Despite the conclusion that you might be forgiven for drawing from the featured photo, the day started off quite warm although there was a bit of wind to make things interesting. The members were very happy to see that the ground-staff had been out on the job early again and that the greens had been freshly mowed.
A threat of some rain held off at least until the round was over and so an enjoyable day was had by all if the banter around the tables was any guide. The prospect of extra points in a par event seems to have lifted the general mood and the person to lay claim to the first two pointer was Gordon who managed a birdie on the very first hole. It will be interesting to see who can bring home the first three pointer.
Brendon seems to have hit a bit of a streak and he has now made a break to the front of the pack in the Championship Table. He obviously likes the Par style of play as his two wins have been in that format. How much of today’s plus six scoreline was down to the extra points has not been divulged.
Porks certainly took advantage of the extra points by gathering a couple on consecutive holes at the 3rd and 4th and in the process saved himself from further outward drift of his handicap. His card of plus four was well and truly matched by Gordo who has already been mentioned in despatches.
DennisW managed to present with a card that was also in positive territory to snag third place on the podium. Dennis conducted a master class in play from tee to green but, unfortunately, the flat stick let him down a little and the result could have been entirely different if a few more of the rolls had dropped.
Simon played an exemplary second shot into the 3rd green and the ball finished under half a metre from the hole. Simon removed his hat to take a bow except that his hat was not on his head but quite a distance back along the fairway. Maybe the chemicals from his ‘puffer’ or the lack of tar from the ‘darts’ have addled his brain. Michael obligingly jogged back to retrieve the hat while Ed rolled about laughing at Michael’s running style. Mal has kept up his run of form since his return and also produced a square card to finish alongside Si.
Rob (the good looking one) was just a stroke behind with minus one. As well as his point for fifth place, Rob managed to collect a ball by putting it close enough on the BallPin 4th hole. The 12th was a double jackpot ProPin pool this week and this could very well be the reason that Michael made a come-back from his back injury as he was able to put it to 2.4m. In the process he just managed to squeeze out Brendon at 2.5m with Gordon and Porks also thinking they had some sort of a chance. Brendon made up for his disappointment by sneaking in to just under the 5m limit (4.51m) from the rather difficult top tier pin placement on the 18th to take out the second ProPin.
Michael’s return to play started well with several birdies and it obviously continued at least until the 12th. However the loot counting might have distracted him because it was all down hill from there and a couple of three putt greens on the 14th and 15th caused some serious muttering under the breath and a determination to consult with the sports psychologist once again.
Michael was not alone in the psychology stakes. MattH might or might not have been distracted by a worm popping its head out of the ground when he duffed a chip. Whatever the case he seems to have taken it out on the worm population if the picture of the result is any guide. Noodles also apparently went very close to breaking his New Year resolution but the proximity of a playing partner seems to have saved the day.
MattN might have caught a bad case of the Chrispy’s (aka shanks). His second from the centre of the 1st finished in the middle of the 10th. Not to be outdone, his second on the 2nd, from the centre of the fairway, finished OOB. And so it continued for the rest of the round. SOS started off well with a plus on the first and a good laugh at Matt’s shank. But then karma took over and SOS managed to score minus on 13 of the next 17 holes. Needless to say, the final score-line did not look pretty. Targe had a bit of a tricky down-hill putt, obviously on one of the sloped greens. The ball was heading so far past the hole that Targe ran after as fast as his legs would carry and managed to stop the ball. The ensuing penalties ensured a negative score on the hole.
The Matchplay seeding has been done and the draw is out. Please check it out and remind yourself of the rules. You have until the April MM to complete your first round match. If, for any reason, you are unable to play within that time frame please defer to the reserves in the order that they appear at the bottom of the table. And remember, no result by the deadline, both players are eliminated.
As notified previously, because of the unavoidable absence of the President, the AGM of the Club has been postponed for one week to 10 March.
Results for Saturday, 24 February 2018
1st Brendon Mitchell(+6) 2nd Gordon Hill(+4) 2nd Ryan Porker(+4) 3rd Dennis Ward(+1) 4th Malcolm Fleming(□) 4th Simon Powell(□) 5th Robert Priems(-1)
Seniors Results: 1st Gordon Hill (4) 2nd Dennis Ward (1) 3rd Malcolm Fleming (0) 3rd Simon Powell (0)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 12th Michael Gourlay ProPin No 2 18th Brendon Mitchell BallPin 4th Robert Priems