We don’t normally go out of our way to celebrate the NAGA of the week but coming off the back of the big Priems Cup victory last week, Chrispy declared that he had his worst game at Ivanhoe in the past 5 years. Indeed a card with 23 stableford points had him in clear last place for the day.
Chris’s form helped Bobby to a comfortable 4 and 3 win in their match play. Over the years Chrispy and Bob have often been drawn to play in the first round of the match play and Chrispy reckons he is cursed, Bobby has won every time. Bobby noted on the day “make sure you put in the blog that the curse continues!”
In the other match play, Brendan got off to a fast start against Stan and also prevailed 4 and 3.
Brendan also won the day with 36 stableford points, followed by Raj with 35, Michael and Targe equal third with 34, Bob in fourth with 33 and Charles fifth with 32.
On a beautiful day for golf and with the dew taken off the greens with a rare Saturday morning mow, you might have expected the field to score better. But the big story of the course set-up for the day was the pins. On the first the pin was in the far back right corner, closer to the back and right than anybody had ever seen it before. This set a trend of crazy back corner pins on 2, 3, 6, 7, 12, 13, 15 and 18. And they threw in a few crazy close to the front ones on 4, 5 and 9 for good measure.
Brendan’s win came after a great front 9 of 20 points. He explained he was coming off the back of a dancing inspired family holiday in the US and was happy to be back and enjoying the peace and quiet of playing golf at Royal Ivanhoe. A stumble on the back with three untidy sixes at the 13th, 16th and 17th was arrested with a nice 3-point par on the last. His card marker, your assistant apprentice handicapper, noted that off a handicap of 9 with us Brendan got a stroke on the 18th but not with his GA handicap of 7. Thankfully with his winner’s penalty, Brendan will lose his stoke on the 18th next time he plays.
No winner’s penalty for Raj who now has 6 second placings for the year but no wins. Raj started the front 9 with only two points after the first 3 holes but then managed four 3-pointers in a row on holes 6 to 9 to turn with 17 points. He then had a more consistent looking scorecard to add 18 points on the back 9.
Targe finished strongly with two 3-pointers on the 17th and 18th for his 34 points. This included what Targe called his “epiphany” shot of the day, a 7 iron second into the 17th over the big tree onto the green. He has been playing safe around the tree with his second lately but decided during the week he would take it on this week and hit it over the tree “like I used to do all the time”. And he pulled it off perfectly. Michael didn’t manage any 3 point holes in his 34 and had nothing spectacular to report. Bobby’s 33 points was built on a strong back 9 of 19 points including a 4-point par on the last.
Charles had the most interesting card of the day. His 32 points included three of the day’s six birdies (all 4-pointers) on the 5th, 13th and 17th. He also mixed in no less than 4 gashes. One of those gashes was on the 12th when he managed to hit 2 shanks into the pond off the tee. He then stepped up and birdied the 13th. Funny game golf!
For followers of the Eclectic, Charles has rocketed up to second and Raj’s lead is now down to just 1.2 strokes, with Bobby flying past Brendan and Porks into third.
Just out of the points was Prez Priems and Chris Vinecombe with 31 points. It was great to see Chris finding the time to be back playing again. After a slow start he showed his class with a brilliant 6 iron into the 7th to stake a solid claim for the first nearest the pin. Unfortunately Michael then bunted a 3 wood down there just a bit closer. Chris wasn’t to be denied the second ball pin with another solid shot into the 18th.
With the tee at the back and the pin at the far back left, the money on offer at the 15th was always odds-on to go to Jack Pot. Some incentive there for people to register for next week.
Your blog writer is in trouble again for forgetting to name check birthdays. Happy birthday Peter Sein for this week, Porks for next week (because I will forget again next week) and a special mention to SoS who I forgot last week. One year closer to the Seniors for you SoS.
The famous “SoS Cocky” has been known to cause a bit of trouble about the place. But he was relatively quiet for this week’s golfers despite reappearing at one of his favourite haunts beside the 7th tee (where him and SoS once had a major stoush). He is obviously waiting for SoS to get back before he gets back to full voice in the middle of backswings.
Brent had a rare off day and it was confirmed he hit at least one tree on every single one of his first 10 holes. Porks too did not have his best day but Brent and Porks did fire up to tell the story of Harry’s club throwing tantrum on the 16th. The story got better and better with the retelling but not in dispute was that Harry’s club definitely travelled further than the ball. Harry maintains the club slipped out his hand, just with a bit of a delay after the shot was struck.
There was also some debate about who scored the most interesting 1-pointer of the day. The first contender was Rob’s 20 foot putt for a 6 for 1 on the 10th after a shank or two and a visit to the hazard. This was beaten by Harry’s effort on the 9th that might have also involved shank and a visit to the trees on the right before a chip in secured a very adventuress 6 for 1.
Results for Saturday, 20 Apr 2024
1st Brendon Mitchell (36) 2nd Rajesh Mahto (35) 3rd Michael Gourlay (34) 3rd Targe Mifsud (34) 4th Bob McDonald (33) 5th Charles Gibbs (32)
Seniors Results: 1st Michael Gourlay (34) 1st Targe Mifsud (34) 2nd Bob McDonald (33) 3rd Stan Blackshaw (28)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 7th Michael Gourlay BallPin No 2 – 18th Chris Vinecombe