The Bureau promised rain, but that did not deter nineteen members from rocking up in the dim, dark hours of the morning to be ready to tee off as soon as there was light enough. Some argued that Micheal should have teed off even earlier to meet his deadline for Mum’s birthday party. Happy Birthday, Michael’s Mum, from the Birthday Birdie and the rest of the boys. Anyhow, the drizzle had fizzled by tee time, and it made a half-hearted attempt to return part way through the round, but, all in all, it was a very pleasant day for golf. Or, at least, for a wander around the course, wondering what else could possibly go wrong in the course of wandering around the course. Your correspondent has gone off predicting how the course should play on any given day after last week’s effort, when a fairly ordinary, benign sort of a day turned in a daily difficulty of +3.
It appeared to be no worse than today, when the tees were generally set well back, but, if the scores handed in today are any guide, then the DD should turn out to be in negative territory. The outstanding round of the day would have to be that put together by Brendon, who made it to the turn three points up and just three strokes over the card, thanks to a double on the 8th. He set out to make amends on the back nine and finished it off in regulation, making for a total of plus seven from 71 off the stick. If there was any dust, the rest of the field would have just about been eating it! This, together with his 41 points at Moonah last week made the handicapper wonder whether he should be handicapped ‘on suspicion’! Whether Adam was inspired or was disheartened as he marked Brendon’s card was unclear, but he also played a very creditable round to come in second place, six off the stick and three points down.
Steve left himself with a long putt for par on the first, and gave it a good, solid whack. If it hadn’t hit the pin dead centre and dropped into the hole, it was estimated that it would likely have finished on the 13th fairway. He went on to prove that it was not a fluke, and sank several ‘monsters’ on his way to his third place winning total. Porks recorded a total of thirteen four stroke holes on his way to taking out fourth place. And, last, but not least, Josh also managed to break his handicap by a single stroke on his way to filling the fifth spot on the podium. All in all, the fewest points distributed for some little while.
The first BallPin was set for the 4th, and Michael put in an early claim for the ball on offer. Harry cracked one straight at the hole, but it took a little diversion and finished pin high, inside Michael’s distance. Harry and Michael both made the birdie, helping to bring our total to 12 for the day. Leaving the 5th tee, Harry glanced back, saw no balls on the green, and exulted at having knocked off Michael for the ball. Next minute, all hell broke loose when it was determined that Nalin’s ball was not ‘through the green’, but was actually nestled very comfortably in the hole. So, Nearest the Pin, Eagle’s Nest, Hole-in-One and three pluses in one fell swoop. Congratulations from all. And, there were free drinks to boot. Brendon was the only one that worried the BallPin on the 18th, and there was a claim that he went close to replicating Nalin’s effort with a ‘near’ slam-dunk, but, when the ball finishes 2.52m away?? At least he was closer to the hole than Michael was on the 12th, where his shot to 3.65m was more than enough to collect the big money on offer for the Double Jackpot ProPin.
There were five matches played today in the Matchplay Championship. Ryan looked like having a hard row to hoe as he had to give a massive twenty-four strokes to Targe. He was up to the task, however, and started out by winning the first hole. From there, he was never in any danger, although Targe did win a couple of holes late in the round to make the match dormie five after the 13th. The need to win five in a row proved to be a bridge too far, and squaring the next hole finished the match in Pork’s favour, 5 and 4. Michael had the next most difficult task, needing to concede twelve strokes to Adam. With Adam’s rather impressive performance on the day, it is perhaps not surprising that this match, too, finished ‘early’. It was also dormie five after the 13th, Adam won the 14th, taking the match 6 and 4. Craig was up against Josh with eleven strokes to give away. Early on, the match was fairly evenly balanced, and at the turn Josh had managed to gain just the one hole advantage. After the turn, Josh edged ahead, little by little, and, like the other matches, the situation at the 13th was dormie five. And, once again, the 14th decided the match with a square giving the match to Josh 5 and 4. Then, we had Blighty and Marc. Fortunately, the errors on the card did not change the outcome of the match, which Marc won by a margin of 4 and 2. Only three matches to go in the first round, so, if the protagonists can contact the opponent and arrange their match, that would be good. Second round contestants, who know who their opponent is, can leap in if they so desire, or they can wait until the new round officially starts.
Rather optimistically, the ground-staff put out the tee markers on the 3rd on the newly turfed area that had not been in place for a week. Steve decided to give it a try, and reported definite movement under foot. AndrewV had struggled a bit on the front nine, but made something of a comeback on the way home. He was particularly pleased with his longish putt on the 17th that never looked like missing for the birdie, and double points, one of seven doubles (or better, looking at you Nalin) that we scored for the day. Brendon was in line for several balls today, and, for some reason, he lowered his standards and took yellow ones while muttering something about that he had heard they were OK.
The lie of the day, and that’s no lie, would have to go to Bob, who managed to find his ball nicely nestled in an improbable location. He reportedly opined that he didn’t think he could hit that. Plus, it was in a penalty area.
Next week is the April Monthly Medal, which will be a great opportunity to get in and win one before the General Election, which just happens to fall on the day of the May Monthly Medal.
As an added incentive to get a good roll up, the Committee decided that there would be a Club Lunch barbecue after the round, and that would be followed by the Club’s Annual General Meeting. It’s still not too late to get your nominations in for Committee positions if there are any sitting members that you would like to see ousted. Just think of it as a mini General Election. Most of the meeting is dealing with formalities, but we do have the special resolution to modify the name of the Club to deal with If you can’t attend, be sure to submit your proxy so that your voice is heard.
Results for Saturday, 29 Mar 2025
1st Brendon Mitchell (+7) 2nd Adam King (+4) 3rd Steven Gervasoni (+3) 4th Ryan Porker (+2) 5th Josh Hunt (+1)
Seniors Results: 1st Steven Gervasoni (+3) 2nd Gordon Hill (-1) 3rd Michael Gourlay (-2)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Michael Gourlay BallPin No 1 – 4th Nalin Samaranayake BallPin No 2 – 18th Brendon Mitchell
Hole in One Results: Hole in One – 4th *** Nalin Samaranayake ***