About the only place to find more ins and outs would have to be a honeymooner’s bedroom! There were dickey knees, leaky roofs, changed circumstances and just plain forgot. At the start of the day, we ended up just about where we started with fifteen of the best (although the latter term is used rather loosely) wondering whether they had made the right decision as the mist continued to settle just enough to constitute a bit of a nuisance, and needing the umbrellas to be unfurled. A couple of times it intensified just enough to be called rain, but fortunately, any such events did not last for long. There were a couple of puddles around that could have resulted from earlier showers, or maybe the sprinklers had been used as well. The course was in fine condition and the greens were smooth with not a lot of leaf litter to brush away. With conditions so favourable, it then begs the question as to why we were only able to score a single birdie for the day.
SOS took on the task of marshalling the troops, and he valiantly tried to keep things in balance as the withdrawals and additions rolled in. JQ rocked up, and SOS searched for his name from the list that he had. Not there, but as he was keen to play, and there was a slot available, SOS was able to fit him into the field. Now, has John been fitting in some sneaky practice, or was he just still on a high after a successful day at the races. Whatever it was, he managed to come home with a net score of 68, thus minimising the damage to his handicap, although he did have a bit of a whinge about the winner’s penalty that he would have to take. The second hole was a bit of a nemesis for a number of people today, and it didn’t start off too flash for JQ either. His drive barely made it past the red markers and finished out on the 6th fairway. The second was cracked fairly well down the 6th and the third finished just off the 2nd green. A simple chip-in made the unlikeliest of pars. As they say in the classics, it’s not how, it’s just how many!
BrentL is back from his visit to the North, and his first stroke (and hole) suggested that he might be a bit rusty. However, he soon settled down and started putting together a reasonable round. It was helped more than somewhat by some good short game, and one putt in particular played a part. His birdie attempt on the 14th was solidly struck, hit the pin dead centre, spun around the hole and finished about 50mm past. A few millimetres right or left could have finished off the green, and half a ball width either way would have left a longish putt back. Ryan’s round was epitomised by his shot into the 15th which landed and spun back to finish 4.83m from the hole, which was just enough to qualify for the Double Jackpot ProPin. He can apparently thank the fact that he wasn’t using a ProV1, which, he reckons, would have spun back off the green. SOS started out well enough, and made par on the first three of the back, but then he ‘faded’ just a little, so that, he too, finished his round with a net score of 70, to share the second place honours.
Keith doesn’t seem to have let his televisual notoriety go to his head, as he has been featuring in the results on a reasonably regular basis in recent times. Today was no exception, and, except for a couple of quads, he could have been much further up the pecking order. The pars proved elusive for Pepsi today, although he did manage to score our only birdie on the 16th hole. This gave him a share of third spot with a score of 71. Craig played a very balanced round with a pair of forty-ones for his score of 73 and fourth place on his own. Dale (Spiderman) was awarded fifth place with his score of 76 once Matt managed to get somebody to read Dale’s spidering.
The first BallPin was on the 12th, and there was something of a contest, with SOS managing to edge out Pepsi for the ball. The second was on the 18th, as usual, and it could easily have been a jackpot, if it had not been for ChrisV who managed to stay on the green and get his name on the chit.
Harry was a bit cheesed with the course management for having extended the teeing area on the second, which allowed them to place the red markers further forward that they used to be. As a result, his heavily ‘sconed’ drive did not make the grade, even though it was past the ‘old’ tee-box. Targe also had some problems with the positioning of the reds on the second, as he went on to accumulate a score well into double figures for the hole. Dale owned up to having played a shot between his own legs on the 8th, but it was not recorded whether this was from the tee or not. Bob had his fair share of troubles today. Although his buggy did not break down, Bob almost did when it capsized as he tried to negotiate his way out of one of the grass bunkers by the 14th green. He also had a lot of problems with ‘crooked’ tees until SOS was able to come up with a ‘straight’ one and teed his ball up for him. Mattie was in ‘shorts’ today, not only from a sartorial point of view. It seems that he left a fairly large number of putts just 30mm or so short of the hole. Harry’s ‘shorts’ were considerably longer, sometimes reaching as far as 2m.
Results for Saturday, 08 January 2022
1st John Quinlan (68) 2nd Brent Loeskow (70) 2nd Ryan Porker (70) 2nd Stephen O’Sullivan (70) 3rd Keith Delzoppo (71) 3rd Andrew Petricola (71) 4th Craig Cameron (73) 5th Dale Webb (76)
Seniors Results: 1st Keith Delzoppo (71) 2nd Craig Cameron (73) 3rd Harry Boughen (77)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Ryan Porker BallPin No 1 – 12th Stephen O’Sullivan BallPin No 2 – 18th Chris Vinecombe