This will have to go down as some sort of red-letter day. It was revealed that Chrispy would not be playing because he was doing something with Carolyn. Details were thin on the ground but rumours swirled around the Club as members speculated what sort of a promise he might have been on. As a result, he missed out on a beautiful day for golf with the sun not too sunny and the wind not too windy. A sort of a ‘goldilocks’ day when everything was just right. If Chris had made it there would have been the neat twenty members on deck as we welcomed back David Mullenger who has had other things on his mind for quite a little while but now he reckons he can see his way clear to attend on a more regular basis.
One thing Chris possibly wouldn’t have had, had he been present, was a chance of winning the trophy as Targe swept all before him to take out the medal pretty much uncontested. The front nine was not overly spectacular although it did include three pars. The back nine on the other hand tallied six pars and three bogies to bring up a total of 81 for the round and a nett score of 61. A member of the group following Targe’s group opined that he thought that things weren’t going too well for the little fellow, particularly when he appeared from out of the hazard on the 14th when the rest of the group were already on the green. Despite the penalty, he still managed the bogey.
Harry was only a stroke behind Targe off the stick and that was down to an extra stroke on the back nine. But, the difference was in the handicap difference that used to be there. As always, Harry reckons there is room for improvement with a few left out there. Simon reckons that if he had a dollar for every putt of Harry’s that ran over the edge of the cup, he would be a rich man. Though, Harry did drain one from 10m on the 12th for a birdie and, in so doing, contributed to the 13 that were carded for the day. Not to be out-done, Porks also scored a birdie on the same hole with a 25m putt that had to do a boomerang shot across the slope to find the hole.
Simon is thinking of investing in a GoPro so that he can get vision of some of his shots to show his coach. And, on the front nine, he did have something to brag about with 40 off the beater. He squibbed a bit on the back nine, taking 41, to finish right on his handicap with a nett 68. Whether this was down to the slap on the wrist that he got when he reached for a ‘dart’ on the 11th or the fact that he stuck with his inhaler instead remains to be determined.
Next came a veritable squadron of players with the (titter, titter) score of 69. First on the list was Noodles who apparently had his moments and on one occasion he went close to breaking ‘you-know-what’. He did manage to get onto the green on the 17th but both the eagle and the birdie eluded him. Matt and Pepsi both agreed that they left a lot out there and Matt did own up to a ‘double’ hit with the second being a much better shot than the first. David got off to a good start with his first round with us for a while so he could be one to watch in coming weeks.
Rob had a big smile on his dial when he walked up and announced that he had scored a 68 when he knew perfectly well that MattH had come in with a 69. He also had a fist full of stubbies courtesy of a tee shot on the 11th that ended up moving less than a metre from the tee and well short of the red markers. Rob was not alone in the draughtie department with Jake managing on on the 2nd and Trev getting one as well though his playing mates took pity on him and did not enforce the shout. Trev did struggle a bit with a sore foot and hopefully there will be some relief in store as we all know how Trev loves his golf. But, we should not forget, ChrisV also managed to get a 71 to share the podium with Rob.
The BallPin today was on the 15th and there was a bit of a contest to be had with no less than three names on the ticket. The one that mattered though belonged to Dave. The first ProPin was on the 12th and the pin position was on the reasonably tricky right hand corner of the green. This didn’t faze John though as he managed to get his to 3.27m to get the money but not the birdie. On the 18th, we had a double jackpot and, with the pin on the lower deck people liked their chances. They had little chance though after MattN put his to 2.4m from the first group and nobody else got inside that mark.
There were reports that MattN also had a five putt green today but the gory details did not forth-come. RodG managed to have two putts with one stroke after hesitating as he contacted the ball and then accelerating to make the second contact. It requires great co-ordination to manage that. Chrispy has, hopefully, solved his shanking problem but SOS had some similar problems today. He did claim a birdie today even though he had six on the hole. As he played a recovery shot from one of his shanks, the ball struck one of the feathered varieties but, as for last week, no wildlife was adversely affected by the events in question.
Just to re-iterate the answer to the question about the seeding of the Matchplay. The seeding will be based on the most recent three cards up to and including the last round in this month. All members will be seeded unless they have advised that they do not wish to be included in the competition. Preferably, this advice should be via the Matchplay Registration Form on the web-site although oral or e-mail advice will be accepted in extremis. Please be aware that, if you are seeded, you have an obligation to play your match if you and your opponent are present on the same day and that you must make every effort to play the match by the deadline. There will be no extensions. If you foresee difficulty in complying, please consider withdrawing your availability before the seeding deadline.
Results for Saturday, 03 February 2018
1st Targe Mifsud(61) 2nd Harry Boughen(65) 3rd Simon Powell(68) 4th Stephen Butterfield(69) 4th Matt Hunt(69) 4th David Mullenger(69) 4th Andrew Petricola(69) 5th Robert Priems(71) 5th Chris Vinecombe(71)
Seniors Results: 1st Targe Mifsud (61) 2nd Harry Boughen (65) 3rd Simon Powell (68)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 12th John Quinlan ProPin No 2 18th Matt Nicholls BallPin 15th David Mullenger