With the exception of this week’s winner, Chris James, who was grinning after the round like the proverbial Cheshire cat, the quality of golf had the rest of the field looking very glum.
Stephen, a guest of Rob’s who joined us for his first game in 12 months or so summed it up well when he noted mid-round that he’d rather be out on his boat.
Mind you, if you head back to Chris’s second hole of the day, he wasn’t grinning then, taking a 9! Apart from a par on the first his whole front 9 was a bit of mess, turning in 49 off the stick, 14 over par. Given his handicap is 13, he’d already spent all of his handicap (and one more) by the time he stood on the 10th tee. No problems, a par on 10, birdie on 11, pars on 12-15, another birdie on 16, par on 17 and he stood on the 18th tee 2 under off the stick for the back 9. Bogey on 18 was an unfortunate finish, but still good enough for a back 9 32 to go with the front 9 49 for an 81 off the stick and 68 net (we will have to get Harry to check whether a 17 shot improvement from one nine to the next is a record).
Chris’s 68 net saw him comfortably win the day by three shots from our new Club Champion Raj who went 45 39 for an 84 off the stick for a net 71 which was good enough for second place on his own.
Raj’s 5 championship points for second takes his point tally for the year to 111, with Brendan in second with 89.
There was some interest in third place in the Championship today with Porks starting 3 points behind Harry. When Harry called in sick, it was all set up for Porks to sneak past him into outright third with a second placing or better today, or tie for third in the Championship with third place today (and cost the club an extra trophy). Indeed Porks 79 off the stick (net 73) was good enough for equal third place with Charlie G, who as predicted is starting to consistently feature in the points, and Matt.
SoS and Josh shared 4th with net 75 and Michael and Peps played poorly and were embarrassed to be included in the points sharing 5th with net 76. Those out of the points in the field of 13 (plus two guests) included Rob, Targe, Bill and Geoff.
Unfortunately for Rob, despite the big build up in the previous blog, he couldn’t improve his eclectic score today and this leaves Brendan the winner of the Eclectic Trophy on 44.0 with Rob second on 44.4. Brendan’s birdie on 13 last week was the decisive moment in his win.
This week is the first week of the three week Club Strokeplay Championship (the last two weeks being played concurrently with the Vin O’Meara). There are gross and net honours for the Stroke Play. The “gross” field is very bunched with Porks 79 good enough to lead, followed by Michael and Matty on 80, Chris J on 81, Peps on 82 and Raj on 84.
Josh was grinning big time when he creamed his drive and then a 5 iron onto the 6th green in two. Unfortunately this was followed by three putts. His dad playing in the following group duly birdied the 6th just to let Junior know he has a way to go yet.
In his first game back for a while Geoff distinguished himself with a duff off the first tee that didn’t make the ladies. He bettered this off the 13th when his tee shot managed to scuttle into the red marker, lifting it off the ground momentarily as the ball deflected way up the hill to the left just inside the out of bounds markers.
Such was the dearth of good golf to be talked about post round, discussion focused on the new clubhouse renovations, particularly the height of the new urinals, which appear to assume that all Ivanhoe golfers are 6ft plus. It was suggested that some stepping stools might be needed for our more vertically challenged members.
Peps spectacular effort on the 11th also got good press after the round. Not so much his regulation par on the hole, but rumour has it when the group ahead (not from our club) stopped and gathered in a little huddle of 6 or 7 blokes for a lengthy chat with some friends playing the second, which went on and on and on, Peps then decided to make what was described as a “decisive intervention.” Whether he ran through the huddle Dermet Brereton style or just used his verbal assets to get the job done is best left to the imagination, but Pep’s playing partners reckon they have never seen a huddle of 6 or 7 blokes scatter quicker. Don’t mess with the Peps!
Peps also finished strongly to win the nearest the pin ball on the 18th, with Raj taking the ball on the 7th. The Propin on the 15th was won again by this year’s most consistent winner, initials JP.
Results for Saturday, 25 Nov 2023
1st Chris James (68) 2nd Rajesh Mahto (71) 3rd Charles Gibbs (73) 3rd Matt Hunt (73) 3rd Ryan Porker (73) 4th Josh Hunt (75) 4th Stephen O’Sullivan (75) 5th Michael Gourlay (76) 5th Andrew Petricola (76)
Seniors Results: 1st Michael Gourlay (76) 2nd Targe Mifsud (80) 3rd Bill Eastoe (81)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 7th Rajesh Mahto BallPin No 2 – 18th Andrew Petricola