While the day’s winner played steady golf throughout, there were some big “2 for 4” shots out there this week, along with a very clear winner of the NAGA.
Brendon rolled in a monster birdie putt at the 4th, grinning all the way as he walked it in and smiled “eclectic” as he picked it out of the hole and then wrote 2 for 4 on the scorecard.
Brendon is now more than two shots ahead in the eclectic, with Bobby and Raj in equal second place. How is the recovery going Raj? The smile did come off Brendon’s face when he 4-putted the next hole. Funny game golf.
Harry’s shot on the 12th looked like it was going in the hole (or at least inside Brendon’s nearest the pin effort) but turned out to have rolled about 25 feet past. No problem, Harry drained the downhill birdie putt dead centre and happily wrote 2 for 4 on the scorecard.
Johnny Q played despite being crook (not self-inflicted this time) and while not having a great day, a birdie on the 17th gave him something to smile about. But better was to come.
The pin on 18 was on the top tier, just. Any putt from behind the hole was liable to roll down to the bottom tier if it went past the hole. Coming up from the bottom tier was near impossible to get the length right. No problems for JQ though. His tee shot made the lower tier (and was good enough to win nearest the pin) and he then rattled the putt straight in to add a 2 for 4 to the 3 for 3 he made on 17. We won’t mention the airy John had under a tree on the second.
But the best 2 for 4 of the day came from Gordo. It left SoS scrambling the depth of the balls bag to try and find enough round things to pay the Eagles Nest prize.
With our eagles specialists Steff, Porks and Peps not playing as much lately, the Eagles Nest had crept up to 11 balls as Gordo got out his gap wedge in the middle of the fairway on the 14th.
As soon as he hit it, playing partner Dan said “that’s good” soon followed by Steve saying “go in” and it did!
Michael, Harry and Brendon were on the 15th tee and prompted by Dan and Steve’s urgings had time to turn around and watch the ball’s run across the green into the hole. It dropped at a nice slow pace, a perfect shot.
Amongst all these heroics, Blighty compiled the round of the day with steady golf and 38 stableford points. Apart from a wipe on the 13th and a bit of trouble on the 17th, Blighty’s round included five 3-pointers and eleven 2-pointers. Harry only chopped him 2 strokes for the win. Blighty’s form suggests he will lose a few more strokes in coming weeks.
Steve was a victim of the original tee on the third coming back into use, bemoaning the fact that “it is a long way to the ladies from back there.” A couple of gashes on the 8th and 13th hurt Steve’s chances of catching Blighty, but his 35 points saw him in second place on his own.
Brendan played a great back 9 with two birdies (12th and 14th) to add 20 points to his disappointing 14 points on the front. 34 points was good enough for third place. The birdie on 14 came after his drive just left of the green needed a kind bounce to finish on the green. Instead it hit the path and took a huge bounce onto the lower 15th tee, from where Brendan hit a great pitch and then made a downhill putt. It looked like it might finish just short but went in with a very last roll, perhaps helped by a gust of wind.
Dan and Michael shared fourth place on 33 points. No great highlights in either round, although Dan’s was good enough to win the voucher for the A Grade inside comp (Blighty won B Grade inside). Michael’s most accurate shot with club in hand was an angry throw of the club after a duffed second on the 16th. It hit the metal on his buggy in just the right spot to snap the club clean in half. Michael was last seen with Chris in the pro-shop talking repair options and rummaging in his bag to see if he has any vouchers to offset the cost of a new shaft.
JQ’s finishing flourish got him to 32 points for the round and fifth placed points.
Craig tried out a new driver and putter this week. After a couple of missed short putts it looked like it might end up like Michael’s club on the 16th, but Craig then made good putts on 16, 17 and 18 and said the new putter will definitely be in the bag next week. The new driver was also a winner, with Craig hitting it longer without losing any Old Reliable accuracy. Watch out for Craig in coming weeks, including at the Cobram weekend.
I think the only one of today’s 10 players who hasn’t got a mention for his golf is SoS. Why is that I wonder? “None” was his answer when asked for highlights for the blog. Turns out it was a very solid NAGA effort from SoS, 5 shots behind 9th place.
For those not distracted by Grand Final day (when, depending on your version of VFL/AFL history there is a rematch of the 1899 Grand Final between South Melbourne and Fitzroy) Harry has us scheduled to play Grand Par. This means your 4-pointers in stableford will count as +2 in Grand Par and anybody with the equivalent of a 5-pointer (for example a Blighty 2 for 5 on the 7th) will get +3 for the hole.
There will also be a whopping $10 jackpot on offer for the Propin on the 15th.
Results for Saturday, 21 Sep 2024
1st Andrew Blight (38) 2nd Steven Gervasoni (35) 3rd Brendon Mitchell (34) 4th Michael Gourlay (33) 4th Dan Marie (33) 5th John Quinlan (32)
Seniors Results: 1st Andrew Blight (38) 2nd Steven Gervasoni (35) 3rd Michael Gourlay (33)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 12th Brendon Mitchell BallPin No 2 – 18th John Quinlan
Eagle’s Nest Results: Eagle – 14th Gordon Hill