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Stuart Clarke Memorial Trophy – Final Round

Oliver wins again
Good thing I wore my lucky shirt!

It was cool but not cold.  The humid air from the east kept a bit of cloud cover in place until mid-morning and the dew stayed on the greens for a fair bit of the round.  To top it all off the course remains in good playing condition despite the lack of significant rain and the reduced water allocation from the river.  The prospect of bar-b-que delights seems to have been enough to bring out a few more denizens from their caves.  Bob’s new ticker will now allow him to play at least part of a round and our efforts to bring in new members are starting to bear fruit with Chris Vinecombe and Ryan Porker coming along to test the water and the prospect of playing with us on a regular basis.

The tension on the first tee was almost palpable by the time that the last group of the club-house leaders from week 1 strode up to join the fray.  There wasn’t much of a gallery and there were no loud-speaker announcements of their past performances and victories but they all managed respectable drives (though there was one provisional on the off-chance) and headed off down the hill to the prospect of a close fought battle for the Stuart Clarke.  Well it didn’t take long for that prospect to unravel.  Harry three putted for a double,  Gordon two putted for a bogie and Oliver calmly slotted his for a birdie.

And so it went, with Oliver taking the course apart hole by hole while the others played what might be best described as ‘respectable’ golf.  In the end, even Oliver’s ‘bad’ shots ended up turning out for the best with the birdies and pars coming with great regularity.  The group in front reckoned that because the group was being so quiet that it must have been a close run thing but in reality it was just that they were completely gob-smacked by what was going on.  At the end of the round, Oliver was two under par for the course  (and that included the only black spot on the card, a double bogie on the 3rd) and three under his personal best for the course.  It was also very close to being a Club Course Record.  So 46 points combined with the respectable showing from last week gave a combined total of 83 which left a fair bit of daylight in second place.  A performance truly worthy of winning the Stuart Clarke Memorial Trophy.

Well, actually, there was somebody in second place and that was another old-timer in the person of Laurie, who has been going from strength to strength in recent times and he could have been forgiven for perhaps thinking that he was in with a chance with his two round total of 77 points.  And if it hadn’t been for Oliver, he very well could have been in top spot for he ended up with a three point margin on the next runner.

Bill continues to put the good rounds together and not sure whether it is despite or because of the knee support. However he reports that he is going to have some investigative work done and that his other knee is feeling a bit dickie as well. Just imagine what he might do with two good knees.  Mehmet put together a couple of consistent rounds to take out fourth place while Gordon slipped a bit this week hold out for the final spot in the rankings.  So only one full set of double points handed out that has helped leapfrog Oliver about seven spots in the Championship table which Eddie still leads but with a narrowing margin.  Seniors filled the first three spots so there was some movement on that table as well though Bill still maintains his lead.

The nearest the pin on the 4th was taken out by Eddie (again) while the ProPin on the 15th managed to go uncollected.  Oliver claims that he misunderstood the rules and that it was closest to the marker pin rather than the hole pin when his ball finished only a couple of centimetres away from it just off the green.  Despite the inaccuracy on the 15th, there was a fairly respectable tally of birdies at 12 though there might have been a couple more from the social round cards.  While not impossible, it would have been a bit much to expect that the Eagles Nest would have been raided three weeks in a row.

Rodger was certainly moved by and very appreciative of the good turn out to remember Stuart and the display of appropriate regalia was generally pretty good.  Despite warnings some people turned out in Club shirts and the excuse that the missus threw their other shirts out or the dog ate them just does not cut the mustard.  Brendon tried to make some sort of statement or other by wearing a yellow and brown thing with a kiwi in the design which caused some people to make underarm bowling actions in his direction for some reason.  Craig was fairly busting out with pride in his contribution – or was there some other reason for the straining button holes.

Noodles managed to play just in advance of his handicap despite a couple of instances where he took out his frustrations on his equipment.  No damage to equipment or personnel but it seems that he might have played even better if he hadn’t concentrated so much on his texting (or should that be sexting).  Even Oliver was noticed once beating the ground with his club after a shot that could have impacted on his achieving his targeted PB.

Ryan and Chris were well looked after during the round by Damo and Chrispy and both put in respectable enough cards for their first round with us.  Chrispy had a pretty good round so was happy that it was only a social one and wouldn’t affect his handicap.  A big welcome Ryan and Chris and we look forward to seeing more of you over the coming weeks and to having you join our merry band of brigands.  We promise to pair you with somebody better in future – just joking Damo and Chrispy.  Also good to see Bob back in the swing of things and though he could only manage 13 holes he was pretty happy with how he went and is looking forward to getting back amongst it over the next few rounds.

Results for Saturday, 29 March 2014
1st Oliver Gross(37,46,83) 2nd Laurie Mannix(33,40,77) 3rd Bill Eastoe(36,38,74) 4th Mehmet Akdag(36,37,73) 5th Gordon Hill(39,33,72)