When Simon arrived at Ivanhoe, the carpark was empty and it was raining. The prospect for golf looked grim as people packed up and headed home. Advice from the ground staff was to putt between the puddles. But, six members in all turned up and Simon got his wish to have a comp on the day despite Blighty pulling the pin with some rare and exotic medical condition. On the other hand, up in Shepparton the skies were clear, Friday’s wind had dropped and frost lay all about, particularly on Sunday morning. Nineteen contenders for the Mustard jacket blew into their palms and stomped their feet as they prepared themselves for the fray.
Meanwhile, at Ivanhoe, the rain eased a little and the secret six headed off to be beset by showers on and off for the duration of the front nine. After that the weather improved a little but the course was still soggy and this might have had some little influence on the scores. Simon started off well enough and was obviously not put off by the showery conditions making 19 points on the front nine. He might have choked a bit (on his bacon sandwich) after the 9th as the scoring rate dropped away and he came home with the grand total of 32 points to take the top points for the day. Simon also managed to score the ProPin on the 18th although the dividend would not buy too many bacon sandwiches.
The Beast, Ed and Dennis rolled in next with a score of 30 points. Bill was a bit erratic and found some problems with the trees but he was able to stay away from the trees on the 15th and put his ball on the green close enough to win the jackpot ProPin and one of the best dividends of the day. Eddie was steady and Dennis had a few shockers on what could have been a good card otherwise. CraigC is not a mud runner if his score card is anything to go by with the front nine proving to be a bit of a struggle but things got better on the back with a win on the BallPin hole, the 12th. The only ‘junior’ in the field, Joe, brought up the rear of the field but he still managed to get a couple of points for his trouble.
Back up in sunny Shepparton, the fortunes were mixed, very mixed. Matt was very confident that he was set to pull off the back to back and have to present himself with the Mustard Jacket. He turned out at the Saturday night dinner resplendent in the jacket with matching slacks, tan shoes (but no pink laces) and a very fetching star spangled black shirt (but no polka dot vest). He still oozed confidence that he could make a break from his middle of the field position to take out the young pretender, Brent, who lead the field after Saturdays round. As it turned out, Brent was not to be denied. There was a serious challenge from Michael who drew level at the 14th only to suffer a three point turn around on the 15th. And, from there, Brent blitzed it to finish with a chip in for birdie on the 18th to take out the Challenge trophy with a total for the event of 72 points.
After the first day, Porks was only two points behind the leader despite suffering all day with a headache. Application of some pain-killers on Sunday morning raised hopes of an improved performance but it was not to be with an equal card raising his total to 66 and leaving his position in second place. Maybe it was Brendon’s late night advice that Ryan should ‘lower his standards’ that was taken the wrong way. Not wanting to throw Tinder on the fire of course. Still, he did putt well under pressure with Michael threatening to take his place with any putt that happened to slip past.
And so it was that Michael tried to blot the 15th hole from his memory. He denied any recollection of it after Saturday and he would like to deny all recollection of it again on Sunday. He thinks it unlikely that he could have matched Brent’s sprint to the line and consoles himself with the points that he got for his 3rd place. The big improver on the day was Jason, who matched the best daily score and leapt well up the field to take the fourth spot on the podium. Jason was going gang-busters until the 13th when somebody in the group commented on how well he was tearing the course apart. He promptly gashed the next two holes. A win was unlikely but a better placing was definitely on the cards. And then there was Noodles who got himself fifth place with his 62 point total. And that with a claim that he managed to put a ball into every bunker on the back nine.
There were a swag of ProPins on offer. There were the usual on the par threes and a couple of nearest in two on the shorter par fours. Now the exact disposition of the largesse is lost to your intrepid reporter but the list of winners included Michael, Brent, Gordon, Ryan, Matt, Chris Woods-Day and Noodles. Most were not that close but there was one that went very close and that one came from the club of Brendon and if you can bear to look a little to the left you will see just how close and Brendon’s shoes as well.
The course description said ‘a long iron to the bend gives an easy shot to the green’. Not sure which universe that is in but the 15th defied all efforts to get on in two and so it was decided to draw lots from those who missed out on a ‘real’ ProPin. The lucky duckies to collect the left over moolah were SOS and JohnQ
There was also a ‘secret six’ competition with random holes being selected by the ladies present. Perhaps not surprising, considering his consistent and good form, both dividends went the Brent although there was only a third of a stroke or so in it.
