The course was very crowded today when it was populated by 22 members, 2 provisional members and 24,000,000 mosquitoes. Well, maybe not that many mozzies, but, judging from the complaints and the amount of Aerogard being sprayed around, maybe it isn’t too bad an estimate. Joe was certainly one of the most popular guys on course as he had the can of repellent. But, the weather turned out nice and the course has softened somewhat with the soaking that has been going on over the last week or so. There were no preferred lies though despite some people suggesting that there should have been when their ball showed up with clods of mud attached. So the only preferred lies will have to be about the way the game was played.
The course can’t have been too bad though as we managed to score 13 birdies for the day. And reports have it that Brent missed an eagle by a whisker when he put it to 1.5m of the hole on the 14th and then left the ball hanging on the edge of the cup. Ryan also went close on the 15th when he went within a whisker of scoring a Hole-in-One (and eagle) when the ball ran across the edge of the hole and pulled up 39cm past the hole. This was more than enough to win him the Jackpot ProPin when he squeezed out SOS and Mary (oops that should be Matty) who had their names on the card before-hand. The ProPin on the 18th also went off with Whitey being victorious with a shot to 2.33m. Rod didn’t add to the birdie tally but the cash was more than welcome. Gordon shut out everybody from winning a ball on the BallPin, 4th hole.
There wasn’t an official count but our winner today was estimated to have had about fifteen one putt greens. They were apparently falling in from all directions and distances. This perhaps compensated a little for the fifteen trees that he hit while playing the long part of the game although, mostly, the outcome of the arboreal adventures was not too unfavourable. So, a swag of points for today’s effort keeps John moving up the Championship Table and the list of players within a win of the front just keeps getting longer and longer. With a Major in the offing next month, will there be a break-out or will there be new contenders arise?
Second place needed a score only one behind the winner and with a card playing to the handicap, there was no damage on that front. The players to manage that feat came from almost opposite ends of the age bracket of the Club with Keith and Brent staking out the five point spot. Both of them took quite a few holes to warm to the task with much better scoring on the back nine than on the front.
In third place, we had Pepsi, who was also embroiled in his Matchplay contest with Matt. That doesn’t seem to have distracted him too much although it did take him the first nine to get going but he finished strongly with a one under par total on the back. The match score generally reflected the fortunes changing as the round progressed with Matt having a slight upper hand early on until Pepsi got his rhythm going and got himself within reach of victory at the 14th. They both birdied the 15th and the Matt won the next two to make the match all square at the 18th tee. Would there be a chip-off and could Pepsi wait around for the crowd? Matt tried hard to make the birdie on the 18th but overshot and needed two more to complete which let Pepsi in for a win, 1 up.
A lot of players took the front nine to warm up, but not Gordon. He went out with a flourish and did not mar his front nine with a singleton on the card. The back was a bit of a different story but he did get enough points to share the spot with Brendon. Now everybody knows that Brendon loves his little distance measuring gadget to help with his club selection. But did he really have to be sighting on Pepsi’s backside instead of the pin? Something about the pin moving too much. Sounds like a likely story!
Michael has been endeavouring to bring some order to the allocation of members to the playing groups before the round and he imagines a system where everybody has their own little card. Then their name is written on (and moved around) the sheet in pretty much the same old way. Maybe it will make more sense after a few more rounds. But, enough of that. Michael was still able to get himself onto the podium and he had to share that spot with Blighty and Matt (of matchplay fame). Now Blighty was feeling a bit disconsolate after he carded three triple bogies on the first three holes and had pretty much written off his round as a lost cause. His day was made worse when he realised around the 10th green that a five dollar note that he had carefully put aside to pay his comp fee to SOS had gone missing from his pocket. Maybe that stress explains why he shortchanged himself a point on that hole. Now Harry had spotted the recalcitrant note at the bottom of the path down from the 10th and thought, maybe the clouds do have a silver lining. But, the story about the comp fee softened his heart and Blighty cheered up no end and ended up coming home with a wet sail. As it turned out, Gordon had chipped in the dosh for the comp fee and so ‘the money goes round and round and it comes out here’.
One of the new players today was Jake Priems who just happens to be Chrispy’s son and he is planning to join us on a regular basis from now on and will be joining the comp once he gets his three cards in. At this stage, it is unclear whether Jake has inherited his father;s uncanny golfing skills but it seems that he did have to buy a couple of rounds after mishaps from the 2nd and 3rd tee. Jake brought along one of his mates, Michael Papa, who generally goes by the sobriquet of Pappa and he too will be around from time to time. Welcome along chaps.
While on the subject of draughties, there were a couple of others reported today. Harry managed one on the 3rd with a serious ‘scone’ job. Joe managed a severe shank later on in the round to emulate the feat. Eddie went close on the 11th when he pulled out his driver to try his shot through the trees and down the 6th fairway except it didn’t miss the trees and made a ricochet a fair way back towards the red markers.
Now, it is getting on towards winter and the sun is coming up later but it must have been early in the morning when Steve got up and pulled on a pair of socks. Not sure whose drawer they came out of but they certainly made some sort of a statement.
There is a thought about that JohnQ is trying to give up smoking by not carrying a lighter. If that is the case, then he is not succeeding, as he was spotted, numerous times, borrowing lighters with the promise to return them at the next hole or the end of the round. Rob had a bit of a bad day and reckoned that he missed everything, including the golf course. Damo on the other hand couldn’t stop hitting the golf course with shots best described as ‘fat’
Ryan was another one with only a few highlights (viz 15th ProPin). One big complaint was that he couldn’t sink a putt to save himself. It seems that he has a new putter but it certainly was not performing today. One suggestion was that the batteries were flat but Ryan must have faith as he was knocking back offers to take it off his hands for the scrap value.
Gordon reports that there are still spots available for the Annual Challenge A fifty dollar deposit into the Club bank account will reserve you a spot. He is still waiting to get final cost for those members who are planning to arrange their own accommodation. Don’t miss out as it is a great weekend of golf and you can surprise the missus and bring her along even if she hates the game. Plenty to do in Shep. Just ask SOS.
Results for Saturday, 29 April 2017
1st John Quinlan(37) 2nd Keith Delzoppo(36) 2nd Brent Rowley(36) 3rd Andrew Petricola(35) 4th Gordon Hill(34) 4th Brendon Mitchell(34) 5th Andrew Blight(33) 5th Michael Gourlay(33) 5th Matt Hunt(33)
Seniors Results: 1st Keith Delzoppo (36) 2nd Gordon Hill (34) 3rd Andrew Blight (33)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 15th Ryan Porker ProPin No 2 18th Rodney White BallPin 4th Gordon Hill