You could have been forgiven for thinking that we were playing somewhere in the Scottish Highlands. It was cold. It was windy. It was raining. And the bagpipes were playing ‘The Camerons are coming’. That last point might be a bit of an exaggeration, but the rest of it was pretty well true. Despite, but not necessarily because of, the weather conditions, there were 12 members turned out to splish and splash their way around the course in search of the elusive run of form to be in the running for the last lot of double points up for grabs this competition year. Michael was rather hopeful of having a chance to get the jump on Brendon when Bren’s name did not appear on the tee list when they were published on Thursday. No such luck though, as Brendon very smartly bribed CJ to be lenient and let him play on the grounds of forgetfulness. Could be a career in politics if he keeps showing talent like that. Craig was probably slightly better placed to be able to claim a ‘senior moment’ for that sort of lapse. We were also joined by a potential new member, Brent Loeskow (rhymes with Costco) who was bred and buttered in Queensland, but we won’t hold that against him. He claims not to have played a lot of golf and only previously played the front nine once at the ‘Hoe’, but still managed to par five holes in a row on the back nine. So watch out when he qualifies for competition. As it turned out, the serious rain only lasted for about six holes, and after that there was only the casual water on the fairways and greens to be contended with. One prominent member was tipping early on that -3 would be leading the field at the end of the day.
As it turned out, the ‘expert’ was somewhat off the mark again. Old Forgetful (I mean Reliable) went out and made a bit of a day of it and threw down the gauntlet in front of Michael and Brendon and said, ‘How do you like them apples!’ So, it looks like being on for young and old next week with Michael having just a little bit of work to do while Brendon will be hoping to hold his current field position, at least.
Harry made the best of the inclemency in the early part of the round and turned on +2, whereupon Gordo made a strong point of commenting on how well he was going. To say the least, the back nine was not quite to the same standard, with quite a number of putts slipping by the hole by the barest of margins. A chip on the 18th for par was barely moving when it caught the edge of the hole, did a full 180 and stopped millimetres away, which proved the difference between a share of second and a share of the lead. Porks might have thought he had a share of the lead, but he must have thought his handicap was still eight rather than seven and the stroke that he took on the 3rd, unfortunately, did not count.
On the other hand, Matt did get a stroke on the 3rd, and so, his par there did score him the plus that it deserved. A mini slump on the home straight was saved from being drastic by another par and a plus on the 18th. Brendon started off as if he was going to fill his card with squares. Then a mini rot set in, and he finished the half on -3. At this stage, the thought of having to chase from too far behind galvanised him into action, and he started to show some positive results on the card, although the odd one did elude him so that he finished tied for third place on the leader-board with -2
Rob was spotted digging deep after the round after having declared two draughties, one on the 3rd and one on the 12th. Despite these little set-backs, he managed to snag himself a spot in 4th place with his final score of -4. This was helped more than a little by his birdie on the 18th, which was just one of the six that we put together for the day. The plus marks proved pretty elusive for Michael today until the dying stages of the round, where a couple saved him from a rather more difficult catch-up task. Gordon was just a little happier with his putter today after the serious falling out he had with it last week. A few errant shots proved rather costly at the end of the day, but he still managed to squeeze into a share of fifth with a modicum of work to do if he aspires to hold the trophy aloft next week.
The Cameron’s really were coming, as it turned out. Craig managed to ‘steal’ a ball from Harry for the BallPin on the 4th. His shot on the 12th for the ProPin was judged by Michael’s eye to be close inside the distance set by Brent’s marker. Blighty paced it out and figured that Brent’s was the closer ball. Then they discovered that there was actually a tape measure in the box, and the official result was that the pot went to Craig 4.85m to 4.92m. On the 18th, El Presidento was edged out by Brendon, who created all sorts of confusion trying to explain why the marker pin was still in the spot marking Rob’s ball.
CJ was rather disconsolate after the round, as this was the first time ever that he had submitted a card in a par round that did not have a plus on it. Rob is well known for hating to lose a ball, particularly when it is one of his favourite HotDots. So when it disappeared into the shrubbery behind the 16th green, he plunged right in to have a go. The combination of sloping ground and wet grass underfoot proved rather more than balance could bear, and a rather wet and muddy posterior was the result. Jason hasn’t ventured out at the ‘Hoe for quite some little time, and so, he wasn’t too happy about having registered the third draughtie of the day on the 18th tee. Blighty’s drive from the 11th was somewhat shanky, or seriously slicey, and looked to be heading in the general direction of the 13th fairway. A rather large tree interposed itself, and the resulting ricochet placed the ball out on the 2nd fairway. Possibly, a slightly better result overall. Gordon was noticed peering into the greenery beside the 15th tee, and when questioned, he was looking for what Brendon had been photographing. As it turned out, it was a very handsome blue-tongue that had obviously shuffled on after having posed for the publicity shot.
The Birthday Birdie has a quiet time at the moment, but he had a bit of a senior moment last week and forgot to send a wish to Craig and Mal for their respective celebrations. While on the subject of Mal, he had a fall recently and has spent a few days in hospital as a result. All the best for a speedy and complete recovery, Mal.
On the subject of the Calcutta Auction. It has been decided that you have to register your intention to be included in order to have your soul sold to the devil. If there is no positive registration, you will be considered to have scratched. We would also like the scratching option to be used as well. So, the message is, please register one way or the other, but, if no registration is received by end of play next week, you will be scratched (from the Auction), however, you can, obviously, still play in the event.
Results for Saturday, 13 November 2021
Leaderboard Round 1: 1st Craig Cameron (□) 2nd Harry Boughen (-1) 2nd Ryan Porker (-1) 3rd Matt Hunt (-2) 3rd Brendon Mitchell (-2) 4th Robert Priems (-4) 5th Michael Gourlay (-5) 5th Gordon Hill (-5)
Seniors Leaderboard: 1st Craig Cameron (□) 2nd Harry Boughen (-1) 3rd Gordon Hill (-5) 3rd Michael Gourlay (-5)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Craig Cameron BallPin No 1 – 4th Craig Cameron BallPin No 2 – 18th Brendon Mitchell