The course had a bit of a top-dressing the other night. The north wind raised some dust from the Mallee and carried it down south where it met up with an approaching front being fed with some moisture from the tropics. The resulting downpour was more the consistency of mud than rain and the whole of Melbourne had a rather streaky reddish tinge the next day. It certainly didn’t do the course any harm and eighteen members turned out to take their chances before the kids go back to school and the work year gets going in earnest. We also had Stan Blackshaw along as an extra and, despite playing in a group with Noodles, it seems that there is some chance that he will come back and join our merry band. According to reports, Stan’s GA handicap does not look like stan(ding) for too long.
Another bloke whose handicap has been heading south in recent times lined up as today’s winner. Porks was in a position on the 18th to better his PB by two strokes. Unfortunately, something seems to have distracted him and, after putting his ball close enough to take out the BallPin, he took three putts to only add two points to the 39 that he had scored up until that time. The stroke total of 72 was just one outside his previous best, both of which have been scored in the last six months or so. The points popped him back to the top of the Championship Table. Can he go back to back?
The break from the rough and tumble of grade cricket must be doing Whitey some good or the more regular play is having a beneficial effect. He was able to string together a pair of nineteens today to gather himself a spot on the second podium level albeit with a bit of a cut to the handicap as well as the points. Enzo seems to have found his mojo and continued his form from last week which is a bit of a contrast to what we have seen in recent times. The driver was doing a top job except for one errant shot on the 13th that went high and wide, never to be seen again. Except for that, and a number of putts left hanging on the lip of the hole, there could have been a completely different story to tell.
Harry started off well but let he his guard slip a bit in the latter stages of the front nine and managed to catch a share of fourth place with a tally of 34 points. Noodles, on the other hand, found it difficult to get more than two good scores in a row. When he did score, he scored well and joined Harry on 34. Matt, who was humourously announced as Mike in the call of the card, scored well in the first half but did fade a bit on the run home. Damo was back on deck after a long break and he made sure that everybody knew just how long it had been. His pleas for a handicap review pretty much fell on deaf ears so he went out and proved that he probably won’t need one. In the process, he missed raiding the Eagle’s Nest by millimetres after putting his drive onto the 17th green and leaving the putt tantalisingly close. He got the birdie though and played a part in getting us to the tally of 12 for the day. SOS joined Damo in fifth place and left a fair scattering of missed chances out there in the process.
The first BallPin was on the 12th and the only name on the chit belonged to Blighty. Now, while we are on the topic of Blighty, it should be mentioned that he sank a good 10m putt on the 16th and indulged in such a celebratory dance that his playing companions were proposing a new trophy category to acknowledge such performances. Whether the rush of blood continued to the next tee can only be conjectured. But, there was witnessed one of the finest ‘groundies’ in many a long day. Even the very fine divot cleared the ball which remained firmly attached to its tee. The very Pinnacle of a tee shot.
But, Blighty was not alone. Ken had a couple of weeks off and he reckons it was because his balls were suffering from kencussion. He showed why on the first though there is some argument about whether it was actually a draughtie as the ball could not be found. However, undaunted, he made an undisputed one later in the round. Dennis joined Ken, both in the playing group and on the draughtie list. Damo was spotted playing his second on the 12th just on the wrong side of the red markers as well. And, while not strictly in the category, Stef played a provisional from the 17th after his first shot disappeared into no-man’s-land beyond the fairway. Talk about a super-shank. If the ball had not caught the trees behind the 9th green, it could easily have finished somewhere about the 10th tee.
Dennis managed the t(r)ee marshal job this morning and was running about asking people if they had paid their sub as he was five dollars short. Wouldn’t you know it, but it was Dennis who hadn’t tipped in. The money wasn’t needed for the ProPin on the 15th today as it went to Jackpot once again. Keith has his kids to thank for a new driver that they chipped in for as a Christmas gift. Keith was pretty pleased with the performance of the driver but it seems that it might have had an adverse effect on the rest of his game.
And, while we are on the topic of Keith, the Birthday Birdie owes him a big apology for overlooking him for a good wish last week. And the same goes for Jason, who just happens to share the date with Keith.
Results for Saturday, 25 January 2020
1st Ryan Porker(41) 2nd Rodney White(38) 3rd Enzo Cirone(35) 4th Harry Boughen(34) 4th Stephen Butterfield(34) 4th Matt Hunt(34) 5th Damien Lee(33) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan(33)
Seniors Results: 1st Enzo Cirone (35) 2nd Harry Boughen (34) 3rd Andrew Blight (32) 3rd Gordon Hill (32)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 12th Andrew Blight BallPin No 2 18th Ryan Porker