The icy air keeps coming up from the south, and the Antarctic icebergs drift closer and closer to shore. Fortunately, the rain has not been as persistent as the forecasts would have had it, and it turned out to be another rather nice day for golf after all. A few late starters added to the registration list, and we ended up with fourteen members lining up to do battle to see who could beat par. Once again we had preferred lies and the greens had been cleared. A certain amount of softness thereupon meant that there were a few pitch-marks in need of repair, and we would like to think that our members did their bit to leave nothing on the green except footprints. Or the occasional NTP marker! Speaking of which, the Jackpot ProPin on the 12th went begging once again, which means that the pot is building up nicely for some lucky duck to slot into the old skyrocket. Maybe this will entice a few more out of the wood-work to brave the cool that nothing more than a couple of extra layers will fix.
Michael turned up today, looking more like a green tinged Northcote refugee than usual, wearing what was voted to be his grandmother’s tea cosy rather than the secret matchplay weapon that Michael claimed it was. Whether it was a secret weapon or not, anybody who thought that Michael’s game would be ‘off’ given his rather sparse attendance so far this year would have been in for something of a shock. Other than an unexplained ‘blow-up’ on the 4th hole, the card was a fine example of the game of golf, and he finished the round effectively two over the card and a par score of +3 to take out the top spot for the day. He was so intent on playing the game that he took no less than four clubs up onto the tee at the 15th. He played a nice enough shot to set himself up for a par, and then walked off the tee carrying one club, leaving the other three behind. Now that is concentration – not!
Whitey got a bit of a spurt on early on the front nine with a series of three consecutive plus signs on the card. The early promise faded a bit, and he finished square at the turn. It looked as if the turn in fortune would continue on the back until the bite returned to his game on the 12th, and he finished with a burst to finish the round 2 up. This slotted him into second place after having held the Clubhouse lead for a short while. Geoff has taken a few games to hit his stride since joining us. Today looked like the day that he was about to show his true potential. As they walked from the 15th to the 16th tee, Michael asked him how he was going, to be told that he was four up. Some might say it was a ‘choke’, some might say it was protecting handicap, and others might say that Michael was trying to jinx him. Whatever. Gashes on the next three holes gave a final score of one up and a spot in third place. After his fine back nine last week to snare the Medal (and the Unleash voucher), CJ started out in a similar style to take the turn two ahead of the pace. The back nine was not quite as flash as last week, and he was only able to hold the line to finish +1 and to share the spot with Geoff.
SOS continues his recovery from recent surgery, and showed that it hasn’t really affected his golf. It hasn’t affected his warped sense of humour either, but it seems that Pepsi didn’t really appreciate having his ‘balls’ interfered with. All jokes aside, SOS finished square to the card, and didn’t do his handicap any harm while gathering a couple of points for his fourth place. Harry managed to square twelve of the eighteen holes, as the ‘par’ putts failed to materialise once again. It must be said that a couple of ‘long’ ones were needed for some of the squares. ChrisJ was not nearly so much of a ‘square’, but he also managed to finish with a final tally of -2 to share the final points with Harry.
Michael’s claim that he was wearing his ‘lucky’ matchplay beanie was due to the fact that he was playing his match against ChrisJ as the final match in Round 2 of the Championship. Given that Michael was in the process of shooting the lights out, you could have been forgiven for thinking that it was a mere walk in the park for him. And so it would have seemed as they reached the turn with Michael five holes to the good. However, Chris was not done with yet, and by the 14th he had brought the advantage back to only two holes. Despite Michael’s forgetfulness on the 15th, he was able to win that one, which made the match dormie 3. On the 16th, Chris was on the green for two, with a good chance of winning the hole to keep the match alive. Michael was 127m out and playing his second, and tossing up which club to use for the shot. In the end, he picked his four iron, and put the ball to 600mm for the easiest of birdies to square the hole to Chris’s par. Thus finished the match with Michael victorious 3 and 2. As an aside, that birdie was one of the 9 that we managed to make for the day.
The first BallPin was on the 4th, and Matt, rather carelessly, let his ball roll a few centimetres past and to the side of the hole. His Captain’s Call to declare the 4th the ProPin was unsuccessful, and, in revenge, the golf gods caused him to miss the putt, and deny the team making double figures for the day. The BallPin on the 18th saw a bit more of a contest, and SOS was able to oust Harry, by a good margin according to SOS.
Harry, a bit uncharacteristically for recent times, topped his drive from the 2nd, and the ball only made it into the shrubbery in front, clearly putting it into the draughtie category. Matt was attempting a chip shot to the green on the 2nd, and, according to all reports, the club missed the ball by a number of millimetres. Ben was back on deck today after a break for some delicate (and personal) surgery. According to reports, he is getting a lot more sleep as a consequence. You could be forgiven for thinking otherwise when he managed to completely ‘top’ the ball on five consecutive shots at one stage. One man who did not get much sleep last night was Pepsi, who admitted that he only ‘woke up’ after about five holes. Who knows what his score might have been if he had stayed asleep much longer.
Ryan left his drive on the 13th on the slope down from the road and was faced with the ball well above his feet (he is a lefty). His effort to reach the green did not quite come off, and breaths were held as the ball headed ever so slowly towards the rather expansive (and expensive) windows that line the fairway. Fortunately, the ball did finish well short of disaster. CJ was wondering how he was going to keep warm with C away in Sydney on a girl’s weekend. Ben offered him a hand warmer, and soon he had four, which he proceeded to stuff down the front of his jocks. Things started to get a bit steamy when the chemicals involved reached critical mass, and he was forced to remove them in something of a hurry. He was a bit concerned that one was missing – handwarmer, that is.
Results for Saturday, 11 June 2022
1st Michael Gourlay (+3) 2nd Rodney White (+2) 3rd Geoff Lyall (+1) 3rd Chris Priems (+1) 4th Stephen O’Sullivan (□) 5th Harry Boughen (-2) 5th Chris James (-2)
Seniors Results: 1st Michael Gourlay (+3) 2nd Rodney White (+2) 3rd Chris Priems (+1) 3rd Geoff Lyall (+1)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 4th Matt Hunt BallPin No 2 – 18th Stephen O’Sullivan