There was a bit of the usual brotherly argy bargy and a touch of sledging during the build-up for the second round of the Priems Cup in 2023.
By the time the dust settled on registrations, a couple of withdrawals and a late starter or two, there were two teams of 8 with one unlucky “odd number” player – Anthony – missing out on a spot on either team.
Somewhat controversially there was a slight tweak of the format and rather than individual matchplay, it was decided to play a straight stableford round (with no match play) and the winning team to be decided by best total stableford score.
The early buzz around the course was that maybe an old friend from the UK, the legendary David Primrose, had turned up and secretly snuck into the field, because somebody had birdied four of the first seven holes and was standing on the 8th tee at 3 under the card off the stick. Closer inspection revealed it was another legendary member with UK connections, the Beast. Birdie on the 1st, then a cracker off the tee into the 4th for another birdie (and the quintuple Propin jackpot) then two more birdies on the 6th and 7th! The Beast was on fire!
Bogies on 8 and 9 saw him turn 1 under the card off the stick and with 24 stableford points. Another birdie on 14 (Harry what is the record for number of birdies in a round?) was a good bounceback after a double bogey on 13. Bill finished the back 9 with 17 points for 41 overall which was six ahead of the next best, Chris J (or “the other CJ” as somebody called him) on 35.
Bill was playing for Team Chris (the original CJ) but unfortunately his teammates weren’t able to support him well enough to get Team Chris over the line, with Stevie G and Raj on 33 the next best followed by scores in the 20’s for Whitey, Gordo, Chris himself and Josh.
Meanwhile Team Rob was playing slow and steady tortoise to the Beast’s fast starting hare and with a consistent set of scores in the 32-35 range from 6 of 8 team members, this was enough to secure victory with a team total of 261 points at an average of 32.6 per player. Team Chris finished on 236 points (average 29.5) so in the end it was a comfortable three shot victory for Team Rob.
Congratulations Chris J (35); Charlie G (34); Bobby (34); Targe (34); Brendan (33); Rob (32); Sos (30) Matty (29)! Due to various mathematical and computer programming ramifications of not playing matchplay, it was decided by Harry/Michael that the winning team members would get 2 championship points each. In the previous matchplay version, the winners of individual matchplay games would have received an additional 3 points. There will need to be some sorting out of the best arrangements for Priems Cup format and points allocation in 2024, so that Harry’s fancy computer programming code for points can reflect the format played.
The main championship impact of the Priems Cup round was that the points Brendan secured for the win were enough to put him nine points clear of Harry in second place for the Championship with one round remaining. With Brendan having to sit out this week due to a commitment for his kids (hope the dancing concert goes well Brendan) he can be safe in the knowledge that even if Harry wins the 8 points for the December Monthly medal this week, Brendan can’t be be beaten for second place. But Harry (80) can be beaten for third by Porks (77).
The other big trophy related story for the day also featured Brendan. A birdie on the 13th, one of 3 he scored for the day, was his first birdie on that hole for the year and saw him sneak ahead of long-time leader Rob in the Eclectic. If you take a look at the Eclectic under “Competitions” on the website you’ll see there’s a bit of Harry’s usual mathematical and computer programming wizadry involved, but basically it is – best score on each hole over the year then subtract three quarters of your exact handicap. So we have Brendan on 51 gross minus three quarters of his handicap gets him to 44.0. Rob is on 59 minus three quarters of his handicap = 44.6. It’s probably a race in two and with Brendan at the dancing concert, Rob could pull ahead if he snaffles a birdie on any of holes 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 15 or 16. Stevie G, Porks, Chris J and SoS are also a chance if they go nuts with multiple birdies on the right holes.
Other highlights of the day included Raj having an airy under a tree on the 8th, Bobby might have had one too. Whitey had the distinction of hitting a decent long shot down the 6th just a bit right of the green towards the big dead tree there – well indeed very towards the tree, in fact right into the little gap in the roots and neatly nestled against the trunk. Sorry Whitey I lost the photo of it! Josh’s wedge into the second was equally spectacular, beautifully struck and nicely lofted just right for it to get into the tree nice and high and stay up there!
Nearest the pins were taken out by Stevie G on the 12th and Chrispy on the 18th, a consolation prize for the defeated brother.
It was great to see Craig down at the club. Unfortunately Craig’s health issues have kept him off the course for a while now, but he is still firing away with all the Club Committee Secretary duties (see more on Committee decisions below). The losing team members seemed to be in very good spirits after the round, no doubt helped by Ken’s generous mango handouts.
At the risk of making this the longest blog ever, please keep reading for the important Committee information Craig asked to be included:
- Membership subscriptions for 2024 were set to remain at $40 for Club and $90 for GA. These are now due, and should be paid as soon as possible, and certainly by the end of December. Bank transfer is preferred, marked with your name to identify your transaction.
- The Xmas break-up lunch and trophy presentations will be held on the 16th December in the newly renovated function room and Gordon really needs to have numbers so that he can pin down the catering. Don’t be afraid to come along even if you haven’t played much during the year as it is your subscription money that pays for this sort of thing.
- Because of the general lack of numbers of bidders in the Calcutta Auction, it was decided that this aspect of the Club’s activities would again be discontinued for this year. The optional buy-yourself pool will be continued with the purchase price for yourself set at $30. The pool will be divided as set out in the Calcutta Auction Rules. The purchase money is due before tee off on 2nd December. No money, no chance of being the winner.
Results for Priems Cup round Saturday, 18 Nov 2023
Winner: Team Rob 261 points, average score 32.6. Chris J (35); Charlie G (34); Bobby (34); Targe (34); Brendan (33); Rob (32); SoS (30); Matty (29)
Not quite the winner: Team Chris 236 points, average score 29.5 points. Beast (41); Stevie G (33); Raj (33); Whitey (29); Gordo (27); Chris (25); Josh (24)
Winners team each player rewarded with 2 championship points. Other team zero points.
Individual scores:
No points awarded and no “winner’s” penalty for Beast but he loses 5 x 0.2 = 1.0 for the 41 points
1st Bill Eastoe (41) 2nd Chris James (35) 3rd Charles Gibbs (34) 3rd Bob McDonald (34) 3rd Targe Mifsud (34) 4th Steven Gervasoni (33) 4th Rajesh Mahto (33) 4th Brendon Mitchell (33) 5th Robert Priems (32)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 4th (quintuple jackpot) Bill Eastoe BallPin No 1 – 12th Steven Gervasoni BallPin No 2 – 18th Chris Priems