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The sun shone down (eventually) for Stuart on 23 March 2019

The cat that got the cream.
Can’t wait to show this one off!

It was as dark as a dog’s guts this morning when our GOAT Marshall arrived at the Club House and it remained pretty dim until after the nominated first tee time had come and gone. Yes, the sun does not come up yet at that time of the morning but there were also some rather threatening looking clouds hanging around. And, sure enough, just as the first group was about to tee off, the heavens opened and there was much scuttling to get under shelter and to unfurl umbrellas and wet weather gear. Fortunately, it didn’t last all that long and very soon the resplendent display of hawaiian shirts (at least on those who wore them) was on show once more. That wasn’t the end of it though and, as the last of the rain-proof trousers were eventually removed, with uncanny timing, the rain started again. The second tranche of rain was less intense and maybe lasted a bit longer but when it cleared it was not long before the sun came out and the 26 members and one guest who made it to the course were in danger of getting sunburned for their trouble. A big welcome to Enzo who is planning to join us.

There was plenty to play for, for some in the main event, and four pairs made the most of the day by playing their first round matches in the Matchplay Championship. Matt took on Blighty and really struggled to get his nose in front but then he didn’t really need to. Blighty was three up with five to play and then managed to lose three of those five to finish square and Matt finished him off in the first round of the chip-off. Whitey managed to hold Dave in check for a while but then faltered just a bit in the middle of the back to go down 3 and 2. Jason was a bit daunted by having to concede 20 strokes to Ken and so he was pretty happy to win the first four holes on the trot. However, Ken managed to peg him back to square at the 14th after which Jason regained his composure to take the match 2 and 1. Mehmet emerged from his lair to take on the Beast (or maybe the Beast enticed him into his) and was never headed from the get-go and took out the match 3 and 2. During the week, Michael conceded to JQ and DennisT conceded to Bob so there is only one result left to be decided in Round 1 between Stef and Steve. Only two more chances lads! Round 2 can be played any time as long as both agree but on and after April Monthly Medal the present/play rule applies.

There were two questions that everybody wanted an answer to – would Ben get around without having to shout and would Ben be able to maintain his lead in the event. The answer to the first was – Yes. The answer to the second was – No. The man who did step up to the plate and put together two pretty good rounds was Simon who was able to recover enough strength to make it to this weeks coaching session and also managed to recover pretty well after a shot from the 4th tee that he was obviously not too happy with. A few little hiccups on the back nine also prevented a much more comprehensive march to the winning post. On receiving the trophy Simon comment on how pleased he was to win this as his first Major. Rodger commented that it was coming up to the tenth anniversary next week and how much he enjoyed coming back to play and seeing the the Club was going so well and that it was still a proper social Golf Club.

Craig played alongside Simon and fairly put the frighteners on by rattling off pars on the first six holes. Double bogies on the 9th and 18th probably took away his chance of putting it right up to Simon. Brendon wasn’t too happy with his front nine although he did go close to scoring an Ibis on the 8th. There were thoughts of borrowing Chrispy’s crutch when the bird limped away but after a few moments it seemed to recover its composure and went about the business of being an ibis. A blistering back nine saved the day and propelled Brendon into 3rd place and a goodly dose of the points. His 37 points was the best score on the day and, on that heady total, he was joined by Allan and Targe.

That score from Allan gave him a big push up the leader board into 4th place. and last, but by no means least, Ben managed to stay in the points by scrabbling together 68 points for the event.

On the daily score card there was a list almost too long to publish with 35 points but beside the two leaders there were David, Noodles, Jake, Rodger and Whitey.

The first BallPin was on the 12th and Gordon managed to steal it away from Blighty and Allan with a shot that finished only a metre or so past the hole. Not close enough for him to get the birdie so that did not contribute to the total of 13 for the day. Peter missed an eagle putt by millimetres on the 14th so his birdie did count. The eagle would certainly have cemented his position at the top of the Eclectic Table. The second BallPin was on the 18th and, with the pin on the bottom shelf it is a bit surprising that the closest approach was estimated at nearly 7 metres by Jason. The ProPin was on the 15th and Jake looked to have it sewn up with his ball at 1.37m. But then along came Uncle Rob, who went to 1.30m to snatch the cash from the young fellow’s hand.

Rob was one who was looking forward to collecting a shout from Ben. Until the 8th, that is, when Rob’s hybrid (he is a big hitter) made the ball travel about a metre and put the boot firmly on the other foot. At least his ball did move. Brendon put his drive from the 6th to the back of the 7th green. A bit of an uphill lie wouldn’t normally be seen to pose a problem but on this occasion the ball did not move. Or did it. There was some thought that the slip-stream might have had an effect but the club itself certainly didn’t. Pepsi was feeling pretty thirsty and on about four occasions he thought that his thirst was about to be quenched. But, you could say that the golf gods smiled on Harry and each time the ball managed to make it past the red markers.

Blighty might easily have set a new record by managing to hit three consecutive shots out of bounds from the tee on the 14th. This could be seen to be the start of the rot in his fortunes in the matchplay. In the course of the on again, off again wet weather gear, Bill deposited his pants (wet weather, just to be clear) in Rodgers cart. Despite having been offered the chance to re-apply them several times, Bill became quite panic stricken when he eventually decided to do so and couldn’t find them.

After his relegation to 5th place today, Ben reckons he now knows how Collingwood feel. Brendon was detailed with some child-minding duties after the round and had to deal with a number of ‘what’s this Daddy’s and the application of the ten (or should that be five) second rule when Bubb-a-lo Bill was dropped. SOS’s offer to lick it clean did not really help the situation. When it was all over Brendon opined that it was a bit like herding sheep (and that from a Kiwi) or should it have been ibis?

Results for Saturday, 23 March 2019
1st Simon Powell(40, 35, 75) 2nd Craig Cameron(37, 35, 72) 3rd Brendon Mitchell(33, 37, 70) 4th Allan Davies(32, 37, 69) 5th Ben Akdag(44, 24, 68)

Seniors Results: 1st Simon Powell (35,40,75) 2nd Craig Cameron (35,37,72) 3rd Allan Davies (37,32,69)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Robert Priems BallPin No 1 12th Gordon Hill BallPin No 2 18th Jason Hopkins