past the red markers and so they do not qualify as a draughtie but, taken as a group, they would almost have to qualify for a shout. Actually, Jason did offer to put his hand into his pocket but his soft-hearted team opted not to take up his offer. There were lots of shouts of ‘Fore’ from the 14th tee and the first of these resulted in a ball coming close, but not too close, to Trev as he made his way up the 16th. On the second occasion, Trev made a upper body sway that would have done an Aussie batsman, facing a bouncer, proud to narrowly avoid being in the way of the incoming missile. Might even have made contact with the brim of his Akubra.
Simon had the loft on a few of his clubs adjusted during the week. The result of the change was not necessarily spectacular. Isn’t there something about – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? Gordon hit his drive on the 17th to somewhere it couldn’t be found so, ever optimistic, he sprinted back to the tee and laid into a second ball which finished over by the 18th green. With only his driver available (not wanting to delay things), Gordon managed to scone it and the ball popped up and only managed to progress a matter of centimetres. Undaunted, he applied the driver again and this time made good contact but too late to salvage a score on the hole. He reckons he needn’t have hurried because the group behind was having trouble keeping up.
Although Ed was in a hurry to get the Match against Noodles over, Noodles didn’t do himself any favours by taking four putts on the first. Pepsi noticed a large carp in the pond by the 2nd tee and mentioned the fact to Chrispy who came back – what, swimming? No Chris, waltzing! Allan was telling a little story after the round, as he is wont to do, and the upshot seems to be that he tripped over a chair leg and ended up pulling the knickers off a passing waitress. A likely story, about tripping over the chair leg, that is.
Results for Saturday, 22 April 2017
1st Bob McDonald(+2) 1st Brendon Mitchell(+2) 1st Stephen O’Sullivan(+2) 2nd Robert Priems(□) 2nd John Quinlan(□) 3rd Harry Boughen(-1) 3rd Chris Priems(-1) 4th Allan Davies(-2) 4th Ryan Porker(-2) 5th Jason Hopkins(-3) 5th Trevor Jackson(-3) 5th Targe Mifsud(-3) 5th Andrew Petricola(-3)
Seniors Results: 1st Bob McDonald (+2) 2nd Harry Boughen (-1) 3rd Allan Davies (-2)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 12th Jackpot ProPin No 2 18th Brendon Mitchell BallPin 4th Andrew Petricola