It was quaddies rather than trifectas on the agenda on the first day at Cobram-Barooga for the big 2024 Mustard Jacket weekend.
With Peps and his mate Paddy on the job, they landed 2 quaddies (Melbourne and Sydney).
Off the back of this success, most of the boys headed to Saturday night dinner in good spirits, even though the quality of golf on the West Course earlier in the day hadn’t been all that brilliant.
Word filtered through from Ivanhoe that Dan had played a blinder (44 points to win the inside comp) which was 10 better than the day one leader (Jake Priems with 34) in the Mustard Jacket contest.
Hot on Jake’s heels was CJ and Zimmer with 32, Steff and Dale with 30 and Geoff and dark horse Paddy on 29.
Defending champion Brent was on 28 and still in touch, joined on that score by his roommates Chris James and Michael.
Of the rest, Gordo’s 18 points was a standout and earned him the honour of donning the new Mustard NAGA guernsey to wear in the first group out on Sunday morning.
However there was plenty of company in the contest for the overall NAGA with Steve G and Prez Priems on 19, Craig on 20, Matty and Josh on 21 and Kenny and Brendon on 22.
Sos and Peps were officially midfield with 24.
As Day 2 unfolded on the “Old Course” a few of the backmarkers were showing some good form with Matty 35 and Craig 34 racing past a few of the more tired horses ahead of them.
But they were too far back to trouble the leaders. Steff was striking the ball beautifully but his putting was letting him down (including twice having eagle putts and three putting for pars).
Soon it was clear it was a three horse race, with Jake, Zimmer and CJ well in front.
By the time they got to the 17th tee, Jake had a 5 shot lead over CJ and it was all over.
Despite only scoring one point in the closing two holes, Jake won by two shots, with a second day 34 for 68, with CJ in second place on 66 after adding 34 to his first round 32. Zimmer on 65 (32, 33) was hot on his heels in third place with Paddy fourth on 59 (29, 30) and Steff fifth on 57 (30, 27).
After taking a while to get a few boys back from the bar and/or cafe and herd everybody around the table and keep them there, Matty announced the winners of all the ancillary prizes (4 x nearest the pins each day) the calcutta for winner and NAGA, and of course the NAGA itself. Gordo was very pleased to pass on the mustard NAGA guernsey to Rob for him to wear on Day 1 next year.
SoS was also given a trophy but I wasn’t entirely sure what for. I think it was meant to be for worst shot of the weekend, which really should have gone to Josh, who manged to hit a hybrid into the ground that popped straight up in the air and then spun backwards on landing and finished behind him.
SoS did hit the shot of the day on Day 2. On the long par 3 third, over the bunker to a clear nearest the pin winner there. Indeed SoS’s front 9 on Day 2 of 18 points was probably the best 9 holes played all weekend, so maybe that’s why he won the trophy.
Finally, with all the other presentations out of the way, last year’s winner Brent put the famous Mustard Jacket on Jake.
While he declined the invitation to make a long victory speech, he gets to wear the Mustard Jacket in the pool room (and bragging rights over CJ) until this time next year when he will start as the man to beat for the jacket in 2025.
CJ will be back again to have another crack and see if he can add to the one time he has won the jacket previously.
Harry’s website doesn’t seem to have a list of Mustard Jacket winners, but rumour is CJ’s win was many moons ago. Stand by for an update after the winner’s names sewn into the jacket are inspected.
Matty has committed to organising again next year and is suggesting there will be a switch to Rich River. I wonder who won the jacket last time it was played at Rich River?
To recap the placings:
Winner – Jake Priems 68 (34, 34)
Runner Up – Chris Priems 66 (32, 34)
NAGA – Rob Priems 36 (19, 17)
Hence the special Priems Trifecta, 1st, 2nd and NAGA.
Third – Zimmer (sorry I don’t know his actual name) 65 (32, 33)
Fourth – the legendary Quaddy Paddy 59 (29, 30). The data suggests Peps might be a better punter with Paddy on board?
