The weather was a bit wild and woolly overnight, with some of the gusts approaching gale force. The trees on the course appear to have come through unscathed, except for losing their fair share of branchlets, twigs and gumnuts that were liberally scattered across pretty much every green on the course. Even on ones with no trees nearby. The weather bureau had promised rain for the day, and they were not far wrong. The forecast might very well have put some members off turning up, but some fourteen plus Raj’s pal from way back, Waseem, headed out in conditions that were looking pretty promising, although heavily over-cast. Last week, CJ was recalling that the VOM seemed to be very much susceptible to being affected by rain, so a check of the records was made, and as far back as 2012, there were no reports of rain on the day. Perhaps CJ’s memory was being affected by his experience back in 2008 when he was leading the VOM after the first round, and the second round was rained out. His request for a ruling to award the trophy to the first round leader fell on deaf ears. Perhaps this refusal was due to the fact that he was spreading Valvoline around the course at a furious rate. Not enough rain for a repeat of that cancellation today, and the field was able to finish, and a genuine winner was crowned.
Pepsi started out with a three point buffer from the rest of the field, although there were probably a few that fancied their chances of making a lunge from behind to snatch the cup from his hands. He started off smartly enough, with a par on the first, and a bogie on the long-playing second. By the end of the front nine, he was four over the card, and looking comfortable enough to maintain his lead of the pack. Another couple of bogies and a double in the first half of the back started to raise the ante, but a couple of pars and a birdie, helped to stem the flow of strokes. A final total of 77 for the day added seventy-one to last week’s sixty-seven, and 138 all up was just enough to take out the Vin O’Meara for 2023.
Adam had to dash off to other commitments, and led the field out in the first group. He, too, started his round par/bogie, and managed a fairly respectable front nine, if it had not been for a triple on the 9th. Now, it seems that Adam was right in touch with his short irons today, and terrified the pins on anything up to eight occasions during the round. It wasn’t a short iron, but he really terrified the pin on the 15th, when the ball crossed the hole, hitting the pin, and finishing within gimme distance for the birdie after barely missing the HIO. That was his second birdie for the day, which helped us to a total of seven between the lot of us. Adam’s net of sixty-five, when combined with his fifth-placing seventy-four from last week, brought him within a stroke of Pepsi, to take out the runner-up trophy for the event.
As well as filling the 3rd placing in the event with his net score of seventy-one, Michael also collects the Gullible Golfer of the Year award. Despite Pepsi’s assertion that he thought he had registered for today, his name did not appear on the sheet. CJ, very seriously, said to Michael, that Peps had been disqualified for not registering. Michael took the bait, hook, line and sinker, and immediately rushed about protesting at the unfairness of such a ruling, until Harry took pity on him, and straightened him out on the subject. Brendon was not too happy about his form on the front nine, where pars proved elusive, and a triple on the 9th was the icing on the cake. The walk to the 10th seems to have settled thing down a bit, and the prospects looked right up with a couple of birdies on the 13th and 14th (eclectic, muttered Brendon). A dead centre hit on a tree branch on the 16th might have cost one shot, while the tee shot on the 17th finishing in the rough by the pear tree also looked a bit dire. After much to-ing and fro-ing about unplayable lie and club selection, another five gave a total two over the card for the nine, and the net seventy for the day produced a share of 4th place for the event.
SOS turned in cards with scores in the reverse order to Brendon’s. Quite possibly, his final score, if not his mood, might have been affected by his draughtie on the very first tee. Probably best that there was not a large gallery at the time. A further frustration would likely have been the resting place of this drive. And, no, this is not a repeat of last week’s photo for Stan. There were also reports that he cleaned up a duck on the 16th. So, all in all, he probably did well to card his net seventy-three. Raj continues to make his presence felt after his tear-away win in the Championship last year, and he has accumulated points already by taking out fifth place with his total of 145 for the two rounds.
The other big event that was finalised today was the Strokeplay Championship. The top spot in the handicap event went to Pepsi, who played some very consistent golf to finish with a total net score of 214. He was fairly closely followed by ChrisJ and Raj who were tied up on 216. In the scratch event, it was pretty much a two horse race, and those horses were inseparable after two weeks of the event, and, so, the final result came down to performance on the day today. Michael turned in a 75 off the beater today, to beat Pepsi, who turned in a 77, by two strokes. Well done both of you.
There was BallPin on the 4th today, which could have proved a bit of a challenge with the tee set well back. SOS managed to get it on, and nobody could get any closer, so he can give himself a ball next week, since he had to dash off to Shep today. The ProPin was on the 12th, and SOS looked as if he was going to have a field day, that is, until Brendon came along and pipped him by 200mm with a shot to 1.94m. The second BallPin on the 18th was mightily contested, but Michael was able to knock off both Adam and Gordo to collect a ball. And, talk about fussy!. He asked for ProV1x, and Gordo produced a box so labelled and handed over two balls (one from last week) only to have them summarily rejected because they were ProV1 (and I can’t hit those!).
There was a fair swag of draughties today. Rob had one on the 4th, and it might even have been a double! Geoff had one on the 5th. Josh had one on the 2nd, and, if it hadn’t been for a bounce off the bitumen, there could have been a second on the 15th. Gordo didn’t quite have a ‘cricket score’ on his card, but he did get a ‘duck’. His was on the 17th, but it cannot be confirmed that it was the same one that SOS got on the 16th. Despite some troubles from the tee, Rob was actually going pretty well, that is, until somebody commented to that effect on the 16th, and the rest, they say, is history. Though, it must be said that he did return to good form for the last two holes. Raj’s pal, Waseem, gives the impression of being a dab hand with a golf club, if his tee shot from the first was any guide. The fact that he carded an eagle is another suggestion that he might know what he is doing. The Eagle was quite relieved to learn that the Nest can only be raided by paid-up members.
Next week is the David Primrose Champion of Champions event. The field (from winners in the competition year) is listed above, and they will be competing in a stroke competition, but they should keep their Stableford score for the day’s placings and ball run. The rest of the attendees will be competing for the Chump of Chumps, which will be determined from the Stableford scores. So, everyone scores Stableford, but the CoC field has to play out as a stroke competition.
The golf will be followed by the Break-up lunch (including some drinks) and the trophy presentations. We really do need immediate registration if you are going to attend the lunch (you don’t have to play). We would hate to under-cater because of a lot of walk-ups, just as much as we would hate to over-cater, to waste both food and money. It’s easy. It’s on the web-site under Registrations/Break-up. Just do it!
Results for Saturday, 09 Dec 2023
1st Andrew Petricola (67, 71, 138) 2nd Adam King (74, 65, 139) 3rd Michael Gourlay (71, 71, 142) 4th Brendon Mitchell (73, 70, 143) 4th Stephen O’Sullivan (70, 73, 143) 5th Rajesh Mahto (74, 71, 145)
Seniors Results: 1st Michael Gourlay (71,71,142) 2nd Harry Boughen (71,81,152) 3rd Chris Priems (75,79,154)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Brendon Mitchell BallPin No 1 – 4th Stephen O’Sullivan BallPin No 2 – 18th Michael Gourlay