Chrispy said last week that he would cater for 20 players for the bar-be-que. As it turned out, twenty two turned up although Joe departed early for some reason and did not finish the round. The sky was overcast (mostly) and the air was humid and the rain that we have had has softened some patches of the course and has taken a lot of run off the fairways. But, it was a nice day for golf even if the greens were a bit gritty from their recent sanding. Trevor, at least, seemed to have had a lot of putts taken off course by unseen pebbles and lumps on the green.
For those with their game in order, the conditions of the weather or of the course were as of naught and the scoring flowed freely for some. None so freely as for SOS who came in with a very impressive +4 to take out the David Ford after being among the leaders with his square card last week. His round included an impressive shot on the 18th that put his ball within 76 cm of the hole, taking the ProPin and making for an easy birdie which contributed to the total of 12 that the team made for the day. On the daily performance, SOS was joined by Dale who also had a +4 which helped to propel him from down among the ‘also rans’ up into a points position of fifth with a total of -3 for the event and the greatest positional change in the field.
Rob was next on the podium in second place after carding +3 for the day and the event. Rob faltered a bit on the last few holes and there was a suggestion that a pack of Butter Menthols might have been in order. Particularly when he missed a very short putt on the 17th that would have tied the scores though SOS would still have carried the day on a countback.
Now, Blighty seems to have suffered a Blighty moment today when he submitted a card to the club with his GA Daily Handicap on it. A check with the ProShop showed that he had submitted a card there with his GA Daily Handicap as well so not a case of ‘wrong’ card. As a result Stef was left on the 3rd podium level on his ownsome with a score of -1 overall. There were no reports of the performance of Stef’s new driver.
Then came a very ‘andy group on -2 for 4th spot with Pepsi, Blighty and Whitey sharing the somewhat faint glory. Pepsi might have done better if it hadn’t been for a couple of serious shanks on the way around. Harry thought he had hit a pretty fair drive on the 13th but was rather disturbed when he saw what appeared to be his ball, after landing, running sideways at best or even back toward the tee at worst. As it turned out, it was Whitey’s ball coming from the other direction as he played the 10th that created the illusion that so disturbed Harry.
The BallPin was set on the 12th and, as a bit of a consolation prize for Rob, it was his ball that got closest to the pin today. The first ProPin was on the 15th and Jake went close to a slam dunk and his ball finished 1.8m from the hole. The excitement must have gotten to him though because he missed the birdie putt.
Another actual birdie of note was down to Simon who over-cooked his chip to the 3rd a bit but the line was so accurate that the ball hit the pin about half way up and fell dead into the hole. At that stage Si was going all right and was +3 at the 9th where he spotted his coach and had a little brag about how well he was going even though he did miss his lesson on Friday. From there, it was all down-hill and Simon ended up having a draughtie on the 15th and -5 on the back nine. MattN also managed a draughtie on the 15th.
Trev tried his best to talk himself into having one on the 2nd by enumerating the number that he had had there so far this year. In the event, he cracked one right down the hi-diddle-diddle. Targe was feeling in an experimental mood and ‘tried’ something from the tee on the 16th. The fact that the ball bounced off one of the OOB barrier posts just in front of the red tee markers suggests that the experiment did not work. If he tried to repeat the experiment on the 17th, then it seems to be very reproducible, because the ball finished in the shrubbery just past the red tee markers. It doesn’t bear repeating what they say about people who repeat the same experiment and expect a different result.
The Birthday Birdie has a bit of travelling to do this week if he is going to catch up with Gordon who will undoubtedly be celebrating with a burgundy or two as he motors down the canals of France. Not quite so far to catch up with Targe but it is duck season and Targe might be a bit trigger happy so he could be advised to wear his kevlar vest. Anyway, have great days, guys.
Results for Saturday, 19 May 2018
1st Stephen O’Sullivan(□, +4, +4) 2nd Robert Priems(□, +3, +3) 3rd Stefan Belevski(□, -1, -1) 4th Andrew Petricola(-2, □, -2) 4th Rodney White(-2, □, -2) 4th Andrew Blight(-2, □, -2) 5th Dale Webb(-7, +4, -3)
Seniors Results: 1st Andrew Blight (□) 2nd Simon Powell (-2,-3,-5) 3rd Bob McDonald (-9,-4,-13)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 15th Jake Priems ProPin No 2 18th Stephen O’Sullivan BallPin 12th Robert Priems