We’re baaaccckk! Well, at least sixteen of us are. The rain (what rain?) was a bit too much for some, and at least one has to cool his heels in home quarantine for a little while yet. But those that did make it to the tee had an enjoyable enough time, even though it was a little damp under-foot in a few places around the course. A couple of the greens had some visible water, but the pin positions seem to have been reasonably well selected and not too many putts were interfered with. The water birds seemed to be pretty happy with the refilled ponds about the place and the first of the clutches have hatched, and the young ones are out and about, learning about the big wide world. There was a fair galaxy of ibis out on the 13th and not a bin in sight. Keith had been past at the time, and the flock seemed very content with their lot.
There is no secret about the fact that Michael has been having a bit of a -/hate relationship with his putters since the resumption of play. He obviously managed to sweet talk the other half during the week because he turned up brandishing a brand-new Cleveland today. Things got off to a good start with a 3m dolly on the first and a 15m monster for birdie on the 5th pretty much sealed the deal and not even a hormonal teenager could be more dewy-eyed over their first love affair. He claims that this is no flash in the pan and is the start of a long term commitment. Gordon has gone all scientific over the break and chose to leave his two-ball putter at home in favour of an old reliable that was going to be better suited for the course conditions today. Whether this was the deciding factor or not, Gordo was able to match Michael on the scorecard and take a share of first place in our first competition in quite a little while.
ChrisJ started out very steadily and did not put too many feet wrong on the front nine, and he looked to be heading for a pretty impressive score at the end of the day. Unfortunately, a few slightly errant shots took their toll on the back nine, and he was only able to manage a final tally of 33 points. However, that was more than enough to fill second place, but it could easily have been so much more. Blighty had a round of ups and downs. Not so much in the golfing sense, but in the scoring sense. Having taken about thirteen holes to warm up, AB put the pedal to the metal and streamed home to finish with 32 points. Harry took about six holes to get his swing back into gear, and he really gave the scorecard a fair kick in the butt with a birdie on the 7th. This was one of seven that we scored for the day, and it helped to bring his total to 32 to finish alongside Blighty in third place.
At one stage, Pepsi was heard admonishing himself for doing something ‘stupid’, and it obviously wasn’t at the 7th where he gathered a four pointer for his birdie. Not a peep was heard from JQ, who possibly had important Punter’s Club business to deal with. Gordo certainly seemed to be taking orders from afar as the morning’s proceedings were winding up. Thirty-one points got a share of fourth place for Peps and John. Anthony was ‘in the points’ again this week, though just down the table a bit. Maybe it was the strain of the extra nine holes that took the shine off. Brendon had some adventures on the way to his score today. To all intents and purposes, he should have had a draughtie on the 13th when his drive travelled a mere 3m. Luckily, the red markers were less than a metre in front of the blue. The drive on the 18th was not a lot better, but he put the second to 3m and sank the putt for his par. SOS was another who scrambled a bit to get himself to 29 points to share the last placing with Anthony and Brendon. There is no truth to the rumour that they were going to hand the point back because of embarrassment about the score line.
The temporary tee-marshall did not nominate the NTP holes and the markers were collected by the first group at half-time. The betting was that the ProPin would be on the hole that one of them got near enough to qualify. This obviously did not happen on the 12th, and so, it was a BallPin. There was quite a contest involved. Not so much for who could get closest to the pin, but for who could put the ‘smartest’ remark on the card. Brendon seems to have won the ball, if not the prize for literature. The failure to ‘win’ the money on the 12th meant that the ProPin had to be on the 15th, and, wouldn’t you know it, nobody did get on the green close enough to take it out. Gordon feels hard done by, as he was within the distance, but about 50mm off the green. The 18th green, for the second BallPin also proved ‘difficult’, and Anthony was able to take it out with his shot onto the lower deck to the pin’s upper deck.
A big shout out to Quarantine Chris, who will have to satisfy himself with a quiet night at home to celebrate his upcoming landmark. The Birthday Birdie feels sure he will find some way to make a night of it.
Porks seemed a bit down in the mouth today, and he asked if he could have a new handicap. As promised, he does have a new handicap, exactly 0.2 higher than his old one. Keith is under orders to use a cart from now on, so, if anybody would like to share, I am sure Keith would appreciate the company. The change from shanks pony didn’t seem to have helped much today and Keith could only report sad stories. Ben did manage a draughtie today on the 3rd, and it has people wondering whether it was some sort of a record for being about 60m short of the red markers. Ben’s electric buggy, affectionately known as Belvedere, seems to have a mind of its own as it headed off from the 8th green in the general direction of the Yarra. It started to move again on the 10th tee. It’s only going down hill, says Ben. Like your game, quipped Harry. Whereupon Ben parred the next four holes. On the 14th, his 3 wood ran across the hole to finish just off the green. The eagle putt was just a bit offline, and the birdie was a lay down misere. We won’t mention what happened on the next two holes.
Targe has been getting in a bit of practice in recent weeks even though he could not make it to Ivanhoe. He started off in reasonable form, but, whether it was the extra nine holes, that form started to fade a bit on the back nine. His tee shot on the 14th, you would have to say, struggled a bit, as it headed down the path and into the gully alongside the fairway. In a Maltese sort of way, it was lucky not to be ‘lost’ when it finished teetering on the edge of the drain hole. Targe insisted on taking a drop as he was not confident of playing as it lies. Funny that!
Right at the pointy end of the year, and a lot to get done. There is still some life left in the Championship, so it could end being quite exciting, despite the vicissitudes of the past year. One semi-final in the Matchplay to go, and that to be followed by the Final and play-off. Two Monthly medals and the Fred Kitson during November, including the start of the Stroke Play Championship. The Calcutta will also be sold on 27th. A registration page will go up shortly for the Calcutta so that we do not sell horses that do not want to be included.
Results for Saturday, 23 October 2021
1st Michael Gourlay (34) 1st Gordon Hill (34) 2nd Chris James (33) 3rd Andrew Blight (32) 3rd Harry Boughen (32) 4th Andrew Petricola (31) 4th John Quinlan (31) 5th Anthony Browne (29) 5th Brendon Mitchell (29) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan (29)
Seniors Results: 1st Gordon Hill (34) 1st Michael Gourlay (34) 2nd Andrew Blight (32) 2nd Harry Boughen (32) 3rd Craig Cameron (28)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 12th Brendon Mitchell BallPin No 2 – 18th Anthony Browne