It was obviously as day for the Seniors. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the whole world was happy. The ‘Hoe was back in full operation, the water and mud puddles were mostly gone, and the grass was coming back on the drowned areas. Some even suggested that the course could do with a bit of water, the ground being so hard in places, and the ball running on further than expected. The ground staff had been out during the week de-thatching the tee areas, probably in the hope that this will improve the cover in due course, even though they are going to be pretty ugly in the meantime. Eighteen fronted the starter, including a number who couldn’t make it last week. Perhaps they were hoping to improve their chances in the C of C events next week. Or maybe they could not resist the attraction of a round in pretty much ideal conditions.
All in all, it was a big day. The second round of the Vin O’Meara to kick off the new competition year and the third round of the Stroke Championships to determine who among us can hold it together well enough over the three-week event. With five strokes separating first and third from the week 1 leaderboard, there was a view that and upset was going to be a bit tough, but not impossible. As it turned out, there was a fair bit of movement in the placings, with some relative tail-enders moving well up the ranking. The man of the moment, however, was Geoff, who managed to play right to his handicap on both days to ease himself into first place with his net score of 136 for the two rounds. The margin might have been even greater if it had not been for a couple of triples and a quad. Old Reliable started the day a couple of strokes behind Geoff, but, by dint of a very handy 66 on day 2, he was able to leap-frog a couple of places from 4th to 2nd, to get his campaign to defend his Club Championship off to a good start. If he hadn’t taken nine holes to warm up (he went one over par on the back), the result could have been very different indeed. Still, it was his 200th game with the Club, so not a bad way to celebrate the fact.
Third place was filled by a mixed bag of members. Stan put together a steady, if not spectacular, round to finish just three strokes outside his handicap on the day, and that was enough to propel him into third place with a total of 145 for the event. Steve had set the pace on week 1, and had high hopes of repeating the performance. Unfortunately, it was not to be. He seems to have fallen foul of the ‘naked’ eighth to produce a double-digit result there, as well as a few other less than stellar results. Michael was ruing a run of bogies on the front nine, but not so much as his triple on the 18th, which probably wouldn’t have changed his placing, but would have made him feel ‘better’ about his game.
Rajesh was just out of the ‘placings’ last week, and he managed to improve his score by a couple this week, and that was enough to lift him into fourth place for his first points in a full year of competition. The odd sprinkling of doubles is just enough to hide the potential for him to score better some time soon. Watch this space. Finally, we have a stayer in Whitey, who managed to hold on to his fifth spot despite slipping a couple of strokes compared to last week. He was joined on the podium by a late burster, when Matt was able to go eight strokes better from the previous week to catapult himself into a share of fifth.
The other big event to be finalised was the Club Stroke Championship. There are two categories in this event, Scratch and Handicap. In the Scratch event, the clear winner was Michael, who took a total of 229 strokes over the three rounds. In his acceptance speech, he demanded that the trophy not display the strokes taken. The tussle for runner-up was a close run thing, being taken by Ryan with a tally of 243 strokes. Craig was a bit unlucky to miss out on a share by just a single stroke. In the Handicap event, the clear winner was Geoff, who pretty much streeted the field with his net score of 210. Craig was better placed in this event and scored the runner-up spot with a total of 217 net. This was well clear of the next best of 220, scored by Rajesh and Michael.
The first BallPin today was on the 4th hole, and Porks wasn’t the only one to get his ball on the green. Michael was rather cheesed off to find himself only about 300mm further away. Close, but no cigar, and the ball was Porks’. The other BallPin was on the 18th, as usual, and Anthony blocked out any other contenders from the first group with a shot that was eminently beatable, but turned out to be unbeatable. First shot of the round on the 12th by Harry elicited predictions that nobody would get inside his 1.55m. Unfortunately, Gordo had other ideas and managed to put one to 1.37m to collect the ProPin. There were a few pricked ears when he announced, at the after, that he was 200cm closer, which would have been quite a feat. And while on the subject of money, the ‘acting’ Treasurer was handing out swatches of cash to those that bought themselves in the Calcutta. It will be interesting to know if Geoff really does take the missus to dinner. Let’s hope she doesn’t read this if he doesn’t!
Harry does have some bragging rights over Gordon, because he did sink the putt for birdie on the 12th. In so doing, he contributed to the tally of 9 that were carded for the day. It also helped him towards his day winning score of 63 net, which got him a hefty handicap cut but not a point to his name. The sacrifices that some people make! Perhaps it was the ‘practice’ (read devastation) down at Peninsula-Kingswood that stood him in good stead.
The day didn’t start off too well for Matt when he ‘crashed’ his buggy into the garden-edge at the back of the first and dislodged his bag from its mount. Later in the round, he reckons he was robbed of the Eagle’s Nest (was it really worth it?) when his chip shot ‘slam-dunked’ the hole and bounced out. It’s only about three weeks since he made a similar claim. Could he really be that accurate, or that unlucky? Brendon sprayed an uncharacteristic tee shot into the trees on the right of the 5th, and, despite a search, he decided to trudge back to the tee rather than take the 2 stroke penalty. He finished with a five. Playing the 7th, he was advised that his ‘ball’ was well through the green in the 6th fairway rough. Actually, it was his 5th tee shot, and he freely admitted that he could never have made a five from there.
Targe obviously was underestimating his ability after he ‘hit up’ on the group in front a couple of times. However, the big hitting did not extend to the 3rd tee, where the failure to reach the red markers necessitated some expenditure on refreshments. And, while on the topic of refreshments, CJ, out of the goodness of his heart, bought drinks, but neglected to include Mango Man Ken, who just happened to be staggering back from his car loaded with boxes of his namesake. The sorry tale of the day would have to be from ChrisJ, who, after two OOB from the tee, got caught up in the long rough and took several to get himself out of the weeds. When he finally got onto the green, he proceeded to take three putts to finish with a 14 on the 14th. Gordo also claims to have had trouble getting off the weeds back in the ’70s.
The Birthday Birdie has a pretty light load this week. The only name up for mention is somebody that we haven’t seen for a day or two. Have a great day, Stef, and don’t forget to come back soon.
Don’t forget, next week is the Champion of Champions and Chump of Chumps. The Champion of Champions field (listed on the web-site) will play a Stroke round (the rest Stableford), but everybody should score Stableford because that will determine the placings for the daily comp as well as the winner of the Chump of Chumps. After the round, there will be our Christmas lunch (with beverages) and the Presentation of trophies.
Results for Saturday, 10 Dec 2022
1st Geoff Lyall (68, 68, 136) 2nd Craig Cameron (72, 66, 138) 3rd Stan Blackshaw (74, 71, 145) 3rd Steven Gervasoni (66, 79, 145) 3rd Michael Gourlay (71, 74, 145) 4th Rajesh Mahto (74, 72, 146) 5th Matt Hunt (78, 70, 148) 5th Rodney White (73, 75, 148)
Seniors Results: 1st Geoff Lyall (68,68,136) 2nd Craig Cameron (72,66,138) 3rd Michael Gourlay (71,74,145) 3rd Stan Blackshaw (74,71,145) 3rd Steven Gervasoni (66,79,145)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Gordon Hill BallPin No 1 – 4th Ryan Porker BallPin No 2 – 18th Anthony Browne