The weather bureau has been trying to predict rain for most of the last month and seem to have rarely succeeded. Not that we would be deterred by a little of the wet stuff as long as we didn’t have to drink it. There was obviously no let down after the conclusion of the David Ford Autumn Cup last week and despite the prospect of a third Par round there were twenty-one players on hand to fight it out for the glory. There was a bit of coolth in the air and the briskish nor-westerly helped it along with the wind-chill factor but the sun did break through from time to time and shirt-sleeves were tolerable by the end of the round.
One man who did feel comfortable in the conditions, though he didn’t feel inclined to take off his jumper, was our Treasurer and generally forceful fellow, SOS. He managed to come in today with a personal best off the stick score of 75 and five points on the positive side of the ledger to take out the day by the proverbial country mile. Four of those points were accumulated on the front nine and there were eight squares on the back so there was obviously potential for much better things. Well done you!
Damo has been doing a bit of juggling of duties to basketball and baby-sitting but that doesn’t seem to have affected his golf too much as he was able to card just five strokes over the card for the one surplus Par point and second place in the field.
He didn’t hold that spot on his own with Dale turning in a fairly shaky card to bring in the the same score-line. With seven lost holes to account for, there weren’t too many left to square. But, it must be said that Dale did have at least one tricky shot to deal with when a shot on the 2nd hole hit one tree and bounced straight back and came to rest nicely snuggled in a hollow out of the breeze. And out of the question for any sort of a (legal) shot.
Now, the handicapper has been known to admonish people to check the handicap sheet before tee time in case their handicap has changed. Guilty as charged, your honour. As a result there is now a tie for third place with a square card between Michael and Harry. Michael has been sweating on handicap difference for his up-coming match against Pepsi but he assures that there are no grounds for suspicion about the putt that he missed on the 18th. Oh, that’s right, you didn’t know. Michael and the Beast slugged it out today in their Round 3 match and it would have to be said that the Beast had a beast of a day. As a guide, Bill’s shot into the green on the 13th, that had every chance of finishing a good one, hit the electrics junction box on the left side and deflected out of bounds. And so it was that Michael eventually won the match 5 and 3.
There was a three way tie for 4th place with a score of -2 between Targe, Brendon and Brent. There were apparently no draughties reported today although Brendon did admit to getting the saliva glands of his playing partners going with one shot that barely made the requisite distance after a run-in with a tree. Targe took an unplayable on the 17th and this resulted in some vigourous discussion about the ins and outs of taking relief from an unplayable lie. Perhaps everyone should get out their copy of Rules of Golf and bone up on this one.
And next, we have a whole herd of people lining up for the last point on offer with Gordon, Trev, Ed, Chrispy and Joe in the line up of suspects. Gordon is looking forward to July when he goes on long-service leave and he is planning to work on his golf and the final details of the Annual Challenge trip to Shep. Despite Chrispy being embarrassed about taking points for a -3 card, he’ll take it just the same. Ed probably could have been further up the ladder if he hadn’t started trying to ‘shape’ his shots and talking while he was doing it. Joe is besotted with his young fella and is starting to wonder how soon he can enroll him in the Tiger Golf program. Two months is probably a bit on the young side. Trev was doing a bit of a panic as he thought he had lost one of his clubs when he couldn’t find it in his bag. Turns out the cover on his driver had slipped over the head of the club and it was there in (almost) plain view the whole time.
Bob also had a few ‘bag’ problems as he was sporting a ‘new’ one today and he kept putting his clubs into the wrong hole. Hopefully that was the only thing that he was putting in the wrong hole. The temporary hole on the 8th turned out to be very temporary indeed as the regular green was back in use today although it was sporting a few extra holes in the form of some coring, presumably to improve the drainage and not to put off Bob’s putts. And while still dealing with the 8th, the GUR barricades and signage caused some angst for a number of players, including Pepsi (hit post), Chrispy (hit signage) and Harry (blamed for duffed chip). Damo’s tee shot on the 4th ran foul of the trees and finished a good 20m short of the green that elicited some unkind comments from the group in front. Just to show them (and to avoid having to putt) Damo proceeded to chip it in for his birdie.
In a similar vein, Noodles slammed his drive on the 17th down into the heart of the fairway about 30m out from the green. With the greatest of ease he chipped it in for the eagle and cleared out the Eagles Nest of the seven precious eggs that resided therein. SOS is planning to get in a supply of Noodle balls against the day that Noodles raids the nest again. Noodles almost didn’t have it on his own though as Damo went for the green from the tee and his pitch mark was a mere 150mm past the hole with an eminently gettable putt for the eagle. Unfortunately! But the birdie did contribute to the total of 11 for the day which is not too flash considering the numbers last week.
The BallPin today was a double Jackpot and was located on the 12th hole. A few people got their name on the card but the last, and presumably the closest, was ChrisV who almost lost out in the presentations to ChrisP who was quite prepared to claim the prize despite not even getting on the green. The first ProPin was on the 15th and Brendon put his to 3.0m to take the loot uncontested. The second ProPin on the 18th (a Jackpot) went to Gordon who managed to get it to 3.86m, which wasn’t a bad effort considering the pin position on the upper tier.
Results for Saturday, 27 May 2017
1st Stephen O’Sullivan(+5) 2nd Damien Lee(+1) 2nd Dale Webb(+1) 3rd Harry Boughen(□) 3rd Michael Gourlay(□) 4th Targe Mifsud(-2) 4th Brendon Mitchell(-2) 4th Brent Rowley(-2) 5th Gordon Hill(-3) 5th Trevor Jackson(-3) 5th Ed Kloprogge(-3) 5th Chris Priems(-3) 5th Joe Wagenecht(-3)
Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen (□) 2nd Targe Mifsud (-2) 3rd Ed Kloprogge (-3) 3rd Gordon Hill (-3) 3rd Trevor Jackson (-3)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 15th Brendon Mitchell ProPin No 2 18th Gordon Hill BallPin 12th Chris Vinecombe
Eagle’s nest Results: Eagle 17th Stephen Butterfield