With only a week until the twenty-fifth, it was entirely appropriate that we had twenty-five members present to fight it out for the final two trophies and points of this somewhat disjointed calendar year. The morning started out warm enough, and there was on display as varied a collection of Club shirts as it was possible to see. CJ and Rob were complaining about the fact that the gravy spots from last year were still visible on their white version despite their claim that they had, in fact, been washed in the meantime. As the morning progressed, the sun broke through and the temperature rose as the breeze picked up, causing more than a few to start to wilt in the unaccustomed heat. The greens were hard and fast, which brought problems with holding the green and pacing the putts, resulting in some scores being somewhat less than stellar.
The premier event of the day was the Stuart Clarke Champion of Champions Trophy, that was to be contested by the various medallists and major winners through the Competition year. At the end of the day, the event turned into pretty much a two horse race, with half a nose (AKA 1 stroke) separating the leading contenders. What the margin would have been if Brendon had not ‘lost’ his ball from the tee on the second is anybody’s guess. Despite the resulting eight on the hole, he still managed a net score of 67 to just pip Old Reliable, Craig, who came in with 68. As an aside, Harry found Brendon’s ball as he played the 6th later in the morning, thus causing some angst for Brendon over the ‘wasted’ strokes.
The ‘minor’ trophy of the day was the, perhaps inappropriately titled, Chump (should it be Champ) of Chumps that was contested by the rest of the field. In an unfortunate turn of events, Trev did not realise that he had been handicapped on the basis of his performance in the first round of the Vin O’Meara, and he scored his card from the wrong handicap. So, despite having played a great round, and in particular, a great back nine, Trevor had to be relegated from his announced spot of top dog. A while back, the view was expressed that it would not be long before we saw Anthony gracing the winner’s circle, and today proved to be just that day. His round of 78 off the stick for a total of 39 points now stood on its own, after originally having been relegated by countback on the day. With a sprinkling of one pointers on the card, there is a fair chance that this is not the last we have seen of Anthony.
Porks was not too far off the pace with his score of 38 points, but he had to share the podium with the Comeback Kid, our venerable Prez, Rob. Now, it seems that Rob and Porks were playing together, and on the 8th, Rob thought that he was out of strokes and decided that he would not complete the ‘tap-in’ that was left to the hole. After he picked up, Porks reminded Rob that he actually had another stroke to go. The lengths some people will go to, to avoid being beaten. Plus, he potentially robbed Rob of a chance to be equal top dog, as well as being ‘shout-free’ for the day. The Beast didn’t need somebody else to ‘rob’ him of a point, he tried to do it himself by using the incorrect handicap. Rod has been playing the back nine on Thursday mornings for the past few weeks, and this obviously stood him in good stead as he put together 21 points on that half to bring up a total of 37 points and a share of the third spot with the Beast.
Old Reliable started off in his usual fine style, and for eight holes looked to right in the mix. After three holes of singletons, the rhythm came back, and he was able to finish off with a tally of 36 points. He shared fourth spot with Trev, who should be very pleased with his form despite the disappointment of relegation. JQ started his campaign with a birdie on the first, which was just one of the ten that we managed to get for the day. Some take this occurrence as a bad omen, but this did not prove to be the case, and JQ seemed very happy to open his points account with the one on offer for 5th place.
The first BallPin was set on the 12th, and somebody put one fairly close early in the day. That fairly close was closer than anybody else was able to achieve, and that somebody was none other than our old mate, Allan (with two l’s). The second BallPin was, as usual, on the 18th. The pin placement on the lower deck proved elusive until Ryan came along and put his shot to a bit over 6m. Harry’s shot looked good from the tee, and reports have it that the ball actually ran off the green before rolling back to be on by about 200mm. However, that was still a bit over 4m from the pin and enough to win both our BallPin and the inside ProPin. Our ProPin on the 15th went begging again, and the double jackpot will carry over to the 8th January after it was decided that New Year Day would be a social event for those sober enough to play.
ChrisJ also ‘lost’ a ball from his drive on the 2nd. It, too, was found by SOS/Harry on the edge of the 6th fairway. The second seems to have been a happy hunting ground for weird results from the tee. Damo’s drive also hit a tree at some speed and finished its flight neatly on the 11th tee, much to the amazement of the players there. There have been cases of players throwing clubs after they hit what they consider to be a poor shot. On the 13th Bobbie topped a shot rather badly, but he didn’t throw his club, he threw himself, and ended up flat on his back as a result. Fortunately, no harm was done. Captain Matt was not too happy after taking four putts on the 9th green, some from not too far away. Craig got himself into the ‘rough’ along the side of the 17th and decided that he could play the shot, despite almost having to put his arms around a tree to do so. And, it came off.
It is well known that the Beast is capable of giving the ball a good crack. Today, he went close to driving the 13th with the ball finishing well past the end of the penalty area on the left. As part of his Captainly duties, Matt decided to read the Local Rules on the back of the card, and concluded that the ‘wet’ area on the left of 4th was Out of Bounds. Unfortunately, that little puddle does not qualify as a ‘billabong’, and the rule actually refers to the real billabong on the right. CJ searched in vain for his ball on the 15th, and, eventually, gave it up as lost. As they walked off to the 16th tee, where should they find his ball but about half a metre from where Pepsi had played his second shot. None so blind as those who will not see!
After the round, the bar opened, and the assembled masses started to get into the Christmas spirit. A few players had to go, but they were replaced by a few members who were not able to play. A fine selection of meats and salads were provided by the catering staff, and the hungry horses needed no prompting to tuck right in. The food, drink and conversation flowed quite freely and a good time was had by all. After everybody was suitably stuffed with food, the gathering was called to order, and the COVID abbreviated list of trophies was read out, and the presentations were made by Life Member Allan who recalled for us the early days of the Club and the camaraderie that existed then and that has persisted to the current day. After the bar closed, there was talk of adjournment to another venue, but there are no reports to hand of what might have transpired. Perhaps it is better that what happened at the pub, stays at the pub!
Results for Saturday, 18 December 2021
1st Anthony Browne (39) 2nd Brendon Mitchell (38) 2nd Ryan Porker (38) 2nd Robert Priems (38) 3rd Bill Eastoe (37) 3rd Rod Grant (37) 4th Craig Cameron (36) 4th Trevor Jackson (36) 5th John Quinlan (34)
Seniors Results: 1st Bill Eastoe (37) 1st Rod Grant (37) 2nd Craig Cameron (36) 2nd Trevor Jackson (36) 3rd Allan Davies (31)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 12th Allan Davies BallPin No 2 – 18th Harry Boughen