There was a sense of anticipation about this morning as the smallish field of twelve gathered around to not go gallivanting around the countryside to celebrate somebody’s birthday. There were a couple of matches to progress, and there was wonderment at the number of strokes that Brendon was going to have to concede to Bob. Harry had done due diligence to confirm that his result checking software would be able to stand the strain. The early birds had hit off into the dark again to stay in front of the pack, and the hint of a mist that hung in the air held off, and all was good to go. Charlie knew that he had avoided his bush, but little else, and Prez called it right, towards the tree line. In actual fact, it was down the left and past the distance marker. Was this to be a sign of things to come? Would Charlie continue to hit them like a demon, and would Prez continue to see balls fly where they didn’t?
The answer to both questions was probably, no! For sure and for certain, in Rob’s case, he could barely put a foot wrong as he barrelled his way around the front nine to take the turn just four strokes over the card, thanks to a couple of birdies, and 23 points to the good. He did admit to a bit of ‘luck’ on the 7th when his drive hit an ‘imaginary’ object on the fairway, flew high in the air and finished some 10-12m from the pin. Whereupon, he took out his trusty putter and promptly rattled it in for the bird. His back nine was barely different as he finished five over the card, but without the help of birdies, for another 20 points. The total of 43 points pretty much streeted the rest of the field and seriously enhanced the downward trend of his handicap over recent times. His off the stick tally of 77 was just short of a personal best 76, that you have to go all the way back to 1999 to find. However, it was his best since the corresponding weekend in 2017 when he clocked a 78 on June 10th. Happy Anniversary, you might say!
After coming home in the second group, Michael and Ryan were sitting at the table, hoping against hope that their equal tally of 36 points would be enough to snare them top spot. As is often the case, early clubhouse leaders have their hopes dashed, but not often by such a great margin. As usual, Michael was bemoaning a fluffed chip on the 15th as the mental terror of the day that potentially robbed him of a better placing (tell him he’s dreamin’). However, he was also bragging about the number of holes that he had parred by playing driver and one iron. And that included the 14th! And everybody knows that not even God can hit a one iron. Ryan found himself behind a tree140m out on the 16th, and opted to hook it around the tree as all direct shots were cut off. He didn’t account for a low-hanging branch on the far side which the ball ‘found’, and he had little idea of where the ball headed. Except that it headed straight for the green, and finished close enough for him to sink the putt for a par. He obviously used up all of his luck, and he would be bemoaning the gash on the 17th that might have robbed him of a better place (ditto as above).
Brendon had quite a few things on his mind today, not least of which was the 23 strokes that he had to concede to Bob in their match. Despite that heavy load (and that of being Captain), he managed to make the turn not too far off his handicap with 39 off the stick and seventeen points on the card. In the match, he had taken an early lead, but Bob had started on the come-back trail and the lead was back to two holes at the turn. On the 11th, it looked as if Bob was in with a chance to claw another one back with Brendon, under the trees (having hit two – trees, that is) playing his third shot. This shot was described by Brendon as a ‘running wedge’, although it did run a bit more than he intended (so he says), and he was left with a 15m putt. Needless to say, he sank it for his par to square the hole. Overall, his back nine was slightly better than the front, and he ended with 18 points for a total of 35 and third place. Along the way, he prevailed over Bob to finish the match at the 15th, 4 and 3.
Although he was beaten, he certainly was not bowed, and Bob put in a very creditable performance to finish the day with 33 points to fill the fourth podium stage and to collect another couple of points. The card was only spoiled by a couple of blow out holes. Despite his rather speccy start, Charlie only had a few moments on the front nine. One of these was a very nice birdie on the 3rd, which helped his Eclectic campaign no end. With only a few more rounds before he decamps to London, he is going to be a hard man to toss in that event. The standard picked up quite a bit on the back nine, and even Charlie began to have dreams of grandeur. Then the 17th drive finished in the kikuyu necessitating a couple of hacks to get out, and the dreams started to turn to dust. Well, almost. He did finish with 31 points and collected the last point for the day.
The second match of the day was between Adam and Raj. But, despite it being described as a ‘battle of the duds’, it was very much a close-run thing. Raj did get out to an early lead, as Adam took about half a dozen holes to get himself warmed up. Raj started leaking oil on the 6th when a played a shot for the green, which hit a tree so hard that it flew back beyond where Raj stood and went close to taking out a group standing on the 2nd tee. Adam continued to score while Raj’s shoulders drooped more and more. By the 11th, where Raj was spotted trudging across from the far side of the 13th fairway, the card was back to square. The next few holes were a Mexican stand-off, until Adam resumed his spurt to win 14 and 15, only to promptly lose the next two to make it all square once more. When they squared the 18th, it was off to the practice green for a chip-off. Nerves obviously got to Adam, and he barely made it onto the green, while Raj was better placed, but still no gimme. Both putts missed by a similar amount, and the tension was now palpable. Adam ran his by, while Raj calmly slotted his, and it was all over, red rover giving the match to Raj on the first ship-off.
There was a Jackpot ProPin on the 7th today, and after he popped a shot to 1.73m, Porks was quietly confident that he would be taking home the cash as he enquired from the Treasurer what the pool added up to. He needn’t have worried, although he did do a double take when he misheard Stan made a comment about somebody going close to beating him. The BallPin on the 12th was hotly contested, but it was Bobby-dazzler who marched in victorious. There was a similar contest on the 18th, although Michael was calling for a tape measurement when he found he had been dudded by Prez on the top deck.
Gordo was probably a bit jet-lagged, having barely arrived back from China after 22 hours on the road (figuratively speaking), but he soldiered on through the highlights (a birdie on the 11th, one of 9 for the day), and the lowlights (his drive on the 9th, that barely made it off the mound, let alone to the red markers). Steve pulled off a never-before-seen feat when he ‘drove’ the green on the 1st. Only problem was, it was the 9th green after the ball hit the elm tree off to the right so hard that it finished not far off the aforesaid 9th green. Despite the inauspicious start, Steve finished just outside the points. Harry got himself into a couple of tricky spots today, and, with any hope of a podium out of reach, a shot from this spot seemed to be a ‘no-brainer’. That’s what he said about himself as he eventually took the penalty that he should have in the first place.
Results for Saturday, 08 Jun 2024
1st Robert Priems (43) 2nd Michael Gourlay (36) 2nd Ryan Porker (36) 3rd Brendon Mitchell (35) 4th Bob McDonald (33) 5th Charles Gibbs (31)
Seniors Results: 1st Michael Gourlay (36) 2nd Bob McDonald (33) 3rd Steven Gervasoni (28)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 7th Ryan Porker BallPin No 1 – 12th Bob McDonald BallPin No 2 – 18th Robert Priems