There was a hint of a shower as the dawn broke over the ‘burbs, and thirteen members and two guests made their way to the course. The rain of the previous day had softened the ground a little, and we continued to enjoy the luxury of a preferred lie. Unfortunately, for some, that little luxury does not extend to bunkers and penalty areas. Charlie finally put in his third card, so he is now a fully fledged member with a handicap that he can work on getting down to where it should be (tongue in cheek, of course). Welcome to the club, Charlie. James also invited along his friend Paddy, who seems to have enjoyed the outing, although it remains to be seen if he decides to join us on a more regular basis. Although the condition of the course was relatively benign, the scores that were turned in did not really set the world on fire, but it seems that climate change is doing a fine job of achieving that unwelcome target.
For some reason, Blighty had a disturbed night, and, as he lay awake at about 0400, he really did contemplate not getting up with the sparrows and having a good lie in. But, he did manage to drag himself out of the feathers and presented to the first after going through his usual round of knee bends and butt thrusts to get the joints moving. They seem to have helped and things started off not too badly. The points kept flowing except for a bit of a hiccup on the 6th, and he made the turn with seventeen points on the card. By this time the joints had really loosened up, and so did the flow of points, spoiled only by a couple of holes that did not quite come up to scratch. In the end, he made nineteen for the nine, coming in right on handicap with thirty-six points. This result scored top points in both Championships.
Harry was feeling quietly confident after carding seven pars on the front nine holes during the week, and was looking forward to repeating the performance today. Unfortunately, the best he could do was to produce six bogies and one par for a tally of 16 points. The back nine started with a couple of doubles, but then things started to pick up, with the shot of the day being with a rescue from about 106m out on the 14th that rimmed the hole and finished about 500mm away. You could almost hear the Eagle whimpering with relief in its nest. The four points helped Harry to nineteen points for the nine, and thirty-five was enough to secure second place in both Championship lists.
Brendon started off with a bogie, which was probably a bit of a disappointment. However, he soon put that little set-back behind him, and proceeded to collect the points like they were going out of style. So much so that he finished the nine with twenty-one on the card. Unfortunately, a long white cloud seemed to have settled over him and the back nine did not follow the same script. A fairly average thirteen points was all that he could muster, but the total of thirty-four was more than enough to slot into third place for the day. Raj had one of those days when some shots were just about all that you could wish for, while others would make you wonder what on earth happened there. Like the clear shot to the green on the 8th, that ‘shanked’ drastically into the forest around the billabong. So, despite a couple of three pointers, Raj could only manage fifteen points for the first half. The three pointers also proved elusive on the back nine, and, although he managed to avoid the dreaded gashes, he could still only scare up another fifteen points to bring his total to thirty, and to score fourth place for the day.
In the end, we ended up with a fair swag of players in fifth place with a tally of 29 points for the round. Matt and Porks had their head down, playing their semi-final match (but more on that later). Adam was back after an extended break, taking in the sights of Scotland and parts of Europe. As a result, the swing was perhaps a bit rusty, leading to more than a few shots that finished a bit wide of the mark. Adam was putting for a point from about a metre on the first, and the ball came to a stop on the very edge of the hole with about half of the ball over the edge. Adam waited the full ten seconds before the ball was finally overcome by the gravity of the situation and fell in. Jonathan was demoted a spot due to a calculation error, while Ken came up a couple of spots, also due to a calculation error.
The first BallPin was set on the 7th, and it could not have been a longer shot, with the tee well to the back of the box, and the pin well to the back of the green. Brendon’s gadget put the distance at 180m. It seems that none of our members could get it up there, so it was left the James’ guest Paddy to crack his hybrid, right in line with the pin to within three or four metres to collect the ball on offer. The ProPin was on the 15th again, and the man to get inside was Prez, who was able to get his tee shot to within 2.08m of the hole. Harry tried valiantly to catch him, but his ball refused to leave its plug mark where it landed about 300mm short of the green. The second BallPin on the 18th went to Ken who scuttled his shot up the hill to finish about 1m short of the hole. You don’t have to post video on Instagram, though, do you, Ken? Ken finished off by making the birdie, which was one of only three that we scored for the day. Now, Ken made a big claim that this was the first birdie that he had ever scored. However, a check of the records suggests that his memory must be failing him, as there are at least two others present in the records.
The big match today was fought out between Matt and Porks, and, with the same handicap, it was an ‘off the stick’ affair. They were obviously very well matched, as they both ended with identical scores on both nines and overall. Ryan did get an early jump out of the blocks to take a two hole lead, and Matt started to think that he could be in for a struggle. A bit of sledging and subtle mind games allowed him to nibble away at the deficit, and after the 8th the match was all square. Then followed seven holes with no result either way. Things started to happen on the 16th, when Matt managed to find the OOB area and handed the hole to Ryan. Ever the gentleman, Ryan returned the favour on the 17th and put his ball OOB, and the match went to 18 all square. Equal scores there resulted in a chip-off to decide the winner. The first chip was to the far hole, and it looked as if Matt thought he was going for the near one when his ball finished well short of the mark. Ryan finished much better placed. Matt took two putts to finish, while Ryan sank his to take the match and to secure his place in the final.
Bob has apparently raided the stash of cash under his mattress and has bought himself a brand-new electric buggy. It took him a few holes to get the hang of keeping it under control, but it was a bit of a surprise to see him pushing it for the last few holes. No problem with the buggy battery this time, just with the controller battery. Back to the shop first thing on Monday for Bob! Jonathan appeared on the 8th tee waving his arms about, which somewhat perplexed Harry and Adam on the 7th, who didn’t gather his meaning. Next minute, a ball whizzed over Harry’s head and landed not too far from Adam, whereupon the meaning of the hand waving became clear, that it was a warning that he was taking a shot in their direction. Gordon lined up on the 17th tee and declared that this hole was well suited to his driver, with its tendency to bend to the right. The ball headed left and ricocheted off of the mesh covering the shared path, as it obviously preferred to be playing near Kew rather than Ivanhoe. In response, Gordo was heard to mutter something about ‘Far Kew’. Rob had heaps of troubles with his putter today. He was able to miss them from any distance that you liked to nominate. On the 17th he had managed to get to within 300mm of the hole in four and stepped up to finish it off while he was ‘hot’. Three putts later, the ball was in the hole.
Results for Saturday, 19 Aug 2023
1st Andrew Blight (36) 2nd Harry Boughen (35) 3rd Brendon Mitchell (34) 4th Rajesh Mahto (30) 5th Matt Hunt (29) 5th Adam King (29) 5th Jonathan Lau (29) 5th Ryan Porker (29) 5th Ken Watson (29)
Seniors Results: 1st Andrew Blight (36) 2nd Harry Boughen (35) 3rd Ken Watson (29)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Robert Priems BallPin No 1 – 7th Paddy O’Sullivan BallPin No 2 – 18th Ken Watson