The whole club was on tenterhooks. Would JQ make it from the airport on time? Would Porks be sober after the staff party? Could Whitey put together another good round? Would any more first rounders drop out? Would any more casuals turn up? So many questions, so few answers. In the end, JQ did make it in plenty, Porks was sober and we had a field of 23 players which meant that over a third of the field was there for the love of the game. Mehmet even said that he only came because he wanted to play golf, it was just a bit of a pity that he didn’t really (play golf, that is). The course was pretty soggy in places and the preferred lies were welcome as the ball seemed to pick up mud without even moving. There were even a couple of cases where the ball went deeper underground than along the ground. Chrispy reckoned he had a new club in his bag, called a shovel. Maybe he should be looking for a job on the City Loop as well.
So, how did things pan out on the day then. Well, the round of the day went to Matt. Fairly obviously, the surgical intervention took an extra week to kick in and Matt fairly kicked arse today to complete the back nine in 2 under the par for 23 points and a round total of 40. When put together with his field tailing round last week, this gave him a chance of scoring a point at least for his troubles and the cut to his handicap. But more of that later.
Despite some concerns that the pressure of leadership might weigh heavily on his shoulders, Whitey managed to keep his eye on the ball, his bat on the crease and his pads in front of the wicket to block his way to a pretty respectable 36 points for a grand total of 75 for the event to take the Fred Howe Trophy for 2019. Not a bad win for his first Major. Early in the round there was a hint that the wheels could fall off with a gash on the 2nd and a drive OOB on the 4th. The chip in from about 20m out saved the hole.
The card sported quite a few singles but a massive four on the last ball of the day really put the sealer on the result. The birdie that gave him that result was one of eleven for the day and it also scored him the double BallPin on the 18th. This was after some unreliable types forgot to put the marker out on the 15th where it was supposed to be. If you can’t trust the Club executive who can you trust? Then again, SOS was probably distracted by all of the chatter about BitCoin, BrainCoin and so on and so forth with Mehm and Stef. Or, maybe, they just didn’t have time, as they managed to finish at least two holes in front of the next group despite being held up by a group of interlopers after the 13th. They did have to get the bar-be-gue going to make sure that the hordes did not have to wait around for their tucker.
Brendon managed to improve his overall ranking by putting together the second best card for the day and he did express the view that he had let himself down a bit on the back nine. JQ did not appear to have been affected by jet-lag and played right to his handicap to stay level with Brendon and share second place. The flat blade was working well and it was estimated that John had sunk putts totalling 150m in the round which, if anywhere near the truth, was a remarkable result.
Peter was stamping around impatiently on the 17th tee waiting for the bell to be rung (which it wasn’t, much to his chagrin). Not sure if he made the green or not but he did manage to par the hole, which brought his score up to 34 for the day and his event total of 67 placed him third overall. Allan tried to sneak in an extra point on the 16th and he had to be relegated to fourth place as a result. This proved to be a bit of a disappointment for Matt as it meant that Dennis, Rob and Targe dropped back into 5th place to take the last points on offer.
There was a double Jackpot on offer for the ProPin today and it was placed back in its rightful place on the 12th hole, Porks, Harry and Ken agreed to share. Ryan was on line but got it fat and finished short. Harry’s length was good but way right while Ken finished too far to the left. So, it was left to Rob to put his name on the card at 4.3m and Rob didn’t agree to share with anyone.
Now, it seems that Targe had a bit of a dose of the shanks today and each time that he shanked one, the ball headed in the direction of Allan. In the end, Targe wanted Allan to stand near the pin on the basis that that was where the ball would finish. One member did comment that Allan and Thunderbird reminded him a bit of Stephen Hawking. And reports have it that Thunderbird did struggle a bit on some of the wet steeper slopes.
Ryan had a lesson during the week and the swing analysis showed that he had some nasty ‘outside-in’. The fix at the lesson was some alignment sticks. The fix today seemed to be to drop-kick the ball to keep it straight and send it a mile. It didn’t quite work on the 4th with the first OOB on the right and the provisional lost way to the left. Simon (aka Thor) was saved by his recent efforts around the course. His drive on the 12th was in the drink for sure until the ball hit one of his nicely painted red stakes that saved it from the water if not the penalty area. And, Simon didn’t take a lesson from last week and mis-scored on the 18th (again!).
The bar-be-que after was expertly catered by Brendon (or Mrs Brendon maybe) and expertly cooked by Matt and SOS although the onions were a bit beyond it by the time the last group came in. Stef and Mehm watched on while Mehm filled out his footy tips by backing the opposite of what Noodles predicted. Si reckoned it was nice to be fed by two coppers and not be in jail. The voice of experience?
Results for Saturday, 27 July 2019
1st Rodney White(39, 36, 75) 2nd John Quinlan(35, 36, 71) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(33, 38, 71) 3rd Peter Damou(33, 34, 67) 4th Allan Davies(31, 35, 66) 5th Dennis Ward(33, 32, 65) 5th Robert Priems(31, 34, 65) 5th Targe Mifsud(30, 35, 65)
Seniors Results: 1st Allan Davies (31,35,66) 2nd Dennis Ward (32,33,65) 2nd Targe Mifsud (35,30,65) 3rd Bill Eastoe (33,31,64)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin12th Robert Priems BallPin No 1 18th Rodney White BallPin No 2 18th Rodney White