It was a bit dark and gloomy out and about today as the clouds loured and, a couple of times they almost gave out with one of the promised showers of rain. Fortunately, the drops were very small and the precipitation did not last for long. The south-westerly kept the temperature down, barely above shivering level but it was not strong enough to be much of a help, or a hindrance, to the playing of the game. Twenty people ventured out onto the course with the drop-out members being replaced by drop-in members and Brendon’s dad was replaced by JohnQ’s workmate, Pete, who travelled all the way from London to join us for the day (or maybe not). Pete was so impressed by Pepsi that he reckons he wants to join the Club. Not so much for how Pepsi played but for what he was able to say.
Rumours abounded out on the course about how well people were, or were not, going but, as it turned out, all of the action was taking place at the head of the leader board in the final group. Harry and Craig started the day with a one shot lead on MattN who was only a single point in front of Ed. The fortunes fluctuated a bit on the front nine and at the turn, Harry and Matt were square for the day while Craig had dropped a stroke to be even with Matt behind Harry. Ed had the worst of it and turned at -3 for the day and needing a bit of an effort to stay in contention. Harry dropped a point at the 10th and there was a three way contest in the offing. That is until Harry and Matt strung together three plusses apiece and pretty much left Craig gasping in their dust. Harry managed to extend his plus run to five on the trot and it looked as if he might have the jump. But, Matt got his mojo back and started another run of plus while Harry struck a bit of a rough patch on the last three holes. Whilst it would have been possible for a tied score after the 18th, Matt would have won the count-back and, in the event, he snatched the victory with +6 on the back nine and for the day giving a grand total for the event of +8.
In his acceptance speech at the presentation, Matt said how pleased he was to have found the Club and how much he enjoyed playing with us. He also thanked Harry for pushing him so much as he might not have scored so well otherwise. Fred would probably be well pleased to see his trophy so keenly contested in a Par Competition. There are rumours about that next year’s Fred Kitson Trophy will be a coffee table or that the Huon pine might have been sold off to the highest bidder. Keep your eye out for ads in the Cape York News.
Harry did say that he was going to keep coming second to protect his handicap in his effort to catch Michael in the Championship. Unfortunately, the maths now requires some wins as well and even this effort has been a bit expensive in the handicap department. Bob, Chrispy and the other Matt put in a very good effort and picked up some points for their third placing. Chrispy had to dash off to some family function or another. It wasn’t his birthday although the Birthday Birdie does have a whisper that Chris has something to celebrate later in the week. One step closer to the Seniors, hey Chris!
Craig was able to brush off the dust and finished with -1 overall to score a place in 4th spot. He was joined there by Porks who fared a bit better this week than he did last. Noodles was pretty pleased to finish in the points with his -3 result for the event. Particularly as he finished with only 7 clubs in his bag after his favourite 3 iron went to God after a run in with the ground on the 6th hole. Brendon managed much better today without his father to compete with and, with Pepsi, rounded out the point scorers.
Now, if you thought DennisW did it tough putting in the card he did last week when he knew he wasn’t playing this week and that Matt’s +6 today was a pretty impressive score, spare a thought for Brent, who didn’t play last week and fairly took the course apart today to post the best score of the day with a +8. At least he got a ball in the daily ball-run.
It is possible that there was more anticipation about the Club today over what would happen in the Nearest the Pin competitions. The least excitement was probably associated with the BallPin which was, once again, on the 4th. Although Harry did have a good go at his, so-called, favourite hole, it was Pepsi who was able to put it close enough to hold out all contenders and collect the little white pill. The ProPin on the 12th was a Jackpot from last week and there were a number of nice tries but nobody was able to get inside Gordon who was in the Chef’s Brigade and put his to 3.53m from the hole. When passed on the course, Gordo seemed a little grumpy so this could very well have been a highlight. But, all eyes were on the big prize on the 18th and the pin was on the lower deck so hopes were high with negotiations about sharing dividends being carried out at fever pitch. Most groups just said ‘Just do it’. In one group, however, a certain Kiwi held out and decided that he was going to go it alone. Brendon’s tee shot looked good. Jason’s tee shot looked good (though Brendon did suggest that it got a good bounce). When the tape measure came out, Jason’s ball was at 2.75m, Brendon’s was at 2.85m. Three happy Aussies, one sad Kiwi.
Harry’s drive on the 7th took one bounce and hit the top of the flagstick and stopped about 3m from the hole instead of, possibly, in the dam behind the green. The putt finished about 5mm outside the hole and so there was not a contribution to the total of twenty birdies from that piece of luck (or was it skill?). This is one of our better strike rates for a while but whether it says something about the standard of the golf or the standard of the course could easily be debated. One other thing of note on the birdie front was the fact that an entire group of four players scored birdies on the 15th. Well done Brent, Jason, Rob and Brendon. The Eagles Nest is starting to show signs of overflowing but there were a couple of near things today with Rob and Porks leaving chips just short of the elusive two under.
Rob didn’t have it all his own way though as he managed to score the dreaded draughtie on the 4th and the ball was quite a way short of the red markers. Bob’s wife gave him a present recently and he wondered why she would have been giving him a box of golf balls (he already has a 200l drum full). It turns out they were made of chocolate and probably wouldn’t have taken the spin that Bob is used to playing for. Though they might not have been any worse than his drive from the 1st. Speaking of drives, Ed opted to go for the green on the 17th so he teed the ball well up and took out his driver and fairly laid into it. It wasn’t the location of the ball that was of interest, It was the position of the tee. It popped up and landed on Ed’s shoulder, and stayed there. Ed reached across and retrieved it as if nothing was unusual about that.
Results for Saturday, 21 October 2017
1st Matt Nicholls(+2, +6, +8) 2nd Harry Boughen(+3, +2, +5) 3rd Matt Hunt(+1, +1, +2) 3rd Bob McDonald(-1, +3, +2) 3rd Chris Priems(-1, +3, +2) 4th Craig Cameron(+3, -2, +1) 4th Ryan Porker(-1, +2, +1) 5th Stephen Butterfield(-2, -1, -3) 5th Brendon Mitchell(-3, □, -3) 5th Andrew Petricola(-2, -1, -3)
Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen {+2,+3,+5)2nd Bob McDonald (+3,-1,+2) 3rd Craig Cameron (-2,+3,+1)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 12th Gordon Hill ProPin No 2 18th Jason Hopkins BallPin 4th Andrew Petricola