It was raining today but not exactly those little water droplets from the sky though there were a few of those around as well. No, compared to recent times it was raining birdies and 15 players (including the redoubtable Ken who graced us with his presence after quite a break away) managed to card a total of 14 of the little beasties. Ken’s even counted for his Yellow Ball team but to no avail as the annotations on the card were littered with comments like ‘Bloody Targe’ as it seems the little fella contributed four minuses to the teams eventual score of -3. It must be said that he did redeem himself by scoring a plus on the 17th. But, three of the four teams did manage to finish with their balls intact and the two other teams tied it up with a final score of -2. So, lots of Bonus Points handed out today and as the Championship leaders group were in it together today, the result won’t affect the outcome of the big play-off next week.
And, Simon was on fire today, particularly on the back nine where he racked up five on the black side of the ledger that more than compensated for the two in the red on the front. A couple of birdies indicate that he is getting the measure of the course and the new artillery seems to be working a treat at getting him on or around the green from where the short game did not let him down as evidenced by a knock down putt from off the green on the 4th for his birdie. He is now champing at the bit for the new season to start with a clean slate for everybody so that he can have a full year’s run at the Championship.
For a while Mehmet was in second place and he was pleading for Ryan to be kept out of the points. But, then along came Bob with a card that reported +2 and Mehm sadly waved goodbye to two of his valuable points and said hello to the prospect of having to win next week. However, it seems that the prospect of 2 strokes on the 13th went to Bob’s head (as well as his marker) where a square on the card actually turned out to be a miss. So, Bob dropped back to joint second and Mehmet was promoted and got his valuable two extra points. Michael was also there on +1 and this augurs well for him on only his second outing after injury.
The Beast started out well on the first with a birdie and then with great confidence took the yellow ball for the team on the second. It took the full search time to find the resultant sprayed shot. And so it went, good result, not so good result but he still ended up with a square card and he managed to put the ball onto the 4th close enough to pick up the Nearest the Pin for a ball. Noodles was more consistent by squaring the majority of the 18 holes to also manage a square card alongside Bill. Noodles also managed to put his tee shot on the 18th to within 2.5m to take out the ProPin but he wasn’t able to sink the putt. Michael was also on the card about a metre further out but he did manage to sink the putt.
As much as Mehm wanted to keep Ryan out of the points, and he soundly berated the membership for not being able to produce a score between square and -3, it was not to be and Ryan came in at fourth spot alongside Harry. So the margin is five points and it is possible for Mehm to wrangle a tie with only a second place (provided of course that Ryan is pointless) and set a standard to top the Championship table without a win to his name. So, there is bound to be some argy-bargy out on the course next week as the boys battle it out. Could be worth coming even if for no other reason.
So, after the place shuffling, Targe managed to sneak in and salvage a point. He was well out of the Seniors listing but there is still a chance for some tie breaking in the minor placings for this prestigious event. Bob has moved up into equal third with today’s result.
Pepsi, still holds the lead in the Eclectic but if Noodles and Bill can manage a couple of birdies on critical holes, they still have a chance to snatch the trophy from his grasp. But, with only one week to go, it is going to be a tough call.
Although three of the four Yellow Balls did return, there were quite a number of near misses. Targe went close to putting theirs in the tank on the first. After Bill’s effort on the 2nd, Blighty flirted mightily with the OOB fence on the 3rd and Harry, ditto on the 17th. Chrispy was apparently the guilty one that launched his teams ball into the wild blue yonder.
Gordon came out with high hopes of doing well today and keeping himself in the race to overtake Ryan but it seems that he might have had a case of stage-fright and he finished well down the table. Or maybe he is just protecting his handicap for the start of the new season of competition. Taner also came to earth with a thud (his words) and didn’t score too well after last weeks performance. You can only blame the handicap for a couple of those points, Taner.
Ken’s passage down the 3rd was something less than auspicious with at least two trees and other roughage conspiring to put him off the edge of the green for four. Oh, and it was the Yellow Ball to boot. Not to worry, says our Ken, and proceeds to sink a 15m putt for a square. Maybe that’s how they do things at Rosanna.
Next week is the December Monthly Medal and first round of the Stroke Play Championship that runs for three weeks including the two weeks of the Vin O’Meara. We will be running the usual Calcutta Auction on the VOM after the barbeque after the round. So, we really would like to know who will be playing the VOM but there are still a lot of people that we haven’t heard from re their intentions. So please, email/phone Harry as soon as you can so that the form guide can be organised and the Auction List can be prepared.
The Christmas break-up party will be on 19th December and we also need numbers for catering for that so if you can let Gordon know your intentions one way or another asap, that would be good.
Results for Saturday, 21 November 2015
1st Simon Powell(+3) 2nd Mehmet Akdag(+1) 2nd Michael Gourlay(+1) 2nd Bob McDonald(+1) 3rd Stephen Butterfield(□) 3rd Bill Eastoe(□) 4th Harry Boughen(-3) 4th Ryan Porker(-3) 5th Targe Mifsud(-4)
Seniors Results: 1st Simon Powell (+3) 2nd Bob McDonald (+1) 3rd Bill Eastoe (□)