As the “woneye” Collingwood supporters reeled from the aftereffects of the demolition derby that played out over in the west, there were concerns that they should be kept well clear of sharp objects for fear of them inflicting self-harm. There were also concerns that there would be no-shows as they hid themselves from public view. However, despite the widespread gloom, there was a good representation on deck, and we had 21 members front to the starter. SOS also brought along his mate, Dirt, who, apparently, really goes by the name of George. The morning was a little on the cool side, but conditions were windless and, otherwise, very favourable for a game of golf. The course is still firm with plenty of run to be had and the greens were reported to be too fast for the liking of some in the field. The Beast would not allow Harry to make the same excuse for the over-enthusiastic chips and putts that made scoring difficult.
One Collingwood fan who seemed to be quite unperturbed by either the overnight drubbing or the speed of the greens was Blighty, who played like a man possessed to card his lowest off-the-stick score in a long time. It seems that it didn’t matter where on the green his approach finished, he was able to sink it or, at least, put it close enough for a tap-in. His eighty-two strokes, when combined with his handicap, was enough to score him eight points on the plus side of the ledger and to give him the day by a fair margin.
A couple of weeks back, Michael played with Anthony and expressed the view that he was a better than even chance to excel when he joined to competition. That view was justified when Anthony submitted his first card in competition after qualifying for his Club handicap. He managed to play the round without a minus score on the card and matched par on the back nine to bring in a card carrying five points which most people thought would head the field. That is, until Blighty came in and saved him from the Winner’s Penalty.
Just a point behind, and one over par on the back (with a couple of minuses) was none other than Old Reliable who quite befuddled Noodles with his consistency down the middle of the fairway. Brent showed that playing a match is no bar to scoring well as he was able to come in on plus four as well. Michael was cursing having turned a birdie chance into a bogie on the 17th, which robbed him of the chance to match it with, or even beat, Craig. His plus three was matched by Adam, who also had to contend with battling out a match as well. Last on the podium today was Bob, who has been showing a bit of form in recent times and scored a very handy plus two points for the day.
The nearest the Pin markers were very ably handled today by Pepsi even though some people claimed not to have noticed the ProPin on the 12th. One person who did notice the kit for the ProPin was Porks, who finished a very handy 2.33m from the hole to take out the cash. The first BallPin, on the 4th was a bit of a non-contest after Zimmer was able to get pretty darned close in the first group. Craig gave it a bit of a shake but was obviously not quite as close. Another no-contest for the BallPin on the 18th saw the little white pill go to Pepsi (another first grouper).
Two matches were played today. JQ came up against Adam and immediately started complaining about having to give away ten strokes. His angst was compounded when he found out the difference between Adam’s Daily Handicap and his Club Handicap at about the third hole, and it all went down-hill from there. A handful of squared holes stemmed the tide a little, but, in the end, the match finished at the thirteenth, six and five. As a small consolation, JQ chipped in for a birdie on the 18th and so contributed to the 21 that we scored for the day. My best shot of the day was the response to the cheers of the watching crowd. Zimmer came out quite confident that he was going to show Brent a thing or two in their match. This confidence was boosted by a couple of early wins that were followed by a run of squares leaving the match tied after seven holes. Brent then made his run and looked to have a strangle-hold when he was four up after twelve. Zimmer wasn’t going to lie down, however, and the match went dormie 2 after the 16th. Brent was able to seal the deal by winning the 17th to go to the next round 3 and 1.
Ryan’s drive on the second finished hard up to the base of a tree. No shot for a leftie or for a leftie playing right-handed, so he took the only other option, to hit it at the tree and hope. Trev found himself in a similar situation at one stage, but he was able to manufacture some sort of a back-hand shot. Trev also had an air-shot, for which Pepsi is taking the blame, as he loudly sledged Rob just a Trev was in the midst of his back-swing. Rob played with Noodles and Noodles was very solicitous and handing out coaching advice. One such gem was ‘grip it and rip it’. Whatever other gems he was able to dispense, there could very well have been a benefit because Rob’s scoring was much improved as the round progressed and the back nine could be classed as ‘respectable’.
Craig went very close to chipping in for an eagle on the first and made a very easy birdie. The Eagle’s Nest has been a little the worse for wear in recent times and so it is probably better that it did not go off again quite so soon. Whitey was another one who managed to chip in for a birdie, this time on the 4th to help along our total. A little bit later, on the 12th, he had to play a shot with the ball about half a metre above the ground in a tree. Targe had a fair run of the shanks today with the 11th and 12th being particularly memorable with several shots heading at right angles to the intended direction. If anybody sees Joe Demir, tell him the Birthday Birdie is trying to find him to deliver a wish for later in the week.
Results for Saturday, 17 April 2021
1st Andrew Blight(+8) 2nd Anthony Browne(+5) 3rd Craig Cameron(+4) 3rd Brent Rowley(+4) 4th Michael Gourlay(+3) 4th Adam King(+3) 5th Bob McDonald(+2)
Seniors Results: 1st Andrew Blight (+8) 2nd Craig Cameron (+4) 3rd Michael Gourlay (+3)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Ryan Porker BallPin No 1 – 4th Kazim Akdag BallPin No 2 – 18th Andrew Petricola