Another bucketing during the week had some wondering whether we would be up to our armpits in water and slush. As it turned out, the water was mostly where it was supposed to be and the few wet areas were not yet churned into mud. The air was balmy and the humidity was high. A wind sprang up a couple of times that some thought presaged the arrival of the next batch of rain. However, as forecast, the rain held off and the day was as sunny as some of the smiles on the faces of the 22 members that headed out to try their hand at winning some gold before the year runs out. Only twenty-one finished, as Trev had to retire early for medical reasons. Here’s hoping it is nothing serious, and we look forward to seeing your smiling face again soon, Trev.
Apparently, CJ had some second thoughts about playing today after his recent run-in with the dreaded C-word, He did admit that he had been champing at the bit for the entire two weeks that he had been locked away. An ongoing tendency to shortness of breath had him wondering whether he would make the distance, but a good steady start with only one hole worse than bogey on the front nine soon had such thoughts well behind him. The back nine finished in a similar vein, and the ‘come-back kid’ tasted victory once more after an extended break with a net score of 65. While the win was welcome, the handicap reduction on the eve of the Fred Kitson was not quite so welcome.
Ben was very keen to find a way to disqualify CJ. He tried for vaccination status. He tried for games played since the last Medal. He tried for incorrectly completed card. All to no avail. But, there was a case for Ben to be DQ’d on the latter ground, as his card clearly showed a net score of 83. However, the Committee took pity on the freshly mustachioed member and allowed his actual net score of 67 to stand and to take the second place on the podium. By the way, it is not too late to sponsor what could prove to be the finest Zapata moustache since Marlon Brando. Unless, of course, family matters interfere!
For a fair bit of the time, Targe could do little wrong on the green. With great regularity he was nailing them by using the pin as a back-stop, or, alternatively, by pacing them just hard enough that they stopped on the edge of the hole and them toppled in by sheer will-power. After 46 off the beater on the front nine and with almost two-thirds of his handicap left intact, a comment was made that he should just about eat this medal. This seemed to have loosened the nuts on the wheels just a little, and the back nine consumed the remaining portion of the handicap, and he finished in third place having played right to the 30 strokes allocated to him.
ChrisJ handled the front nine pretty well and made the turn with just a little fuel left in the handicap tank for the rest of the round. With the hope of taking fewer strokes on the shorter back nine, the pars proved particularly elusive, and a tally of bogies and a couple of doubles resulted in a net 70 at the end of the day. Brendon hit the turn in a similar position in relation to his handicap, and he had been making a slightly better fist of the back, until, that is, he tackled the 18th. Faced with the choice of moving the loose impediment and taking a shot from a spot that he did not particularly like, or taking relief in a spot that he did not particularly like, he took the latter. The chip was nicely executed, but the ball skittered across the top deck, across the bottom deck and finished with a tricky shot back that did not quite make it to the top of the slope. A five, in the end, left him with 70 net, to share the spot with Chris.
Harry was pretty pleased with the way his game was going. Most aspects seemed to be working pretty well, and, although he was well shaded by Targe at the turn, he still held out hopes of a good result overall. The ball striking continued to be good (too good, in some cases) but the ball started to find isolated tree branches, penalty areas, back of greens, etc, etc. so that after about four holes hope was all but gone. A mini revival allowed a finish on 71 for a place in fifth spot. Pepsi also started out well, and at the turn he had used only 20% of his handicap. It seems that the back nine was not particularly favourable for his flat stick, with two holes commanding four uses to finish off. This included the 18th, which isn’t allowed to be mentioned in the blog.
Despite a couple of ‘wimpy’ attempts to get up the slope to the top deck, Pepsi collected a ball for the BallPin on the 18th. It is not clear what it was about the 18th green, but there were probably at least three other players, who, arguably, were closer to the pin than Peps, but they ‘chose’ not to put their name on the card. Blighty was particularly stiff, as his ball from the tee made it to the top of the slope, but it turned just enough to head back down to the lower deck. There was a BallPin on the 4th, and old ‘smiley face’, Brendon, got his name on the card again. It wasn’t close enough for him to get the birdie, and he had to wait until the 15th before he could contribute to the total of 11 that we carded today. The ProPin on the 15th did not go off, so there will be an even bigger incentive o roll up for the first round of the Fred Kitson next week.
Dale was bragging about his new artillery and about the fact that he didn’t need to change his five wood because it was well-fitted and working well. This as he stepped up to the 8th tee with said implement in his hands. The mighty swing sent the ball skittering along the ground, and breaths were held as the assembled group waited to see if it made it past the red markers. It did. No such luck for Rob on the 15th, where a miss hit into the scrub on the left, short of the reds, saw him taking orders from the rest of the group after the round. Bob’s battery lasted until the 16th hole today. There was no report on how long it had been on the charger, although there was some discussion on the topic of chargers and charging times and battery types before tee time.
A very packed program over the next five weeks. Three more weeks to accumulate those vital points for this year and, maybe, somebody can topple the high-flyers yet. The opera isn’t over until the fat lady sings!
The Calcutta Auction for the Vin O’Meara will be held on 27th November, and we really do need to know if you want to be included. Go to the registration menu on the web-page and select Calcutta Auction to register your intent. Say Yes if you are sure you will be playing and want to be sold off. Say No if you will not be playing or if you do not wish to be sold even though you will be playing. It really eases the accounting if we only sell those willing (and playing) participants.
Results for Saturday, 06 November 2021
1st Chris Priems (65) 2nd Ben Akdag (67) 3rd Targe Mifsud (68) 4th Chris James (70) 4th Brendon Mitchell (70) 5th Harry Boughen (71) 5th Andrew Petricola (71)
Seniors Results: 1st Chris Priems (65) 2nd Targe Mifsud (68) 3rd Harry Boughen (71)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 4th Brendon Mitchell BallPin No 2 – 18th Andrew Petricola