Yesterday was a stinker. As it was too hot to go outside, most of the day was spent watching the radar as the promised front struggled its way across from the west. Eventually, it arrived and the temperature fell to an almost balmy 25C just in time for the round to start to settle the argument as to who was going to be the 2019 Champion of Champions and who was going to be the 2019 Chump of Chumps. The scorching weather had induced the gum trees around the course to shed a bucket load of bark and leaves. This litter on the ground helped to make it difficult to spot a ball from a distance and any long putt could have done with an assist from a leaf blower on several greens. Bobbie gave up the clearing job on the 10th and bravely putted through. The ball made it to the general area of the hole though somewhat off line. Until a last minute deflection brought it within tipping distance of the hole. Unfortunately for Bob, no miracle save.
The man who didn’t need a miracle save was Dennis who admitted to being pretty disappointed with his front nine where he only managed to score eighteen points. His disappointment was only short lived as he very soon proceeded to take the back nine apart to finish that segment of the round just one stroke over par and toting a massive twenty-five points. His net score of 61 left the rest of the field in his dust. As a hint as to how he could do no wrong, the drive from the 17th faded more than somewhat and was deemed to be lost in the penalty area. Completely unfazed, Dennis chipped the penalty ball fairly onto the green to about a metre and sank the putt for a par. Well done Dennis, our new Champion of Champions.
As far as the rest of the field was concerned, they were playing for the barely lesser glory of the trophy for Chump of Chumps. And, in the process, one of them demonstrated that he could outplay the trophy hoisting Champion. Dale put hardly a foot wrong all day and scored evenly over both halves of the round. And he even left a few out there as he made his way to a best on ground 44 points to take both the trophy and the top points for the day.
There has been some discussion recently about exactly what is meant by ‘minimum chips’. Well, there can be no debate about what is meant by ‘minimum points’ because that is what were handed out today. There was only one player on each level of the podium. Keith also played a very steady round and managed to score a couple of four pointers on his way to third place and 42 points. A few left out there could have made all the difference. Blighty is eagerly anticipating an extended break from the hurly-burly but that was not enough to distract him from scoring a very handy forty-one points for 4th place. Peter collected the last point thanks to getting a birdie on the only hole that he didn’t birdie last year, so he probably has his eye on the eclectic again.
The first BallPin was contested on the 12th hole and Gordon managed to tip out Jason to qualify for a ball. On the 18th, Rob managed to hold off all contenders to win himself one there. The big interest in the NTP events was the double jackpot on the 15th, and, with the big fields over the last three weeks, there was a fair amount of cash riding. Dale was pretty hopeful after his tee shot but, when the tape came out it registered just 100mm beyond the 5m limit. No such worries for Gordon who was shattered to watch as Porks, in the next group, pipped him by less that half a metre at 2.81m. Noodles seemed to be very happy to be sharing the pot.
There was one draughtie today and that was down to Ken on the 18th. The ball finished on the path beside the tee barely a metre in front of the teeing area. There is some dispute as to whether it reached there directly or whether it hit the safety fence protecting the 17th green. At the other end of the scale, Matt made the 3rd green in two and then took four putts to finish it off. The Eagle got a bit nervous when both ChrisV and Porks were on the 14th green and putting to rob the nest. She needn’t have worried as they both just made their par.
Rob hit the wrong ball today on the 10th and he was trying to blame Matt for leading him astray although it was the same brand and number. No such excuse for Harry on the 3rd where he was so focussed on planning and executing his shot that he failed to notice that Dale’s ball did not carry the characteristic and prominent ‘smile’. Harry did feel a bit better on the 5th when he chipped in for a birdie and did his bit to bring the total for the day to 16. From a field of 25 players, that tally is OK but not ‘great’ despite Gordo’s feeling to the contrary.
After the round was over and all of the cards had been sorted and resorted, the majority departed for the break-up and presentations that was held at President John’s residence. There, with an ample supply of nibbles, food and lubricant, the party settled down to tell some tall tales but true and to generally appreciate what our Club is all about. Good golf (and not so good golf) and good fellowship, all of which were evident aplenty today. After the crowd finished making a small hole in the victuals available, John and Gordon set about distributing the trophies that had been contested over the past twelve months. By the end of this part of the proceedings, Targe was hunting around for a trailer to get his loot home. John expressed his appreciation and thanks to the efforts of his Committee in keeping the Club running smoothly and then presented a fine trophy, named in honour of the Priems family, that will be contested in the team Matchplay format that was previously known as the Ryder Cup.
At the completion of the formalities, the die-hards appeared to be settling in and, while it might not be the Roo Bar, there is some chance that there will be tales to be told before the night is out.
Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Safe New Year and we look forward to seeing you all next Saturday or the Saturday after when things start to get serious again for the January Monthly Medal.
Results for Saturday, 21 December 2019
1st Dale Webb(44) 2nd Dennis Ward(43) 3rd Keith Delzoppo(42) 4th Andrew Blight(41) 5th Peter Damou(39)
Seniors Results: 1st Dennis Ward (43) 2nd Keith Delzoppo (42) 3rd Andrew Blight (41)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Ryan Porker BallPin No 1 12th Gordon Hill BallPin No 2 18th Robert Priems