If yesterday was Good Friday, then today must be Average Saturday. At least that was the thinking as Pepsi described yesterday’s activities as we sat around the table before tee time. A surprisingly good turn out, for the midst of a week of long weekends, with thirteen members, and Pepsi’s guest, Val, beating a path to the first tee at the appointed time. Michael was recovering from some malady or another, and decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and he retired after nine holes. The small number of points on his card at the time might have assisted in the decision-making process. Seriously though, we trust that it is a passing lurgi, and not something sinister, and that we see you on the tee soon. The course is still very parched, and could do with a good drink. However, the greens were in good condition, but a little faster than they appeared, which resulted in a number of comments about the number of three (or more) putts that were needed on occasions. There were even a couple of cases of ‘putting off the green’.
Luckily, today was not a Monthly Medal. Otherwise, we would have had to plough through a lot of ‘chicken scratchings’ to determine the result of a countback. Steve and Stan took so long to finalise their cards after the round that there was a suspicion that they were making it up as they went along. Particularly when they both turned in thirty-nine points apiece, which just happened to be the same as their playing companion, Porks. Porks was apparently fairly smashing his driver out of sight, with a couple topping out at 270m straight down the middle of the fairway. Steve reckons that if he could only get his chipping into order, he could easily have had several more points on the card. Watch out Championship if he ever cracks it. Stan, on the other hand, was more worried about the fate of his favourite book, The Magician’s Way. He did lend it to various members way back, and thinks it might still be out there somewhere. If you do happen to have it, could you please let Stan know and return it so that he can concentrate on his golf.
Pepsi started out well enough, and his points took a real boost when he was part of this trio of shots together with Val and Brendon. As an aside, Prez was not too far out of frame. Both Pepsi and Brendon rattled them in for birdies (four points apiece), and helped us to a total of ten for the day. On the 7th, a veritable twig on a tree to the side of the green deflected Pepsi’s ball, and it headed for the hole and finished a mere 300mm short. Another four points! Let’s just say that the ‘luck’ did not continue, but thirty-three was good enough for second, a place that he shared with Prez. Craig might have been there as well if it had not been for a putt that virtually disappeared into the hole only to do a 360 around the rim to finish still on the surface. CJ and Harry tottered in to fill the last couple of point places for the day. The rest would prefer not to be mentioned, but JQ is blaming the fact that he had birdie on the first, and then bragged that he was ‘one under’ on the second tee.
Andrew made a bid for both BallPins today, although he didn’t have particularly high hopes of holding onto them. This feeling was well-founded because Steve took the one on the 15th while Stan sneaked in to win the one on the 18th. The Jackpot ProPin on the twelfth produced some valiant efforts, but the only member to get within cooee was Prez, who recorded a very creditable 3.34m to collect the pool. Reports suggest that he is shouting dinner tonight.
There was one match completed today between Prez and Brendon, who had to give our esteemed leader nine strokes. The match was mostly fairly even, although Rob did have a bit of a margin in the early stages. Brendon pegged him back, and took the lead mid-round to be one up after the tenth. Whether Rob took some sort of heart-starter after the ninth is not known, but something happened, and he rattled off five pars in a row. Brendon had absolutely no answer to this onslaught, and the match went to Rob, 4 and 3. Brendon reckoned it was Rob’s putting that sealed it. That view could have been coloured by the fact that Brendon putted off the green on the 16th, although the match was over by that stage. Two more weeks to finish Round 1. Stop mucking about!
Pepsi’s mate, Val, is a fair hand with the club, playing off eight. As a bit of a gauge, he went very close to driving the 9th green, which is no mean feat, and put together 35 points for the round. JQ detailed our leading group to tell the four guys in carts ahead to pick up the pace. He would have done it himself, except that they were all of Samoan appearance, and twice his size. CJ was marking Targe’s card, and was being extra careful to get the sums correct, but Targe was adamant that he was right. When CJ rechecked, Targe was right. Or was he? Or were they? In actual fact, they were both wrong!
Results for Saturday, 19 Apr 2025
1st Stan Blackshaw (39) 1st Steven Gervasoni (39) 1st Ryan Porker (39) 2nd Andrew Petricola (33) 2nd Robert Priems (33) 3rd Craig Cameron (32) 4th Chris Priems (31) 5th Harry Boughen (30)
Seniors Results: 1st Stan Blackshaw (39) 1st Steven Gervasoni (39) 2nd Robert Priems (33) 3rd Craig Cameron (32)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Robert Priems BallPin No 1 – 15th Steven Gervasoni BallPin No 2 – 18th Stan Blackshaw