Whitey has always been known to look on the Brightside of life (especially so these past few years) and lately he has been adding a bit of Artistic Genius to his game.
His miracle par on the 16th, playing a perfect third from under the big tree on the right and then rolling in the putt with his trusty new putter was, a bit like Rory at the Wells Fargo this week, pure genius.
Despite missing opportunities to plus the final two holes, Whitey’s +5 was good enough to street the filed by 3 strokes or in racing parlance, by 3 lengths easing up on the line. It could have been Cranbourne under lights on a Friday night.
Speaking of which, Whitey’s Artistic Genius will take him to Flemington next Saturday, so his stellar round won’t be a factor as the rest of the field lines up for Week 2 of the David Ford Autumn Cup. As it happens, he was ineligible for the major trophy anyway, having not played with us during the previous month.
Next time Whitey plays with us and not his other mates at Heidelberg, your assistant apprentice handicapper (who marked his card and nearly choked on his Weeties when he saw Whitey off 19) is pleased to say his Ivanhoe handicap will be a bit closer to his GA handicap of 16 and more in keeping with his golfing talents.
The leading contenders heading into Round 2 of this year’s second major (third if you count the 2023 Vin O’Meara as part of this season) are Prez Priems and SoS on +2. Charles and Chrispy on +1 are close on their heels, along with Craig (square) and Michael and Dan on -1.
It’s a bunched field and you wouldn’t rule out Harry and Gordo (who won best cap/hat of the week) on -2 or Raj, Targe or the “the Don” Brendon on -3. Indeed Adam on -4 and Ken on -5 might even be a chance from only 7 shots behind, although you would probably rule out this week’s NAGAs – and next week’s BBQ cookers – Porks and Bobby on -7. Harry what is the biggest ever come from behind victory in a major?
Dan’s friend Nicholas joined us as a guest and while he was reluctant to show his card for the blog, claiming he had just had one of his worst rounds ever, his GA handicap of 23 suggests he will have better days at Royal Ivanhoe in future.
Unfortunately we will be missing Dan soon for six months as he is heading off to Shepparton for work. In late July, Charles too will be heading off, in his case for a stint in London.
Meanwhile they both nearly celebrated holes in one this week. Charles shot to the Propin money hole on the 12th finished 26cm from the pin and so nearly went in. Dan’s to the top tier pin on the 18th finished 34cm away.
Ken was a bit stiff to get done for the ball on the 18th having also hit a great shot to the top tier. Earlier Harry and Craig had their name on the sticky note, albeit on the bottom tier.
On the 15th, not for the first time, Gordo was claiming being robbed for a shot much closer the hole than the ball winner, but an inch off the green. Porks was an inch on the green right at the front. With the pin at the back, Pork’s ball win there might break records for the longest ever. There is no truth in the rumour he was considering donating his ball to Gordo as a gesture of goodwill.
Harry sunk the putt of the day from the front of the 7th. With the pin at the far back left and on a downhill slope it was said Harry’s putt never looked like missing and dropped neatly into the hole. Harry talks in metres but I think of putts in feet and if we are talking yards, it was definitely longer than a cricket pitch, so let’s say 70 feet.
SoS hit his drive on the 13th onto the 10th fairway. After surveying a few options for his second, he took on the hero shot to thread the needle through the trees with some left to right needed to get near the green. When he hit it he wasn’t sure exactly where it went and yelled “fore” and his playing partners all ducked and nobody was quite sure where it went. SoS thought it was going to be short right of the green but after lots of searching no ball was the found there. Nobody had thought to check the green, but a quick ball count revealed that’s where SoS’s ball was and two shots later it went in the books as a very handy four a plus.
No sign of Jack Pot this week but Jack Russell was busy on the third enthusiastically running to Chrispy’s drive, picking it up neatly off the deck and without breaking stride heading off proudly towards the green and its owner. The embarrassed owner explained the situation to the group ahead on the green and big brother Priems stepped in to get the situation sorted. The ball was deposited back down the fairway (some say in a slightly better position than where it originally was) and Chrispy had no trouble from there making his four a plus.
Whether it was under rule 9.6 (which applies if the ball had come to rest when the dog picked it up) or 11.1b (if the ball was still moving when the dog picked it up) the procedure is similar, basically put it back as close as you can to where it was when the dog grabbed it (under 11.b you can take a club length as well if you want) and if you’re not sure of the exact spot, an estimate is fine.
Next week’s Round Two should be huge and with a bit of luck, we will see some more Artistic Genius on the course, on the BBQ afterwards, and at Flemington.
Results for Saturday, 11 May 2024
Leaderboard Round 1: 1st Rodney White (+5) 2nd Robert Priems (+2) 2nd Stephen O’Sullivan (+2) 3rd Charles Gibbs (+1) 3rd Chris Priems (+1) 4th Craig Cameron (□) 5th Michael Gourlay (-1) 5th Dan Marie (-1)
Seniors Leaderboard: 1st Rodney White (+5) 2nd Chris Priems (+1) 3rd Craig Cameron (□)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Charles Gibbs BallPin No 1 – 15th Ryan Porker BallPin No 2 – 18th Dan Marie