Fifth – Steff 57 (30, 27)
Then came:
56 – Matty (21, 35) Chris James (28, 28) Michael (28, 28)
54 – Craig (20, 34)
53 – SoS (24, 29) Brent (28, 25)
52 – Peps (24, 28)
51 – Brendon (22, 29) Geoff (29, 22) and Dale (30, 21)
49 – Steve G (19, 30)
46 – Josh (21, 25)
43 – Gordo (18, 25)
42 – Kenny (22, 20)
36 – Rob (19, 17)
For those of you interested in Club Championship points (really only Michael at this stage as everybody else has lost interest) three of the first five placings in the Mustard Jacket contest (Jake, Zimmer, Paddy) are not official club members, so with points being allocated to club members only, this bumped CJ to first for the points (and the winner’s handicap penalty), Steff to second, Michael and Matty to third, Craig to fourth and Brent and a very gallant SoS collecting a point for fifth.
Meanwhile back at Ivanhoe, there were no points on offer because only four booked and only three turned up, Dan, Harry and Stan. Harry’s report includes that “we could have played in the dark because Dan absolutely shot the lights out.”
Ivanhoe: Just the three of us…..
It was a beautiful day out on the green sward that is Ivanhoe Golf Course. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the whole world was happy, even if most had decamped to other pastures further north. Unfortunately, only three members could make it to the tees. Targe had some sort of a ‘mechanical’ and his trusty chariot could not make it this far. Either that, or he seriously slept in. Undaunted, Dan, Stan, and Harry played a social round, while endeavouring to score well enough to feature in the results of the ProShop competition. The greenkeepers had done the course proud, with the greens cleaned and nicely manicured for the occasion. The pin placements were mostly giving plenty of green to play with, but a bit of fuzziness in the second cut could easily result in that green needing to be putted across.
As it turned out, we could have finished up playing in the dark, because Dan absolutely ‘shot the lights out’. He started out steadily enough, but then he lit the fuse, and managed to put together five (or was it six) pars in a row to finish the front nine in just one stroke over par, and with 26 points in the results column. The scoring feast was even being broadcast live in England, where Charlie was hanging on every message. The frenetic pace slowed just a little on the back, but he still managed another eighteen points to finish with forty-four of the best. It just so happened that his Club and daily handicap were the same, so he won the ProShop comp, and must have broken the heart of the second place-getter who came home with 43 points. Without a formal comp, the Club handicap did not take the beating that the GA did.
As for Harry and Stan, let’s just say that some things were not kind to their results. Stan suffered from a case of what (for a rightie) would be classified as the ‘shanks’. As a leftie, maybe an over-closed club-face. Still, he did make a bit of a comeback on the second nine, but still fell well short of Dan’s dizzy heights. His last tee shot of the day finished just 2.76m from the pin, which was more than good enough to win the inside ProPin. It was proposed that there should be a nearest-the-pin (anywhere) on the 12th for a couple of dollars each. Stan must have been short of change, because he ‘decided’ that it should be for a cup of coffee. Harry was jubilant when his tee shot headed straight for the pin, and looked to be a hot contender, particularly when Dan and Stan pulled up short. Unfortunately, the ball had run further than anticipated, and Dan was closer, even though he was not on the green. Harry rued not having specified that it had to be on the green! And Stan bought coffee for everyone. Other than that, Harry didn’t mind the number of three putts that he took. What really upset him was the number of short second ones that he missed.
Results for Saturday, 12 Oct 2024
Ivanhoe: No Competition
Challenge: 1st Chris Priems (32, 34, 66) 2nd Stefan Belevski (30, 27, 57) 3rd Michael Gourlay (28, 28, 56) 3rd Matt Hunt (21, 35, 56) 4th Craig Cameron (20, 34, 54) 5th Brent Rowley (28, 25, 53) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan (24, 29, 53)
Seniors Results:
Ivanhoe : No Competition
Challenge: 1st Chris Priems (32, 34, 66) 2nd Matt Hunt (21, 35, 56) 2nd Michael Gourlay (28, 28, 56) 3rd Craig Cameron (20, 34, 54)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – – No Competition BallPin No 1 – – No Competition BallPin No 2 – – No Competition