A typical Melbourne autumn day. Slightly fresh to start off, overcast and a bit of wind to blow around the fallen and falling leaves from the elms. The temperature probably didn’t climb all that much, but the jumpers eventually came off and there was enough rain to be just a little more than a nuisance and needing the umbrellas to be unfurled from time to time. The course was a little softer and the greens appeared to have been swept clean for a change. David Ford’s legacy of a par competition caused a few grumbles, but with the fairly benign conditions, there appeared to be little reason to expect that the scoring would be anything but easy for the fifteen members and two guests that turned out.
And, easy it was for one member, at least. Ken’s first description of his round was that he had had an aberration. At first, this was thought to be his less than spectacular start from the first tee. When asked for newsworthy items such as ‘miracle’ shots etc, his response became that every shot was a ‘miracle shot’. So much so that he racked up ten pluses, including five on the trot, on his way to a fairly spectacular total of +7 at the end of the day. This could stand him in very good stead for one of the trophies at the end of the year. His total strokes of 89 was also a personal best by a couple of shots. The only downside is that Ken will not be able to play next week due to other commitments. Unless, of course, he can pull some strings in the meantime.
Which leaves the gate wide open for an unlikely pairing of Targe and Rob, who came in with the next best score of +4. Targe seems to have been keeping a fairly low profile, and he played fairly steadily today to produce as many square scores as Ken did pluses. Rob, it seems, has been sussing out Youtube videos on ‘how to straighten your drive’. If he has been putting it into practice, then it seems to have paid dividends, with nothing that you could call a ‘blow-up’ to be seen on the card. Maybe he should also check out some Youtube about checking your ball after he hit a ‘wrongun’ on the 9th. SOS also ‘fessed up to consulting Professor Youtube for advice on chipping, and maybe it worked (sometimes).
Brent was, rather unkindly, accused of protecting his handicap when he scored minus on four of the last five holes, but this is hard to justify when a +3 will still cause some pain on that front with the prospect of more from being in easy striking distance of the front-runners. Ryan has been a bit distracted over the last couple of weeks, mainly due to the fact that he has been moving apartments. It has been a pretty big move, from one to the one next door. Not sure why it has taken two weeks, but the stress did not stop Porks also carding ten squares (eight on the trot) to finalise his card on plus two for a good chance at picking up the big one.
Not to be outdone, Matty produced a card with eleven squares, but he could only manage to make a bottom line of plus one. After some hassling with Blighty over whether to record actual strokes taken or truncated to the point of minus, Chris also joined Matt on plus one. Dale had no such problems with CJ scoring his card and joined the other two on the leaderboard bottom step.
There was one Match played today between Harry and Blighty. With only a couple of strokes difference in handicap, it was going to be pretty much an off the stick affair. Andrew got off to a good start by winning the first two holes, while Harry found his range after a couple of weeks off the clubs. By the turn, the balance had shifted, and it was Harry ahead on two up. The fortunes oscillated close to the square point, with H having a slight advantage after the 16th. A couple of over-drawn shots from the tee on the 17th made it difficult for Blighty, while Harry sealed the deal with a birdie to take the match 2 and 1. That birdie was one of just five that we managed for the day, despite the benign conditions.
Matt was very keen to lay claim to a ProV1 for the BallPins on the 12th and 18th holes. Unfortunately, in both cases, he was knocked off. On the 12th, it was Blighty who got inside him, by not a very large margin. On the 18th, Porks managed to finish only a metre from the hole to take the prize there. The ProPin was on the 15th, and Matt had hopes of getting his name on the card by making a Captain’s Call that the ball could be within the range of the tape rather than the rule of 5m. Fortunately, sanity prevailed, and the ProPin will be a jackpot on the 15th next week.
Blighty quickly bemoaned the fact that he had ‘thinned’ the ball on his approach to the 10th green. It seems the wailing was premature, as the ball finished only about a metre past the hole. ChrisJ played a provisional on the 13th after his first appeared to head well out of bounds. He must have been channelling CJ since his ball was found nicely placed back out on the fairway. His ‘chunked’ second shot did not reach as far as his monster provisional, but at least he was only playing three and not four. CJ was putting well, but didn’t seem to be able to get them to sink. At one stage, he was apparently threatening to wrap his putter around something if it lipped the cup again. Nothing to do with the nut on the end of the shaft, apparently.
Steve joined us again to put in his third card, and so he now has his handicap and can compete in events. At one stage, he was wondering who was playing loud ‘dance music’ to provide timing for Craig’s back swing, when he suddenly realised that it was his mobile making the racket. Jake was here again on his comeback to the Club, and he submitted his second card for his new handicap. Seems he wants to stay in his father’s good books, as he would not ‘dob’ CJ in for the news report. The Birthday Birdie also has a couple of calls to make this week, with a shout-out to Anthony and Gordo who will be out painting the town red during the week. By the way, did you know that birthdays are good for you. The more of them you have, the longer you will live.
Results for Saturday, 14 May 2022
Leaderboard Round 1: 1st Ken Watson (+7) 2nd Targe Mifsud (+4) 2nd Robert Priems (+4) 3rd Brent Rowley (+3) 4th Ryan Porker (+2) 5th Matt Hunt (+1) 5th Chris James (+1) 5th Dale Webb (+1)
Seniors Leaderboard: 1st Ken Watson (+7) 2nd Targe Mifsud (+4) 3rd Harry Boughen (□)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 12th Andrew Blight BallPin No 2 – 18th Ryan Porker