Last week’s trip to the Bellarine apparently had its moments. Particularly the moments when Chrispy worked out how to email a photo, and again, and again, and again…..Only a few were hardy enough to get themselves to the course again today but, despite that, there was a roll up of seventeen (and Ed who was on a promise and wouldn’t play unless he could be guaranteed to be home by 1200). As it turned out the game went pretty quickly and Ed could just about have made it. Blighty was also keen to get away. Something to do with an important meeting at Jolimont. The starters generously sent his team out first despite it being a group of four. And they cracked right along and set a good pace that the groups of three had to work to keep up with.
The speed of play could easily have had something to do with the seven birdies that the team managed to score, with six of them on the back nine. Whitey was speculating, during the round, about how many under par would be required to win and his favoured number was at least five or six. So he wasn’t too far off the pace and the team came in with 63 off the stick for 54 nett. The DRAG team (Dennis, Rob, Andrew and Gordon) played like a well oiled machine with Blighty leading the charge by driving like a demon while the others kept the ball rolling (figuratively speaking) with the chipping and putting. Their round wasn’t without its moments though. Rob’s drive on the 4th went well left and low heading into the trees in the hazard but in true Priems style the ball carved obediently to the right, missed every tree and finished pin high just off the green to the left. Gordon must have left his good glasses at home as he had to ask a few times where the flag was. Dennis took great delight in telling him every time, that it was on top of the stick. Slow learner?
Now, there had been some discussion as to whether, since there was such a good roll-up, there should be Championship points awarded for the day. Everybody was pretty keen on the idea, at least until it became clear which team was in second place. And that team was Joe, Ryan, Bob and Keith. And no, they don’t have it in for Joe, Ryan or Keith. Now, this team was a good example of how not to manage your ball selection. Despite Ryan driving or almost driving the green on some of the final holes, they were forced to use much less favourable locations to get the tee shot tallies up to scratch. And when the out-standing (as distinct from outstanding) player played shots into hazards it started to get just a bit hairy towards the end but they still managed 66/57. This team also caused more than a little trouble for the Club Captain as he read the results and couldn’t work out who Je, Bib and Kath were. So confused, in fact, that he needed to be reminded to read out the winning team.
Just a fraction behind with the same gross were Simon, Chrispy and Allan. Now, Simon was bragging about how many birdies he scored on his own on Thursday. Today he was getting pretty excited about the birdies that he scored as part of a team so just imagine how excited he would get after a solo effort. As for the rest, there were plenty of birdie chances but the putts would just not fall. Matt and his team know the agony only too well after their four putts just lipped the hole and refused to fall on the 17th (the 18th was almost as bad, they just missed by more)
Confusion reigned supreme once more on the Nearest the Pin competition front. Just to be clear. There is one ProPin that is permanently on the 18th (despite what happened last week). If the mobile (or 18th) ProPin jackpots, it stays on that hole until it is won. So, despite the labelling on the box, the BallPin today was on the 12th and the winning shot was played by Chrispy who must have done really well to get inside the mark set by Gordo which was only a couple of metres out. The big cohuna jackpot ProPin was on the 15th and SOS saved the day for his team by putting his drive to 3.91m. Because of the confusion about which hole was which, Harry was having a conversation with himself about whether this was the ProPin or the BallPin which just happened to be in the midst of Whitey’s backswing. The result of the downswing was far from spectacular and the ball did not make it to the red markers and so was technically a draughtie. SOS agonised over whether to take the shout given the circumstances and being a team event and all but eventually decided that beer trumps team spirit any day. Harry couldn’t bring himself to accept the offer so graciously made by Whitey.
The ProPin on the 18th was taken out by a shot from Jason, who was another one who had a good day off the tee today. He placed it at 4.55m and as reported earlier, neither he nor his team-mates could read the break of the green to snare the birdie.
The time for the Annual Challenge weekend in Shepparton is drawing closer and there was quite a bit of discussion after the round. People have probably been inspired by the tales emanating from the Bellarine weekend. If you haven’t signed up, you would have to speak nicely to Gordon. It might be possible to squeeze some more in, but no guarantee. Another Major coming up in a couple of weeks so this is a big chance to catch up on Bob in the Championship Tables with a double lot of points up for grabs. And we’ll have three weeks of Stableford in a row. Bet nobody complains about that! In the meantime, a Monthly medal and a round of Par to get out of the way first.
Results for Saturday, 24 June 2017
1st Andrew Blight, Gordon Hill, Rob Priems, Dennis Ward(63, 54) 2nd Keith Delzoppo, Bob McDonald, Ryan Porker, Joe Wagenecht(66,57)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 15th Stephen O’Sullivan and team ProPin No 2 18th Jason Hopkins and team BallPin 12th Chris Priems and team