Bedraggled! That’s probably the best word to describe the 13 members who made it to the course today. Porks was only 50/50, and, obviously, the 50 under the line won out. And we can only assume that CJ didn’t Wake in Fright after yesterday’s wake. Or maybe he did! Warm, humid, tropical air has a fair bit to answer for, one way or another. It has provided a reasonable drop of rain, ideal growing conditions, and, quite possibly, it has managed to keep the ground staff in the shed with the likely result that this was the cause of the generally ‘hairy’ condition of the course. And, then, there was the matter of today’s weather. At tee time, the sky was overcast, but it was not yet raining, although the radar did show a rather continuous band of precipitation moving in from the north-east as the moisture laden air circled around the low situated out to the east. Then, it started to sprinkle. Then, it started to rain. It didn’t quite begin to pour, but absolutely everything got wet, if not from the outside, then from the inside as the humidity built up inside the wet weather gear. Most players managed to keep their scorecard reasonably dry, but there were a couple that looked to be only good for adding to the papier mache bucket.
El Capitano had his whip out today, trying to reduce the space between his group and the first group, who set a pace like men possessed. It is not clear whether this influenced his score on the front nine, but he pulled his socks up on the back, and, if it hadn’t been for a three putt on the last, he could have easily broken his handicap, which would have been no mean feat given the conditions as the greens became more and more water-logged as the morning progressed with the 17th being almost unplayable by the time the last group came through. Brendon didn’t score any birdies, but he didn’t need to, as he already had the Eclectic well and truly sewn up.
Pepsi left his dash to improve his Eclectic score a bit late in the season, and scored two of the four that the whole field scored on the day. The first was on the first, but that was soon offset by a double on the second, which ended up leaving the front nine looking a bit tatty with the majority of his handicap used up by the turn. Overall, the back nine was much more respectable with a ‘major’ blemish on the 13th, where a triple resulted. Still, net 71 was a good score in the scheme of things, and certainly good enough to collect second place. Dan made the trek down from Shep, once again, and he is slowly catching on to some of the folk-lore associated with the Club. On the 12th, it looked very much if he was going to have to hope that his ball would float, and that he could walk on water as his ball headed unerringly towards the centre of the pond. When the ball hit a tree and ricocheted back out to the centre of the fairway, and it was called a ‘Priems’, an explanation was in order to clear away his bewildered look. While there were probably more doubles on the card than he would have liked, his net score of 73 scored him a comfortable 3rd place.
Steve showed signs of being rather disgruntled as the struggled with his wet gear, rapidly disintegrating scorecards, and general dissatisfaction with his game. At one stage, in a fit of pique, he tossed his sand wedge out of the cot, and it reportedly suffered significant damage when it hit the nursery floor. Still, his game obviously wasn’t as bad as he thought under the circumstances prevailing, and his net score of 75 snagged him fourth place. And, last into the points with a net 76, we find none other than Gordo who collected the final point for the year with his placing of fifth on the day.
So, the first round of the Strokeplay Championship is done and dusted. First round leader on the Scratch side is Pepsi (77) closely followed by Brendon (78). The Handicap side of the table, obviously, follows the daily placings, and it will be interesting to see how the battle progresses over the remainder of the event. The Club Championship is finalised, and, what has been blindingly obvious for quite a time was confirmed with Michael taking out the Club and Seniors by a goodly margin. He will also take out the Vardon, that that was much more of a close-run thing with JQ breathing down his neck, and maybe one result potentially making the difference.
There was a Double Jackpot up for grabs on the 7th, and you might recall that, last week, Porks would have liked to be able to stretch the tape measure (or was that shrink??) to collect the Single jackpot that was on offer. Today’s result was similarly newsworthy. Craig’s shot landed short of the green, and was deemed to have, most likely, been pulled to a stop by the saturated, longer grass around the green. Perhaps it emulated Barnes Wallis’s bouncing bombs on the Ruhr dams, because, on approaching the green, the ball was spotted lying a mere 4.47m from the hole, requiring no shenanigans with the tape, and resulting in a handsome pay-cheque for Old Reliable. The first BallPin on the 12th did prove to be a contest, but it was Matt who took the day and won the ball. On the 18th, Pepsi was the only one with his name on the card, so he will collect the BallPin there (next week, as he had to dash off to collect the kids).
Raj was spotted dragging on a gasper at the back of the machinery yard, and, when asked how he was going, he expressed some concern that the palms of his hands had turned white. Stan managed to put his drive on the 15th into the bushes on the left, and obviously well short of the red markers. Gordo also found the shrubbery a bit further out. Stan found his, and played his second shot from where it lay. Gordo didn’t find his, and claimed that it couldn’t be proven that the ball didn’t get past the reds, and so it didn’t count as a draughtie. Shades of SOS. Matt was praying for a thunderstorm so that the round would be called off after he sent two balls OOB from the tee on the third. He wasn’t too happy to record a quintuple bogie on his card. Targe and Brendon were negotiating the finalisation of scorecards, and Targe had taken off his cap, almost blinding Harry with the reflection from the chrome dome. As the negotiations went on, Brendon, with a smirk on his dial, said, he didn’t want to be splitting hairs with Targe over the scores!
Next week is the start of a whole new Competition Year with the first round of the Vin O’Meara Christmas Cup. A very good opportunity to come along and get your Championship points off to a good start, with double points on offer for the Major. There is also the optional fixed price Calcutta on the event. For $25, cash on the barrel, you can buy yourself for the event with the chance to share in the pool of funds generated. Money has to be paid before tee off next Saturday. Late entries and payments will not be accepted, so make sure that you have the correct change or miss out.
The Break-up is only a few weeks away, and we need to know numbers coming so that we can get the catering right. Your membership subscription is basically what pays for the party (food and a couple of drinks), so it would be a shame to miss out. You don’t have to play golf on the day, though that would be an added bonus. But we do have to know if you plan to come and party with us. Just look under the Registrations menu item above.
Speaking of Membership subscriptions, they are now due ($50/$100), and a prompt transfer into the Club bank account (look under Bank Transfers for details) would be appreciated. Also, if you have your GA membership with the Club, can you please confirm with Harry whether you plan to continue/join with us or not, as we need to have the house in order before the end of December for the Annual Census for 2025 membership.
Results for Saturday, 30 Nov 2024
1st Brendon Mitchell (69) 2nd Andrew Petricola (71) 3rd Dan Marie (73) 4th Steven Gervasoni (75) 5th Gordon Hill (76)
Seniors Results: 1st Steven Gervasoni (75) 2nd Gordon Hill (76) 3rd Matt Hunt (77)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 7th Craig Cameron BallPin No 1 – 12th Matt Hunt BallPin No 2 – 18th Andrew Petricola