There ended up being twenty one members on the course today after Mehmet turned up at the death-knock sporting a brand new hole in his head. This lead to all sorts of speculation as to what the surgeons were looking for and, more to the point, whether they had found anything. But, as they say in the classics, I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy. For future reference, Chrispresident, that’s how it is spelled.
The bit of rain that graced Melbourne with its presence yesterday would have been a welcome addition to the course and some of the lies were noticeably softer but some good follow-up rain really is needed to have any long term effect. There were a couple of blokes who had their golf brains working today and they revelled in the conditions that were mild with a bit of a breeze. George lined up for his second win since qualifying a few weeks back and he has taken a giant leap up the Championship Table with his score of +3 today. Right alongside him was Matt who made a remarkable turn-around from his last appearance to improve by no less than 12 points to share the honours on +3. If some of the other courses that he plays on are any guide then Ivanhoe must be a doddle for him and the handicapper might have to strike some special rules for when we see him again. Just joshing.
At least the young whipper-snappers didn’t steal the Seniors points and they kindly left the best of those to Laurie and Harry who shared second place, also in positive territory with +1 apiece. Laurie apparently had about fourteen one putt greens and chipped one in to square a hole with ChrisV in their match which Laurie managed to take out 2 up although it was a close-run thing all day. So much so that Gordon and Ed were on the edge of their chairs, figuratively speaking, and perhaps this goes some way to explaining why they were off their game just a little. Chris fought back valiantly over the last few holes and managed to birdie the 16th after hitting his drive all of 75 metres. A massive second and a chip in went close to breaking Laurie’s will to live. The match went dormie on the 17th and the suggestion was that, if it went to a chip-off, Laurie was bound to win based on his performance all day.
On a day on which more people scored points than those that didn’t, it isn’t surprising that there were some multiple placings somewhere in the pile. And so it was for the members who managed to score -1. The five who managed this little feat were the Beast, Rob, John, SOS and ChrisV. Not far behind in scores and number of contestants were Noodles, Gordon and Ryan on -2. Bringing up the rear on -3 were Mehmet and Ed.
Simon is taking his new role as Tee Marshall seriously and is keen to learn the ropes. One of the early skills to acquire is to put out the Nearest the Pin containers on the nominated holes before the round starts. This was because some members carrying them in the first group were considered to be too unreliable. So, what happened today, the kit with the tape was at the BallPin hole and the other was at the ProPin hole (deja vu). Not to worry, everybody knew which was which. Michael added some cheer to his day by getting it close enough on the 4th to collect himself a ball. And, in what was really the highlight of Mal’s day, he put it to 1.5m on the 12th to collect the shrapnel for the ProPin. He left it a little shy for the birdie but there was a goodly total carded today with no less than 17 of the little feathery beasts. Even so, the improvements in the Eclectic were largely restricted to newer and less frequent players but the leader’s lead has been cut in half and there are several members who are well within striking distance.
Speaking of beasts, Bill lost a ball on the 17th, presumably through the green and out the fence because he was claiming that the group in front should have stood around to take one for the cause and stop it. On the other hand, Chrispy was rather pleased to have Mal as his back-stop when his penalty shot from across the pond was heading for the Yarra with some considerable speed when it struck Mal’s (moving) cart wheel and ricocheted back onto the green to finish a few metres from the hole. Didn’t really do him any good as he still scored a gash but at least he still had his ball.
There have been rumours that Stef was going to make a comeback and start stealing points in the Championship. He was here at the finish today but whether that was because he was terribly late out of bed or just being sociable was not clear. Be warned, the return is imminent.
Rob played the 13th in an unusual manner today by putting his drive across in the vicinity of the 1st green. He then crossed two fairways to be within striking distance, chipped it on and sank the putt for an ‘easy’ par. Is that class or the other stuff? Simon reports that he enjoyed himself on his recent cruise and reports that they even had chipping and putting competitions on board. The putting is particularly interesting particularly if the ship has any sort of a roll going on. He also reckons he over-ate. No wonder he was looking a bit porky (not).
RodG was noticed buying drinks after the round and it seems that his drive on the 15th fell foul of the trees on the left of the tees and didn’t quite make it to the red markers. Unfortunately, it still counts as a draughtie. Noodles apparently wasn’t too happy with the pace of play and made his concerns known to his playing partners again and again. But hang on Noods, you were playing in a three behind groups of four. Was the pace really that slow?
Chrispy appeared this morning with a freshly (de)mowed upper lip. Several people commented that they didn’t recognise him. Could be an opportunity to get out and misbehave, hey Chris! It will be interesting to hear what the reception was at home because, apparently, even Carolyn didn’t know that the razor gang had been on the job.
Whitey wasn’t on the course today so maybe he was out celebrating his big day or maybe he just didn’t want to drink all the beers that his mates were going to buy for him. Tell ‘im he’s dreamin’.
Results for Saturday, 30 April 2016
1st Matt Hunt(+3) 1st George Tenaglia(+3) 2nd Harry Boughen(+1) 2nd Laurie Mannix(+1) 3rd Bill Eastoe(-1) 3rd Robert Priems(-1) 3rd John Quinlan(-1) 3rd Stephen O’Sullivan(-1) 3rd Chris Vinecombe(-1) 4th Stephen Butterfield(-2) 4th Gordon Hill(-2) 4th Ryan Porker(-2) 5th Mehmet Akdag(-3) 5th Ed Kloprogge(-3)
Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen (+1) 1st Laurie Mannix (+1) 2nd Bill Eastoe (-1) 3rd Gordon Hill (-2)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 12th Malcolm Fleming BallPin 4th Michael Gourlay