It was a bright and windy day. The course has been de-puddled, and it was in good condition, even if the debris from the wind storms a month ago has not yet been cleared. The piles along the edges of the fairways do provide some extra challenges for those who choose not to stick to the centre-line. The breeze was brisk enough to up the wind chill factor early in the day, and some opined that the scoring might not turn out to be all that great. The big interest of the day was the potential for a big punch-up between the two at the head of the Championship table, with only a point separating them after the distribution of the points in the Matchplay. Michael Earp and Brendon Clanton arrived packing their finest irons and faced one another down the fairways of Tombstone. Draw, said Earp. No, you draw, said Clanton. And so it went as they continued to fire blanks. In the end, with empty magazines and despondent hearts, neither were able to make it into the points distribution for the day. Our new Club Champion for 2021 is therefore the smiling Kiwi, Brendon. Congratulations, and don’t let anybody tell you it was a lesser result because of COVID. Commiserations, Michael, there is a whole new year untouched ahead.
There were twenty members who made it today, which is one of the better turn-outs that we have seen in recent weeks. The cards kept rolling in, as did reports of a certain member having buggy problems. The scores showed promise of fulfilling the forecast that they might not set the world on fire. When, at long last, the penultimate group rolled in and the scores were tallied, who should put in a ‘blinder’ but Bobbie with a net score of 64 to collect the December Monthly Medal and the lead position in the Strokeplay Handicap Championship Table. When asked what sort of ball he wanted in the BallRun, Bob replied that he would rather have a buggy.
Porks played some unconventional golf today. From the 10th tee, he finished up on the 1st green. Not satisfied with that, from the 18th he finished on the 9th green. These little aberrations did not prevent him from coming in with a score that held the Clubhouse lead for some time, but a net 68 proved to be insufficient, and he had to settle for the second place of the day. Still, he does hold the top spot in the Strokeplay Scratch Table. Gordon started off with a bit of a wobble, settled down and then started to wobble again as he rounded out the front nine. Then he found his form and put in a much more reasonable back nine to finish with 69 and the points on offer for third place.
Keith showed glimpses of the form that we know he is capable of, but he did leave a few out there as he managed to come in with 72 for a share of fourth. He was joined by Patrick, who also did enough to suggest that he is capable of much better things. The fact that he was dashing off to buy a wedding ring suggests that there are ‘better things’ in the offing. There was a fair pack of players to share fifth spot. Ben was one, and it seems that he avoided being disqualified for playing off the Blues by the good graces of his playing companions. Stan went extraordinarily close to chipping in for a birdie on the first, and claimed that he didn’t really want it to go in. Maybe he didn’t, because he took two putts to finish the hole. In the process, he certainly did not contribute to the rather measly four birdies that we carded for the day. Rod put his drive on the 12th into the left penalty area, and chose to play again from the tee. Wouldn’t you know it, but he chipped that ball in, and so he too did not contribute to the birdie count. The fourth of the musketeers was none other than Captain Matt.
The ProPin today was on the 4th, and Stan could have been forgiven for thinking he was in with a chance after a finely shaped shot to well within the radius. Prez Rob, who managed to complete a round without having to stand a shout, was like a cat on a hot tin roof as each group came in to be quizzed as to whether anybody had ‘knocked him off’. But, no, his shot to 3.425m, a good half metre inside Stan’s was more than enough to collect the cash. The first BallPin was on the 12th, and Harry stood alone to collect that one. The second BallPin on the 18th had to wait until the last group to decide the winner when the Beast whistled one in to beat Gordo out of a ball.
ChrisJ was all over the shop today, and was heard to say that his clubs were going to appear on e-Bay if things did not improve. Brendon managed to spray not one, but two balls OOB on the 3rd, while Michael managed to miss a 200mm putt for his par on the same hole. Trev had a draughtie on the 8th. He blamed the fact that he had the wrong club, but he didn’t want to walk back to the cart to get his driver. He even knocked back an offer for somebody to bring it for him.
As previously announced, there was no Calcutta Auction this year on the Vin O’Meara, that will be contested over the next two weeks. There will be the back-yourself option, $30 cash on the line before tee-time next week. The pool will be divided as specified in the Calcutta Auction rules. You have to be in it to win it. The Form Guide will be published shortly after this is posted. The nominated and scratched classifications relate to the registrations received before the Auction was cancelled and bear no relation to the actual event.
Results for Saturday, 27 November 2021
1st Bob McDonald (64) 2nd Ryan Porker (68) 3rd Gordon Hill (69) 4th Keith Delzoppo (72) 4th Patrick McSweeney (72) 5th Ben Akdag (73) 5th Stan Blackshaw (73) 5th Rod Grant (73) 5th Matt Hunt (73)
Seniors Results: 1st Bob McDonald (64) 2nd Gordon Hill (69) 3rd Keith Delzoppo (72)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 4th Robert Priems BallPin No 1 – 12th Harry Boughen BallPin No 2 – 18th Bill Eastoe