There is one more trophy that is awarded for the week-end and that is for the ‘bugger’ (won’t use the other word that is often heard) shot of the round and there was no shortage of contenders. There was the usual collection of draughties by Mehmet, Rob, Harry, SOS and Matt. Harry’s was notable by finishing between two protective fences after a ricochet from a tree. There was a shot by SOS out of a bunker on the 18th that finished on the roof of the Clubhouse. And JohnQ scored a hat-trick of bunkers around the green at the 18th. But the one to take the prize was the second shot of the whole weekend when Mehm’s ball went about as high as JohnQ and as far as Targe from the 10th tee on Saturday with 18 other players watching on.
The santa ana couch was generally voted to be nice to play on despite being rather bleached by the cold and frost. However, some, including SOS still had to resist an urge to take preferred lies and a chance to clean the ball. SOS reckons it would be good for four or five strokes off the score. If he could combine that with Noodles eight strokes for staying on the fairway, SOS could easily be a scratch golfer.
On one hole, Chrispy was advised not to go right. If nothing else, Chris is famous for his ‘power fade’ so, short of taking on Shepparton’s array of fairly tall trees, it would have been advice that was hard to follow. Chrispy reckons that he needs a break from golf and that we won’t be seeing him for a while, at least, not this Saturday.
Now everybody knows that SOS managed to get a hole in one back at Ivanhoe a week or so ago. And, over the weekend, SOS managed to do it again. Except that it wasn’t exactly his first shot on the hole and it wasn’t exactly the hole in the green that he managed to tuck the ball into. Here is a reprise of the earlier picture but showing the different location – in JohnQ’s bag.
Most gathered at the RSL for dinner of Friday night and a good time was had by all although some found the size of the meal servings a bit overwhelming. There was a modicum of alcohol consumed and, as is often the case some beer was spilled. However, Jason was not satisfied with spilling his own beer, he managed to spill a whole table full.
After the game on Saturday, there was another gathering at the RSL. There were a couple of reasons. The Golf Club was taken over by a massive wake for a local identity and there was a TAB facility at the RSL. JohnQ organised the Punters Club and did a great job except for a couple of incidents where two horses in the same race were backed or somebody picked a horse that John did not like. The main bone of contention was when Stef backed a horse for the Club and took another horse in the same race on his own account and cleaned up big. Mehmet took out a multi on the football and Brendon had some sort of a bet that involved the All Blacks but it seems that neither of those got up despite assurances that the combinations picked couldn’t lose. At the end of the day, there was money in the kitty to be handed back to the members. This is a better result that last year when Pepsi took a hand in deciding the punts that were made.
The meal at the Golf Club left a little to be desired with the beef dish in particular causing some comment. Mehm got the hungers during the night and ordered in a pizza (probably not an hawaiian) to get himself through ’til morning. On the other hand, the meat and salads provided for the bar-be-que lunch on Sunday were voted to be exemplary with a lot of credit due to Bobbie who slaved diligently to ensure that the meat was cooked to perfection and almost to the extent of missing out on a feed for himself so hungry were the vultures (and kiwis). A secret vote was taken to appoint Bob to the position of Club Chef in perpetuity.
Results for Saturday, 19 August 2017
1st Simon Powell(32) 1st Brent Rowley(35, 37, 72) 2nd Bill Eastoe(30) 2nd Ed Kloprogge(30) 2nd Ryan Porker(33, 33, 66) 2nd Dennis Ward(30) 3rd Craig Cameron(28) 3rd Michael Gourlay(32, 33, 65) 4th Jason Hopkins(26, 37, 63) 4th Joe Wagenecht(26) 5th Stephen Butterfield(35, 27, 62)
Seniors Results: 1st Simon Powell (32) 1st Targe Mifsud (32) 2nd Bill Eastoe (30) 2nd Dennis Ward (30) 2nd Ed Kloprogge (30) 2nd Gordon Hill (30) 3rd Allan Davies (28) 3rd Craig Cameron (28)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 15th Bill Eastoe ProPin No 2 18th Simon Powell BallPin 12th Craig Cameron