When the first group of Raj, Craig and Michael teed off with a morning moon and some mild fog on the shortest day of the year, Michael declared that as the winner would probably come from this group, he may as well save some time and get the main blog photo out of the way early.
And the prediction was correct, with Raj today’s winner with 35 points.
Raj’s highlight, along with his trademark expert lob wedge chipping around the greens was a bomb of a putt for a birdie on the 15th, one of five birdies from the small field of nine.
The lowlight was a birdie putt on the 17th that was dead-centre but with the pin in and angled a bit towards him, it bounced against the pin and stayed out. With pin out there is no doubt that was in the hole, it was dead-centre and rolling slowly. Raj was certainly robbed of one there, but as it turns out he didn’t need it anyway.
With the win, Raj returns to the top (Scottie Scheffler) ranking in the Ivanhoe version of the Official World Golf Rankings (IOWGR), a new Harry the wizard initiative you can find on the website under Competitions/Order of Merit Table. Michael slipped back to second (Rory McIlroy) and Brendon is third (Xander Scahuffele).
Craig managed third today with 33 points, including a brilliant birdie on the 7th after a tee shot to about 5 feet and another birdie on the 14th after a great second shot and nailing a tricky downhill left to right slider.
Michael managed a point for 5th with 31 points, with his highlight being the luckiest 5 for 1 ever on the 8th. After a shocking duffed tee shot into the left trees, he tried to hit a driver off the deck under the trees for his second and sliced it badly and it was heading out of bounds on the right at a great rate of knots before bouncing back off a wooden stake and far enough back into the fairway that he had a relatively easy third shot to the green. He was almost too embarrassed to take the point.
The second group out, Whitey, SOS and Steve were “up the arses” of Group 1 all day, having to wait on most shots. The round was clocked at 4hr 6 mins which it was agreed for a 3 in a stableford round is at least 20 minutes too long, so next time around Raj, Michael and Craig need to smarten up and find a minute a hole, and some. Despite the frustrations of slow play, Whitey with 34 points earned himself second place points (and first in the Seniors) and SOS with 32 was fourth.
SOS’s birdie on the 14th was his highlight, coming off a good par on the 13th, although Whitey reckons SOS’s tee shot on the 15th was more noteworthy – short and left high up the hill and lost for all money but somehow bobbled its way down the hill through the thick wet grass out onto the flat. A good second shot followed and SOS only just missed the par putt. Whitey was still shaking his head after the round about how the tee shot made it out of that long grass on the hill.
We won’t mention the scores in the final group of Harry, Dan and Stan, although Dan hit a great shot into the 12th to about 10 feet to knock off SOS for the ball on offer there. As is usual when the 4th is chosen for the ProPin, Jack Pot won there again. Michael won the ball on the 18th.
Stan wins best trick shot of the day. Standing over his second on the 5th with an awkward side hill lie (especially awkward for a lefty) beside the 7th tee, the ball started to roll during Stan’s back swing. Unperturbed, Stan adjusted his downswing and connected with the ball, hitting it on the run.
Under Rule 9.4b, if it was agreed Stan didn’t cause the ball to move, no penalty applies. Likewise, if Stan was able to stop himself in his backswing, he could have replaced the ball and then played the shot without penalty. As it happens, Stan recorded a 5 for 2 there on the 5th as well as winning trick shot of the day.
The other competition was who could take the best photo of the morning moon. Thanks to everybody who supplied their photos. SOS’s probably wins because he manages to capture a balloon crossing over the moon. Honourable mentions to Whitey and Raj for their moonshots.
Let’s see if we can beat nine starters for next week’s Par Comp. There’s a whole $9 jackpot up for grabs on the ProPin on the 4th.
Rumour has it that Peps will be a starter next week. My money is on him to win the money.
Meanwhile, best wishes to everybody on the injured/recovery/rehab list at the moment, including Prez Priems (dud knee), Chrispy (dud shoulder) and Gordo (dud shoulder). Best of luck boys. Hoping to see you back swinging as soon as possible.
Results for Saturday, 22 Jun 2024
1st Rajesh Mahto (35) 2nd Rodney White (34) 3rd Craig Cameron (33) 4th Stephen O’Sullivan (32) 5th Michael Gourlay (31)
Seniors Results: 1st Rodney White (34) 2nd Craig Cameron (33) 3rd Michael Gourlay (31)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 4th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 12th Dan Marie BallPin No 2 – 18th Michael Gourlay