There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around, that the colt had no regret and meant to play. And had joined the wild bush horses — he was worth a thousand pound, so all the cracks had gathered for the fray. Twenty seven of them, in fact, milled around the starting gate, pawing at the turf and champing at the bit in anticipation of the contest ahead. The jockeys were perched high in their saddles and looked resplendent in their silks and with their encouragers at the ready. Dare not call them spurs and whips. And, as the BOM had promised, it was another beautiful late spring day. Well, summer, if you work by the calendar month for the start of the seasons. But who’s counting? It was that Goldilocks sort of day, not too cold, not too hot, but juussst right. The course maintains its good condition and some of the fairway margins look as if they have been cut a bit shorter so there were very few excuses for not beating the pants off the course.
And, which colt had the fewest regrets at the end of the day. Why, it was none other than Noodles who had very few excuses to throw anything in the air except his hat when he was able to sign off on a gross score of 75 to leave himself with a net of 65 to come into the turn with his nose just in front of the rest of the field. The connections are quietly confident and the bookies are biting their nails as the crowd in the stands hold their breath to see whether he has the staying power to hold off the challenges that are sure to come.
Just a single stroke behind the leader is a bit of a dark horse although he has to do a bit of sweet neighing to the filly back at the home stable to get a leave pass to complete the race. But, if he can describe some of the brilliant shots that he made in today’s running, the required permissions are sure to be granted. A bit of a stray drive from the 8th tee finished not too far from the 6th green with no sight of the green and some very tall timber and penalty area on the direct line. An eight iron cleared all of the potential impediments and the ball landed on the green and finished only a few metres short of the pin. A similar stray drive from the 18th finished beyond the 9th green. The pitch shot landed softly, ran across the top deck and down the slope to finish about 100mm from the hole. Maaagnificent!
Dale has been a bit on the quiet side of late but he seems to have put the fear of God into his playing companions as nobody was prepared to spill any beans on him. Maybe he is just trying to hide his light under a bushel but he did manage to just crack his handicap today and he is still within striking distance for the run home. Gordon managed to waste a few today with a couple of well placed strikes on trees around the course. One on the 16th could easily have done him an injury if it had come straight back rather than slightly off line. Bob also managed to keep himself in contention with his handicap equalling round.
Stef managed to beat Noodles by a stroke off the stick but the handicap difference leaves just a little bit of work to make up the short-fall. Matt might have had a little less work to do to make up ground but for some stray shots on the 3rd. And Targe was just Targe. Just doing enough to protect his exorbitant handicap. He did start off pretty well, as did another old stager in Allan. As a result, Brendon and Noodles were doing their sums as the proud owners of the pair of steeds. All is not lost and Targe, at least, has the potential to line their pockets with gold yet. There were a swag of horses just out of the top five and while there is life there is hope. As they say, the opera is not over until the fat lady sings, so watch this space.
The first BallPin today was located on the 12th and, wouldn’t you know it, Michael was in the first group and left his marker just a metre or so from the hole, effectively shutting out the rest of the field. The second BallPin was on the 18th and. although a number of people actually got onto the green, it was a two way contest that was won by Rob, by a pretty narrow margin apparently, from Brent. Now the ProPin was scheduled to be put out on the 15th but Michael got so flustered (or forgetful) that the marker did not get left out. As a result it was decided that the ProPin would Jackpot to next week. This despite the fact that Gordon managed to finish barely a metre from the hole, pin high. Gordon reckons he can repeat the shot next week. Stay tuned.
On the 4th, ChrisV asked Gordon to move his ball marker. When asked if the move was enough Chris opined that if he hit the marker he would miss. He actually hit the marker and the ball went in, probably from the small deflection that resulted. On the 7th, he rapped a ‘putt’ from off the green and shouted at it ‘Go in’ which it promptly did saving it from finishing, possibly, off the green and scoring a birdie that was one of a tally of 15 from the field.
Porks was asked how many Weetbix he had for breakfast after his drive on the 14th finished in the middle of the 16th fairway not too far short of the tee box and probably thirty or forty metres beyond the green. SOS had something of an adventure on the 11th. He managed to hit Brent’s ball by mistake and went forward to retrieve it. Then, when he got back, he was unable to find his own ball and so had to trudge all the way back to the tee and back again, effectively covering the length of the fairway three times. Politeness prevents mentioning the score but it you want to know have a look on the Eclectic table.
Dennis, it is sad to report, did not play in accordance with the dream that he reported a day or so ago. Chrispy has apparently started using a mini-golf putter that he stole from somewhere some years ago. Brendon was so focussed on the shot that he was going to make from the 14th tee that he didn’t notice which panel he was walking through and tripped over the chain between the posts. He was further distracted on the 16th when, just as he was about to start his downswing, a large kangaroo burst from the bushes, hotly pursued by a german shepherd. Harry reckons his game is in such a slump that his knuckles are dragging on the ground.
Results for Saturday, 07 December 2019
Leaderboard Round 1: 1st Stephen Butterfield(65) 2nd Chris Vinecombe(66) 3rd Dale Webb(67) 4th Gordon Hill(68) 4th Bob McDonald(68) 5th Stefan Belevski(69) 5th Matt Hunt(69) 5th Targe Mifsud(69)
Seniors Leaderboard: 1st Bob McDonald (68) 1st Gordon Hill (68) 2nd Targe Mifsud (69) 3rd Allan Davies (70) 3rd Bill Eastoe (70) 3rd Rod Grant (70)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 12th Michael Gourlay BallPin No 2 18th Robert Priems