Now that Easter is out of the way and the chocolate eggs and bilbies have been scoffed (or at least had their ears bitten off), we can settle down to some nice Melbourne autumn weather. Towards the end of the front nine, you could have been forgiven for thinking that it was going to rain any time soon. But, for the first bit of the back nine, the sun was out and the jumpers were being stripped off. Then, just as suddenly the black clouds rolled in, and out come the umbrellas and the wet weather gear. Just as the round winds up, the rain stopped, but the sun didn’t quite come out. Is it any wonder that the 23 members who made it to the tee this morning finished showing varying degrees of dampness depending on whether they even had an umbrella or not. Melbourne’s meteorological medley should surely be familiar enough that some sort of protection should be carried. It’s a bit like Tinder dating, Noods!
The variability in the weather did not seem to affect the ability to score too much, at least for some people. Brendon claimed that he was having trouble judging the pace of the greens and a few of his chips and putts did have a bit of length about them. However, that did not stop him from scoring a very handy 38 points over the round. It wouldn’t have been quite as good if the rules hadn’t changed recently as a double hit on one of his chips would have cost him in the past. Ken, on the other hand, managed to get the same score on his card despite a few cases of the ‘shanks’. A particularly notable one on the 13th went close to taking out a couple of his playing companions. By the look of his card, there were one or two left out there so that handicap cut might be well and truly warranted.
Gordon started out with a four pointer and, with the second tee set as far forward as possible, he should have had every chance of following that up with another good score. The one pointer was a disappointment, but hardly the dreaded PBSU. His final tally of 37 points was enough to get second place on his own. Old Reliable continued to take advantage of the firm going and his habit of keeping the ball pretty much centrally located on the fairway and pretty well down in most cases. This kept Craig well up in the points and didn’t do his handicap any harm with 36 points. Ryan played pretty steadily for three quarters, but like a lot of footy teams, he faded a bit in the final. A chip-in on the 17th for a birdie saved the day a bit and he was able to tie it up with Craig in third place.
Harry claims to have lost count of the number of three putt greens that he had today on his way to a score of 35 points and a spot in fourth place. Gordon, playing in the group behind was able to verify that there were several. Michael did not lay claim to excessive numbers of three putts, but there was a fair amount of interest in his performance from the top deck on the 18th. Brendon was offering odds on the outcome of the second putt, but he decided that he didn’t have a bookies licence and all bets were off when the putt rolled in with the greatest of ease. Adam, Brent, and Whitey rounded out the podium list with cards of 34 points. All in all, a very close run finish with only four points covering the range.
Bobbie Dazzler took out the first BallPin on the 7th today with a shot that was reported to have virtually stopped before it got onto the green but then kept rolling and rolling. The second BallPin on the 18th was a real Battle of the Bs. The names on the card were Brendon, Brent and Blighty with Blighty getting the nod. He made a bit of a hash of the putting and so that hole did not make a contribution to the 20 birdies that the group scored today. Once again the ProPin was a bit on the controversial side. Adam had been tasked by the Grand Pooh Bah to make sure that the markers went out on the correct holes. Without making too much of it, the Grand Pooh Bah was a bit upset that the first BallPin was not out on the 4th. That is, until he checked his own running sheet and realised that the 7th was the correct location that he had nominated. Anyway, the ProPin was supposed to be on the 12th and both Harry and Craig were within the 5m limit, except that there was no kit left at the hole. Lo and behold, the kit was at the 15th, with a name on the card from the group charged with putting the kit out. Calls for a voiding and Jackpot were over-ruled and the ProPin went to Jason with his shot to 2.49m.
Quite a few Matchplay results were finalised today. Adam and Brent progressed by dint of Walkover. The remaining match in Round 1 was between Whitey and Rob. Rob was beset by an attack of the ‘shanks’ and, although he was able to win a few holes, he was a bit like King Canute and not able to turn back the tide. The match finished at the 13th, going to Whitey 6 and 5. Porks took on Gordo in what was probably the match of the day. Fifteen of the eighteen holes ended in a result one way or another and the largest margin was a mere two holes. Gordon managed to get the match back to square at the 15th with a chip in for birdie and took the lead on the 16th. There was pay-back on the 17th when Porks chipped in for his birdie and so it went down to the last hole to decide the match. It took them three putts each to decide the match that went to Porks, 1 up. Michael played with Noods and almost broke his heart on the first when he chipped in a three to Noods seven (not much doubt about the result there!). Things did improve for the young fellah a bit, and he managed to drag the match back to square by the turn. Unfortunately it was mostly down-hill from there and the match finished at the 16th 4 and 2 to Michael. Bob and Blighty were in the last match for the day and they both reckoned that they played horribly. Despite that caveat, the match did fluctuate a bit but Bob’s early lead proved difficult to wear down and, in the end, the match went to Bob 3 and 2.
The only report of a draughtie today was down to Stan on the 15th, but he reckons he cannot blame his new handicap from last week for that. There was some discussion whether Stan’s adjustment might have been the most severe ever. Not quite, it was the fourth most severe ever with the record cut coming in at 6.6 back in 1999. RodG was probably thinking that his birthday had come a bit early when he nabbed a birdie on the 6th after three shots up the middle left him with a longish putt that was never really in doubt from the moment it left the club. The Birthday Birdie also has to pay a visit to SOS later in the week as well.
Results for Saturday, 10 April 2021
1st Brendon Mitchell(38) 1st Ken Watson(38) 2nd Gordon Hill(37) 3rd Craig Cameron(36) 3rd Ryan Porker(36) 4th Harry Boughen(35) 4th Michael Gourlay(35) 5th Adam King(34) 5th Brent Rowley(34) 5th Rodney White(34)
Seniors Results: 1st Ken Watson (38) 2nd Gordon Hill (37) 3rd Craig Cameron (36)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Jason Hopkins BallPin No 1 – 7th Bob McDonald BallPin No 2 – 18th Andrew Blight