The lows continue to circle about down the south, bringing front after front and rain band after rain band. So, would we get our round in between the latter? This was the question on twelve minds, however small, this morning at Ivanhoe. As it turned out, there was no need to worry. The precipitation stayed away for the duration. However, there was still a bit of casual water around, and the usual spots on the course were still pretty boggy. It does appear that there are some course improvements afoot. There are a number of steel posts set beside several tee areas around the course, and speculation is rife that they are intended to house ball washers. Just the vital thing that the course desperately needs. The greens, however, were good, if a little fast for some people’s liking, or was that the effect of last night’s imbibing giving super-human strength?
There was a bit of excitement during the week after somebody managed to play the course in five under the card. You would have to admit that is a fair sort of achievement in the current wet conditions. The course record of 62 off the stick that was set by ‘our’ David Primrose in 2002 therefore still stands. Nobody quite reached those sorts of heights today, but one member did show a turn about from his recent form. Gordo managed to crack a smile and his handicap with an 84 off the stick for a grand total of 37 points. He wasn’t 100% happy about his drive off the 3rd tee, but, nothing ventured, nothing gained, he took on the corner tree and sailed one over to finish just short of the hole. The putt rolled true, and his birdie counted towards the tally of five that we put together for the day.
Craig was his usual methodical self, but did not want to use the ‘b’ word to describe his game. He tried desperately to score nothing but fours on the back nine, but he spoiled it with one five and an over-compensating two on the 18th. This, very cunningly, played exactly to his handicap to take out second spot and to add a swag of points to his ever expanding lead in the Championship, all the while doing no harm to his handicap. JQ was out in the rough on the left of the 17th with any view of the green completely blocked by an intervening tree. His contact was just a little too good and the ball skittered across the green, potentially robbing him of a point and a share of second spot. However, he was reasonably happy with his 35 points and a spot in third place. He was joined in that location by Brendon, who had a bit of a shocker (for him) on the second, but he made up for it with his birdie on the 8th that scored him a whacking good four points.
Although Harry was frustrated with his missed 1m putts, he did strike a bit of luck on the 3rd where a very skinny chip was rocketing to who knows where. A shouted prayer to ‘hit the pin’ was promptly answered, and the ball stopped close enough for not even Harry to miss for his par. A tally of 33 points was good enough to get 4th place. Stan and his group lead out the field and set a cracking pace. He had his ups and downs, but a gash on the 13th and a fair sprinkling of singletons kept him from a much better placing than 5th. Matt started off on the first tee looking as if he was going to repeat last week’s performance. On the 17th, Matt opted to go for the green, and the consensus was that it looked to be a very good result. A search on and around the green, and even in the hole, failed to find the ball. That grabbertree that brought JQ unstuck last week had done it again, and Matt’s ball was found back on the tee side. Despite this, he did manage to par the hole. Unfortunately, the general approach game did not quite come up to the same standard, and he had to settle for his share of 5th. SOS struggled a bit on the front nine, but he really pulled out the stopper on the back to finish that half of the course only three strokes over the card to bring home his 5th place sharing score of 32 points.
The first BallPin was on the 12th, and, apparently, the result was a close run thing. Craig had his name on the card, but Dale was ‘visually’ very close to the same distance, if not inside Craig’s. After multiple measurement attempts by different people, it was reluctantly agreed that Craig had the prize by no more than a centimetre or two. Not to be outdone, Craig did it again on the 18th with a shot to 2.4m to take out Brendon from the BallPin and to collect the inside ProPin. As for our own ProPin, Brendon put his hand up again, only to have it slapped down by SOS who managed a shot to 3.74m. Interestingly, there was a discussion about splitting the pot, but JQ declined and, so, a two-way split was the order of the day for SOS and Craig.
Matt was spotted getting up close and personal with a tree on the 11th. Thing is, it didn’t look like a golf club that he had in his hand. He also wants to consult with Bob after he went close to running CJ down with his electric buggy. Even though it wasn’t raining, CJ was wearing a ‘Storm’ jacket after the round. Not that it would have offered much protection after the sleeves were hacked off at bicep level because they were ‘too long’ and rolling them up just collects water. Brent had a mild dose of the ‘shanks’ today, but he is confident of shaking them off before he finally meets up with Michael in the Matchplay final.
Results for Saturday, 17 Sep 2022
1st Gordon Hill (37) 2nd Craig Cameron (36) 3rd Brendon Mitchell (35) 3rd John Quinlan (35) 4th Harry Boughen (33) 5th Stan Blackshaw (32) 5th Matt Hunt (32) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan (32)
Seniors Results: 1st Gordon Hill (37) 2nd Craig Cameron (36) 3rd Harry Boughen (33)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Stephen O’Sullivan BallPin No 1 – 12th Craig Cameron BallPin No 2 – 18th Craig Cameron