You could be forgiven for thinking that the cricket season is well under way. There was certainly the crack of willow on leather and shouts of ‘Howzat’ from the grounds across the road from the course. Michael looked around to watch the replay but, alas, the local ground does not run to such luxuries as a scoreboard let alone one that features replays. The conditions were a bit cool to start with and a few clouds and the occasional A380 got between the 18 players (plus one guest) and the sun but, all in all, it was a great day for golf and the course is still in good condition after some rain and careful attention from the ground staff.
Ken and Blighty were playing in the second group and were concentrating so hard on trying to keep up with Elton and the Rocket Men in the group in front that they lost track of how many and which holes that Ken had two strokes for. Correcting this little miscalculation propelled Ken into first place with a handy little 37 points. And this included the ignominy of having executed a draughtie although it must be admitted that it resulted from a return from the outfield by a tree.
Targe did a fair bit of wandering with shanks pony as he negotiated the front nine and looked to be among the also-rans as he turned into the back. Whether he raided the canteen for sustenance on the way through or whether he just managed to keep his head down, the back nine was a totally different game and he fairly cantered into second place.
Brendon was ensconced in the group that included our guest, Gareth, the course manager and, in the process, he managed to find out all sorts of information about the running of the course. Despite being side by side, it was still deemed necessary to call on a club member to rule on whether Bren’s ball was in a ‘garden bed’ or not over by the 14th green. Porks, on the other hand, was trying his hardest to just keep the points ticking over and conservative club selection was the order of the day. One exception was on the 13th where two balls finished OOB or lost from the tee. In the process, he brought up his century, which is a pretty good result in anybody’s book.
Stefan, the Rocket, blasted off so mightily on one hole that his driver couldn’t stand the pace and finished up somewhat the worse for wear. Despite this set-back Stef still manged to come up with 33 points and got himself a couple of points for his trouble. Harry thought he could have scored better if it had not been for so many edgy putts and Blighty thought he could have scored better on the cricket field, his cover drive was working so effectively.
Michael is just working himself into his comeback and is still a bit tentative about his knee. His tee shot from the 1st did not inspire and his second almost didn’t make it off the tee(peg), scoring Michael his first ever draughtie. To almost cap it all off, on the third he managed to bust out of his favourite pair of shorts. Fortunately, he was wearing jocks, so there were no embarrassing sights to behold. He thought he had snared himself a ball for the BallPin on the 12th and had confidently inscribed his name on the ticket but, when he walked onto the green, he found that the nearest to the pin really belonged to Porks. The pin on the 18th was up on the back deck and proved hard to get close to. JQ won it by getting his ball onto the bottom deck and Blighty reckons he was unlucky to finish much closer but just off the green. Neither got a birdie on the hole and so did not contribute to the nine that came up for the day. Jason had more than a few problems with his game during the day but he came good at just the right moment on the 15th to take out the ProPin with a ball to 2.27m.
Brendon arrived at the course without his usual super crushed up note in his card caddy and had to put the bite on Gordon for a loan to pay his subs for the comps. Not sure of Gordon’s ancestry but he was certainly talking about an usurious interest rate. On Thursday, Gordon thought he might have been able to see some light at the end of the tunnel, but, after today, he thinks it might be more like the express train coming from the other direction. The whole of his group was flipping about plenty of words starting with the same letter according to reports.
One report from the Birthday Birdie this week and, if Daniel is here next Saturday, be sure to wish him a happy one.
Only two more competitions for this season and it is possible for some big moves in the Championship. With Porks out of the equation next week, if the right results turn up, there could be a ding-dong battle between the top four the week after as they battle for the Championship and the December Monthly Medal. That will also be the day for the Calcutta Auction and the first day of the Stroke Play Championship that runs over three weeks and takes in the Vin O’Meara, the opening skirmish in the battle for next seasons Championship.
Results for Saturday, 16 November 2019
1st Ken Watson(37) 2nd Targe Mifsud(35) 3rd Brendon Mitchell(34) 3rd Ryan Porker(34) 4th Stefan Belevski(33) 5th Andrew Blight(32) 5th Harry Boughen(32)
Seniors Results: 1st Targe Mifsud (35) 2nd Andrew Blight (32) 2nd Harry Boughen (32) 3rd Bob McDonald (31)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Jason Hopkins BallPin No 1 12th Ryan Porker BallPin No 2 18th John Quinlan