Somebody was looking after the weather for the first round of the Stuart Clarke memorial. The BOM had promised a cool morning, followed by a pretty warm day, and that is pretty much how it turned out. There was a full moon hanging prettily over the first fairway as the first group was teeing off, and further afield there was a bevy of balloons taking advantage of the dead still air. We ended up with nineteen players out there to chance their arm for a tilt at the big one, and that included Stuart’s Dad, Rodger. It seems that Rodger was very happy to be back at the ‘Hoe, and was looking forward to showing off some of his style around the course. The optimism was slightly misplaced, and a few ‘bad’ holes knocked a fair dent in the final score. Undaunted, he plans to be back next week, Hawaiian shirt and all, to see more of our smiling faces, and to honour Stuart fittingly.
Who then has the best chance of being presented the trophy by Rodger if it isn’t going to be himself. During the announcements, the Captain was moved to express the view that conditions must have been pretty awful when only two of our motley crew managed to break their handicap, and then, only by the one stroke. Harry started off gang-busters with two pars in the first three holes, by which time, Brendon and CJ were suggesting that the trophy was well within his grasp in an obvious attempt to put the mockers on him. Little did they know that H had a little secret – he won’t be playing next week! Pepsi was keen to get away as he had an important race meeting to get to. So he set a cracking pace as well, but, like Harry, he faded marginally in the home straight, and also came in with the scoreline of 37 points. Let’s hope his horses didn’t do the same on the track.
Brendon wasn’t too happy about a missed putt on the first, but he compensated slightly with a three point par on the second. The drive on the third was what you might call ‘less than spectacular’. But, after his usual careful measurement of the distance to the pin, he fairly cracked it and the ball finished on the green, although it was still a long way from the hole. Undaunted, he gave it a fair whack, and it rolled gently into the hole for a birdie and four points. Another birdie and four points on the 4th had the signs looking good, and contributed nicely to our tally of 12 birdies for the day. Some over-enthusiastic chipping on the back nine brought the score back to the field, and he managed second place with his 36 points.
Stan went through a bit of a rough patch in the middle of the round after quite a good start. On the walk from the 9th to the 10th, he refocused to be able to see himself as the ball flying to the target, and refound his early form, although he did forget a stroke that he got on the 16th, which elevated him to a share of third on the leader board. There were conflicting reports about Craig’s game. Punishment of trees featured in one, while another reported his usual straight down the middle style. Something obviously did go awry from time to time, but a good smattering of three pointers allowed a 34 point finish and a share of third spot.
Ben and Ken both finished with 33 points and share the fourth spot on the leaderboard. Their cards turned out to be something of a mirror image. Ben had 19/14, while Ken had 14/19. How about that! ChrisJ took about six holes to warm up, but then he really got the engine revving to finish up with 32 points. The other Chris (aka CJ), on the other hand, played two equal hands to fit into 5th spot. So, with only five points between the leader and fifth place, there is every prospect that there will be a battle royal for the big honour next week. Sparks could very well fly! And, some of the ‘outsiders’ are not all that far away!
The Jackpot BallPin from last week was on the 4th, and Pepsi blocked out all comers by putting it close enough in the first group. He also managed to get his name on the 18th BallPin, but he was taken out by Brendon who put his to 11.1m. Surely, he couldn’t win the inside ProPin two weeks in a row from distances like that! The ProPin was on the 15th, and, although Harry finished pin high and within 5m, he was about a metre off the green, and so, there will be a nice little Jackpot to play for next week.
There were three matches played today. Matt was up against the Beast, and it was an off-the-stick affair, with them both playing off 9. Beast jumped away to a healthy lead, and soon had three holes up his sleeve. Then, according to him, he decided to torture Matt by letting him think he had a chance of winning the match. After going all square at the 11th, the score fluctuated and went dormie at the 17th. Beast won the 18th and took the match 2 up. Pepsi had to give Benny eleven strokes, and, for a while, Ben had the advantage, but was just unable to build any sort of a lead. Pepsi pounced around the turn, and, although Ben fought valiantly, he was not able to deliver the killer blow. The result was determined at the 17th with Pepsi two up. ChrisJ took some first tee lessons on how to score Matchplay and faced the daunting task of giving Rob thirteen strokes. On the front nine, this took a bit of a toll, and Rob enjoyed the front running for most of the nine. The fortune then favoured Chris, and he made his way to a two hole lead. Rob wasn’t finished, and with some strokes up his sleeve, he looked to have a chance to make a comeback. That is until Chris chipped in from well out for a par on the 16th, which just about broke Rob’s heart and made the match dormie 2. Then, to rub salt into the wound, on the 17th Chris was completely blindsided by trees for his second shot and called on Rob for guidance as to the location of the pin. The resultant shot finished in almost gimme position for the birdie, which beat Rob’s par to give the match to Chris 3 and 1.
Porks has taken a good lead in the Eclectic, thanks to yet another eagle. This time on the 17th, where his drive finished within a metre or so of the hole. Pretty slim pickings from the Eagle’s Nest though, as he had cleaned it out just last week. The poor old eagle is getting pretty twitchy every time he sees Ryan walk up to the tee. Keith turned up this morning wearing his Hawaiian shirt, having jumped the gun by a week for the tradition that the Club encourages as a mark of respect for Stuart. So, if you haven’t got one, Savers and other similar establishments are a good spot to try. If you have got one, get the better half to give it a wash to get rid of the tomato sauce stains from last year. Or even better, do it yourself!
Don’t forget the barbeque afterwards. Always a good feed of burgers, snags, onions and salad to satisfy the inner man. And then, hang around for the Club Annual General Meeting to take care of the business that Craig sent to you earlier in the week. You have read it, haven’t you?
Results for Saturday, 19 March 2022
Leaderboard Round 1: 1st Harry Boughen (37) 1st Andrew Petricola (37) 2nd Brendon Mitchell (36) 3rd Stan Blackshaw (34) 3rd Craig Cameron (34) 4th Ben Akdag (33) 4th Ken Watson (33) 5th Chris James (32) 5th Chris Priems (32)
Seniors Leaderboard Round 1: 1st Harry Boughen (37) 2nd Stan Blackshaw (34) 2nd Craig Cameron (34) 3rd Ken Watson (33)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 4th Andrew Petricola BallPin No 2 – 18th Brendon Mitchell
Eagle’s Nest Results: Eagle – 17th Ryan Porker