Another year done and dusted. Well almost, just the matter of a couple of Eves to go, but the main events are now over. What a year it has been. The effects of the pandemic continue to hang around, and the weather gods keep hurling bolts of rain, if not lightning, to add further confusion to the mix. Still, we did manage to muddle on through, and only had to cancel a handful of events. One that we did not have to cancel was the Stuart Clarke Champions of Champions and the associated, if sadly named, Chump of Chumps. This event, combined with the prospect of nosh and drinks after, persuaded sixteen members to turn out, together with Ken Grist, one of the very early members of the Club, to try their hand at taming the rather unpredictable thing that is Ivanhoe Golf Course. A reasonable number of extras turned out for the nosh and drinks (about a dozen in all), which resulted in a very convivial afternoon indeed. The weather was fine and warmed up nicely after a slightly cool start. The course was well presented, although there are still some areas to recover from the inundation and silting over that they received. The bare, muddy patches caused some players a degree of frustration due to their preference for grassy lies.
It has been tipped since day one that Raj had a lot more potential than his initial handicap indicated. And today that prediction was borne out, in spades. Raj himself was not backward in promoting the fact that he had scored 23 points on the back nine with a wipe for a result on the 13th. This, plus his already impressive 19 points on the front, brought him up to 42 points to take out the top spot for the day as well as the highly coveted Chump of Chumps trophy, contested by those who did not win a Major, a Medal or other Championship during the competition year. He’ll have to keep his socks pulled up to match it with his nice new handicap, which took a fair old beating as a result.
Second cab off the rank for the day was Harry, who followed up last week’s performance with exactly the same number of strokes off the stick. The two stroke cut that he took last week meant that his net score came in at 65, and the Stableford points stacked up at 39. The points were enough to collect the second placing for the day, but, in the event that really mattered, the net score was plenty to take out the Champion of Champions trophy with the greatest of ease. Next in the Champions of Champions field was Old Reliable who came in three strokes behind Harry with a handicap equalling score of 68 net. This equated to 36 points, and that was what was required to garner 3rd place for the day, and another three points onto Craig’s rapidly escalating tally of Championship Points for the new year. Shades of 2022!
In terms of daily placings, the Champion of Champions field fairly dominated. SOS was a mere stroke behind Craig, having done himself out of a much better placing by means of a bit of a brain fade around the middle third of the course. CJ’s brain fades were much more widely distributed, particularly on the front nine. His back nine was almost flawless, and the twenty points for this half allowed him to fill the last spot available for the day with his score of 34 points. The runners-up in the Chump of Chumps were a rather motley crew of two in Matt and Gordo who came in with 33 points, and just missed out on getting at least a point due to a couple of lapses in concentration.
The Michael Gourlay Benefit events (aka Nearest the Pin) were firstly in the 12th, which was the ProPin. It looked very like being a Jackpot until Michael turned up in the last group and placed his ball 3.33m from the hole to collect the cash once again. On the 15th, it looked as if our other regular hunter and collector, Craig, would take the cherry, but then along came Michael, and he managed to get closer to collect yet another ball. On the 18th, Michael was standing on the tee talking about hat-tricks. But, it was not to be, and Craig’s knocking off of Matt was allowed to stand, giving the ball to Craig. Neither of the two NTP winners was able to make the birdie on the holes. One man who did make a birdie, and thus contribute to our total of 8 for the day, was none other than Prez, Rob. This he did on the 7th, which is a hole that his exorbitant handicap gives him two strokes on, and he was able to pencil on a total of five (5) points for his trouble. Unfortunately, he followed up with an eight on the eighth, for exactly zero points, which was a little disappointing, to say the least. We won’t mention the two great-grand pars that he had on a couple of other par threes.
The day, of course, was not without its little incidents. Steve started out in fine form, and easily parred the first (for a cool four points), and followed up with a five on the second for a, not too shabby, three points. By this stage, he was declaring undying love for his new clubs. At the third, however, like so many whirlwind romances, the novelty began to fade when the bare ground played havoc and an eight ensued. It was back on again with another four point par on the 4th, and back off again after a run of not so hot scores leading to a failure to reach the red markers on the 7th. CJ is finding it difficult to come to terms with the differences in ProV1 balls. Does the x make any difference? Does the dye in the ‘green’ ones affect their performance? And so it goes. He’s not so sure that they all start off as yellow and that the white ones have just been bleached. ChrisJ owned up to an air swing after catching everybody’s attention with a very loud swoosh. Matt was so admiring of his drive on one hole that he didn’t get around to helping Raj search for his ball. Or was he trying to put the mockers onto Raj.
And, of course, there was the lunch and presentations. Ken Grist, who hasn’t changed one iota since the last time he joined us for a day, helped out with the presentations while Gordo wrangled the trophies into some sort of order. First and foremost was the trophy for Club Champion, which was convincingly won by none other than Craig with a total of 98 points for the year. By the end of the session, there was a fair collection of silverware on the table in front of Craig. Another one who fronted up to the presentation table on a number of occasions was Ryan, and his tally included the Eclectic with a gross score of 47 strokes. His newly refurbished apartment might also need expanding. As far back as detailed records go, this is the lowest score in the Eclectic, beating Pepsi’s 2015 effort of 49. Ryan’s score was helped no end by the two holes in one that he scored during the year. Ryan’s description of the events created a great deal of mirth for the assembled gathering, particularly in relation to the low key response of certain individuals on the occasion. One other presentation of note, was the awarding of Life Membership of the Club to Harry, in recognition of his efforts over the last ten years to the management of the handicapping and blogging, as well as other aspects of the smooth running of the Club. By the middle of the afternoon, the stayers looked as if they were about to settle in, if not at Ivanhoe, then somewhere else. And the general view was that it had been an excellent day of good food and good fellowship.
Events are scheduled for the next two Saturdays, but it is anticipated that many people might want to use the time to spend with family and friends, or to prepare for the following day’s festivities. So, if sufficient people register to play (ie at least six), there will be a competition for points and handicapping with the usual NTPs. If fewer than six register/turn up, we will hold a booking and a social round can be played.
In the meantime, here is a wish for everybody to have a very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year. We look forward to seeing you all again on the green, green fields of Ivanhoe. But, don’t forget, subs are due, and we will have to deregister any GA memberships that are not paid/firmly committed by 26th December.
Results for Saturday, 17 Dec 2022
1st Rajesh Mahto (42) 2nd Harry Boughen (39) 3rd Craig Cameron (36) 4th Stephen O’Sullivan (35) 5th Chris Priems (34)
Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen (39) 2nd Craig Cameron (36) 3rd Chris Priems (34)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Michael Gourlay BallPin No 1 – 15th Michael Gourlay BallPin No 2 – 18th Craig Cameron