At long last, the lows that have been pushing in the persistent cloud cover moved on and a high was able to give us a clear night sky and the temperature dropped pretty significantly over night. But that caused the moisture in the air to condense into fog and so we teed off into the fog and hoped we hadn’t missed. There were no reports of balls going missing though the monkeys would have been singing soprano for other reasons. For some reason, the fog always seemed thicker when you were standing on the tee compared to when you were down the fairway. Perhaps Jane could explain the phenomenon sometime. However, despite all this, twenty one (actually twenty-two when we include Brendon who ‘forgot’ to put his card in) members and one guest headed out and didn’t get lost as all made it back to the Club House in good time.
Noodles has been lurking in the background for a while and, despite heading the attendance table his strike rate has not been that great and he was languishing in the nether regions of the Vardon Table. Today, he took advantage of the GrandPar by taking a birdie on the 3rd to get the two points for the hole and to make one of the 14 birdies that we scored today. In contrast to many others in the field Noodles fared better on the front nine and must have tired through the back. On the day, a score of +1 was enough to win the event and to move his handicap down a notch.
Hot on his heels, and only pipped by the two pointer, were a fine group of three. Stef was always going to be dangerous, particularly when he was firing into the fog early in the round. He was a bit astray from the 14th and as he waited to play from the 16th fairway, Simon thought he might get a bit of his own back as he teed off from the 16th. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your point of view) the ball went wide of the mark. Simon’s mate Greg, who was the guest for the day, had no particular axe to grind but he bombed one up and went close to taking out JQ et al. Stef was joined by Blighty, who was described as ‘dancing about his ball like a ballerina’ as he tried to gauge the break of his putts and Rob who was probably more like the Incredible Hulk at the same task.
There were fears that Michael had made his return too early as there were rumours that his back was back. He turned up bright and shiny but, like a lot of others, he did not handle the front nine too well. However he completed the back one under the card off the stick and finished on -1. The shape of the card was similar for Targe who fared rather better than he did in the previous two weeks. MattN also played the game of two halves to join in the share of third place. Jason, on the other hand played a balanced round though he did have more than a little luck with the trees doing him a favour and returning his ball to playable positions.
Harry was another one who struggled a bit with the front nine. The 10th shaped to be the start of a repeat performance with a minus but from then on, things looked up and H was even able to crack a smile on a couple of occasions. Brent played a very even hand to join Harry on -2. The Beast is back from his, seemingly, never-ending jaunt overseas to hone his golfing skills on the fair greens of Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales as well as other places east and west too numerous to mention. To MattH, went the privilege of the first GrandPar of the day when he made a double on the first. Two up after one hole, too easy! Unfortunately, soon to be followed by three scratches in a row. Oh well, easy come, easy go.
The first ProPin was on the 4th, which some people reckon was too early in the day. But, it’s the same for everyone so what’s the obs? In the event, it was Brendon who had his name on the card, but!!! There was no measurement recorded. He was in the last group and he reckons that his playing companions said it wasn’t necessary. Hmmmm! The BallPin was on the 15th and, possibly because Michael was on a roll by this stage, he had no problems in taking that one out unchallenged. The same situation prevailed for the ProPin on the 18th and a shot to 1.66m was more than enough to garner the cash for Michael.
The next to last of the matches in the Matchplay quarter-finals was played today between the Beast and Mal. And, it turned out to be a game of fluctuating fortunes. Bill would have liked a little more time to adjust his game for the Ivanhoe course after his training run OS but, as both contenders were present, it was game on. Things went pretty evenly in the foggy conditions early on but, as the fog started to clear, Bill found his range and managed to open up a bit of a lead. Not to be deterred, Mal fought back with a series of winners including a chip in for birdie on the 14th to make the match dormie two after the 16th. Perhaps, Mal needed the Butter Menthols but Bill won the next two to finish the match all square. In the chip-off, Mal made the better chip but Bill made it down with two putts. Mal was a little enthusiastic with his putt, and, although he rarely misses a second putt, he did this time to bow out of the competition gracefully and in no way disgraced.
Greg was hitting the ball so well today that he is thinking of trying to buy a set of the Hi-Re clubs that he was using today. Keith reckoned Harry was a jinx for him today as twice when he was teeing off while H was on an adjacent green he shanked the ball into a hazard. JohnQ had a doozer on the 3rd where the ball took off at nearly 90 degrees, almost took out Noodles and could easily have finished OOB, which would have really rubbed salt into the wounds.
Dennis owned up to having a draughtie today on the 7th. In his defense, he argued that it was at least 100m between the blue and the red markers but it is doubtful that any of the tee boxes are actually that long. ChrisV didn’t actually have one, but he was noticed playing his second on the 10th from the slope at the back of the 13th green. DennisW is recently back from Japan and, in the spirit of conserving resources, he didn’t use his putter on three consecutive holes. Not because he chipped in, but because he was out of strokes before he got onto the green. Must have been all that sushi and sashimi. Some did liken it to a performance by the Bulldogs after half time. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink!
The story of the day, however would have to relate to SOS. He was apparently feeling like he needed a bit of a rest and decided to sit himself on the seat attached to his buggy. Now, as you all know, his buggy is one of those electric ones with a remote control which, as most people do when it is not being used, SOS was carrying in his pocket. As he went to sit down, the remote activated, the buggy took off and SOS ended up sitting on his dignity (or lack thereof). Good one, SOS!
MattN let it be known today that he will be decamping to Sydney the week after next and next Saturday will be his last regular game with us. He does plan to continue to join us if and when he is in Melbourne on a Saturday and he still plans to come to the Annual Challenge. What it does mean is that we will need a replacement Tee Marshall to corral us up in the mornings. A number of people have said they were prepared to fill in so, if one of those could step up to the plate and take over the reins, that would be good. Or even someone from left field. We would prefer to let Chrispy have his well earned break.
Results for Saturday, 26 May 2018
1st Stephen Butterfield(+1) 2nd Stefan Belevski(□) 2nd Andrew Blight(□) 2nd Robert Priems(□) 3rd Michael Gourlay(-1) 3rd Jason Hopkins(-1) 3rd Targe Mifsud(-1) 3rd Matt Nicholls(-1) 4th Harry Boughen(-2) 4th Brent Rowley(-2) 5th Bill Eastoe(-3) 5th Matt Hunt(-3)
Seniors Results: 1st Andrew Blight (□) 2nd Targe Mifsud (-1) 3rd Harry Boughen (-2)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 4th Brendon Mitchell ProPin No 2 18th Michael Gourlay BallPin 15th Michael Gourlay