With Tee Marshall Adam earning his money shuffling the field after a Covid related withdrawal, eventually 14 players stepped up to the tee for the November Monthly Medal. With good weather and the greens recently cut and running fast and true, the stage was set for a “no excuses” round for the medal.
Porks started well with 3 pars and then managed a triple bogey six down the 4th, as did his playing partner Brendan, with the third member of that group, Steve, making a seven. The rest of the field didn’t do much better on the 4th where there was a triple jackpot on offer for the pro-pin. If it doesn’t go off as quadruple jackpot this week, there’s talk of needing to make it a “nearest the green” contest, or donating the prize to the Christmas break-up lunch.
Ryan steadied his game with a birdie on the 6th, pars over the next four holes, another birdie on the 12th and three pars to finish off a round of 73 off the stick for a net 66 and a comfortable 3 stroke victory. It must be said it is just as well for Porks that the club takes a generous approach to mistakes on scorecards. Steve had marked Porks card with a 38 for the 9th hole instead of a 4 for a 38 nine hole total. Porks had duly signed it and headed off home. Steve was reported to have had a few other accounting mishaps during the day, including the wrong handicap on his card.
In what he called a premonition of a Porks victory (perhaps via a tip off via from checking the course Facebook and seeing Porks had won the A Grade Inside) Harry supplied this week’s blog photo from Prague. Meanwhile Brendan plotted his way to a net 69 (78 off the stick) and with second place points he has snuck past Harry into second place in the Club Championship race with 82 points, trailing the leader Raj on 98 points. With Raj stalled in the nervous 90’s after another week without points, it is still mathematically possible for Brendan to knock Raj off.
Josh backed up from his big win in the Freddy Kitson (and losing 7 strokes on his handicap) to post a net 71 and third place points. Matty noted that Josh left a few out there and could easily have finished 6 or 7 better, so it’s likely it wont be long before Josh loses more off his handicap.
Bobby and Blighty shared 4th place on net 72 and SoS rounded out the points with a net 74. Bob started strongly with a par on the first and if it wasn’t for a rough patch on holes 9 and 10 might have been in line for higher honours.
Blighty managed one of the best double bogeys you will ever see on the 3rd. Drive left into the trees, shanked second out of bounds right, next shot into the tree in front of him and back at his feet, then a bunt forward to under the big tree on the right. Standing over his sixth shot, Michael and Adam, who were waiting patiently on the green, started debating what number Blighty would finish with for the hole, double figures looking likely. Blighty then hit a crisp pitch which landed softly and rolled into the hole for a nice neat 6. Blighty followed this with a 10 metre putt from off the green on the 4th for another neat double bogey, having had a couple of swipes under the bushes on the right. He did give a few of these back with a 5 putt for a 7 on the 14th.
SoS managed a birdie on the same hole but also managed to throw in a few 7’s including one on the 17th where his “all or nothing” approach off the tee produced another entertaining result.
The early finishers made some notes for the blog and these included the distraction of Targe turning up in “Sporty Spice” shoes. Andrew was trying out a new putter grip and having made his first putt with it for a par on the first was feeling confident for a big day. By the time he loaded up his fifth shot from the tee on the 13th and signed for a 12 his golfing day was not looking so good.
Rob also managed double figures, a 10, on the 17th which involved what was described as a “trip down a cliff” to the left where he managed to do more than a bit of pruning by taking a whole tree out as he attempted to use it for leverage on the way back up.
As mentioned above the Pro-pin on the 4th jackpotted again, so quadruple jackpot this week. Porks won the ball for nearest the pin on the 12th and nearly again on the 18th, but Raj’s shot there was just a touch closer. Raj was claiming this was his first ever NTP ball win, surely that can’t be true.
There’s now only three rounds of points left in the 2023 season, with Par this week, then a Priems Cup round on the 18th, then the December Monthly Medal which we play in the last week of November this year. This Monthly Medal will be the last chance to gain entry to the elite Champion of Champion Tournament field. Due to be played on December 16 after the Vin O’Meara, there are 13 players in the field so far. Check details under “Competitions” on the website.
Results for Saturday, 04 Nov 2023
1st Ryan Porker (66) 2nd Brendon Mitchell (69) 3rd Josh Hunt (71) 4th Andrew Blight (72) 4th Bob McDonald (72) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan (74)
Seniors Results: 1st Andrew Blight (72) 1st Bob McDonald (72) 2nd Michael Gourlay (75) 3rd Targe Mifsud (77)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 4th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 12th Ryan Porker BallPin No 2 – 18th Rajesh Mahto