Another great year of very competitive golf has come and gone and it was fitting to finsh it off with a contest for the Stuart Clarke Champion of Champions between those that had managed to keep their heads down and win a trophy during the year. For those who were not quite so lucky , or maybe didn’t keep their heads down, there was a very fine consolation to be sought in the Chump of Chumps.
There were seventeen members eligible to contest the Champion of Champions and on the day 13 of those made it to play the event. Ten more turned up to cheer them along and to try their hand at picking up the (marginally) lesser trophy. The weather was fine and the course was in good nick so, it might be expected that there was some good scoring to be had.
And, how did our Champions do? Well, our new Club Champion did very nicely, thank you, and garnered himself yet another trophy by coming in with a grand total of 35 points of the Stableford variety. Well done, the Beast. Not far behind was another star who just about needed a trailer to cart home his loot from the year’s proceedings. Well done, Michael with your 33 points. Michael didn’t have the spot on his lonesome. he was joined by a couple of others in the persons of Ryan and our esteemed President, Chrispy.
Now there are a couple of rumours out and about relating to Chrispresident. The first is that he has taken quite a liking to Fat Yak because looking at the label reminds him of looking in a mirror. And, whether it was down to the quantity of said Fat Yak that was consumed, there is also a rumour that he left his clubs behind. Happily, they have been safely stored and he will be able to collect them next week.
Now, we get to the question of how did the Chumps go on the day. Well, you would have to believe it that they showed the Champs a thing or two. Leading out by a goodly margin was none other than ‘I only play like this when the handicapper can’t touch me’ Priems (aka Rob). Rob fairly took the course apart and romped home with a casual 44 points. He went darned close to matching par on the front nine for 25 points. However, that performance was put into the shade a little by Rod, who managed to put together 26 points on the back nine as part of his total of 40 points. Who said they were Chumps.
The ProPin was on one of the par threes and DennisT was the one who got close enough at 3.1m to take it out and collect the cash. So, with the Jackpot, that was a nice little earner for Dennis. He might be able to afford to give up a shift at the Darklands at this rate. The BallPin was on another one of the par threes (it is assumed) and you would have to ask, what odds? when the winner was the other menace (oops – Dennis) in the club. Anyone for Dennis?
Gordon is laying claim to being the second (that we know of) member to par the 2nd from the back tee but the occasion brings to mind the old question – who was the second man on the moon? Still he also did manage a chip in for par and a couple of birdies in his round so he probably had reason to be pleased with his handicap matching round. Plus, he was the only one of the four in his group that managed to hole out on the 17th.
A few others had some bad turns on the way around. Perhaps Brendon was looking forward to his night out at the Ivanhoe Hotel or perhaps he had one the night before. A less than stellar start on the first was followed by a scrabbly second. From there things went really pear-shaped and there is a suggestion that three drives from the 3rd finished out of bounds. To add insult to injury, the 4th fared little better with the single drive unable to be found. Brendon wasn’t alone in flirting with the boundary fences, having tackled it again on the 8th, and Targe managed to put his out on the 17th.
As reported last week, Stefan had a birthday and it seems that he might have celebrated again as he was a little the worse for wear and headed off without staying for the Christmas Lunch and Presentations. A fine repast was prepared by the ladies in the kitchen and the groaning table was tackled with gusto and thoroughly enjoyed by all.
After the lunch, our Club Captain, Targe and President, Chris, combined to make the presentation of trophies for the year. Now some have suggested that this combination was somewhat akin to Cheech and Chong, except that Cheech and Chong were funny (or at least mildly amusing). Regardless, there were heaps of goodies to be handed out and Simon did a great job of getting the happy snaps and the collection will be posted as a slide show on the website in due course. The full list of winners is too long to list here but if you go to the Statistics>Hall of Fame page and select the 2016 link you will be able to peruse the full listing.
The next two weeks (Christmas Eve and New Year Eve) are available as social rounds and a few tee slots have been booked. The competition will be ‘as you like it’ but might best match the competition of the day at the Course. Usually there is a ProPin (or two) between whoever plays.
Other than that, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and come back refreshed for the January Monthly Medal on 7th January. By the way, subscriptions for 2017 are now overdue so pay up or else the committee will get angry and start pestering you in earnest.