Who will it be? Who will it be? Who will have the wisdom? Let it be! (with apologies to Lennon and McCartney). The leader board is pretty crowded, with only ten points (or so) from the leader to the tail-end Charlies. Anything could happen, and probably will. The first group were not too tardy, and they remembered where the nearest the pin markers were to go. The weather was fairly benign to start with, but, as the morning progressed, the wind picked up and took on a particularly gusty and swirling character. At times, the wind could be at your back and the flag could be standing at right angles to your line. Possibly based on individual performances, there were early predictions that playing to your handicap might be a bridge too far.
Raj stepped up to the first, and smashed one, just about out of sight, giving rise to the suggestion that he was targetting the top of the Order of Merit again (not updated yet, slight glitch). Despite the impressive start, the front nine was not particularly kind, with a couple of gashes knocking a hole in the total at the turn. However, he must have revelled in the swirly conditions that developed, as he absolutely demolished the back nine, just two over the card and twenty-three points. The thirty-five off the stick was a PB for the nine. Well done, Raj! Targe also got a good one away from the first tee, giving rise to the suggestion that he might be in for a good one today. And, a good one he did have! The card did include four singletons, so an even better result was not too far out of reach.
The pressure of leading out the field, and having to remember the NTP markers obviously weighed on Gordo’s mind, and he started off fairly slowly. Once he had passed the 4th, and had successfully cleared the first NTP hurdle, he obviously relaxed, and his driver started working well, and continued to do so for the rest of the round. So much so that there was not a score under two for the rest of the round, and third place was his. Pepsi would have been fairly happy with his front nine, despite a couple of bogies, that limited him to just nineteen points for the half. A couple more to start the back would have been a disappointment, but the scoring picked up smartly from there. That is, until the last, where an uncharacteristic double undoubtedly wiped the smile from his face. Porks played a pair of three over the card in his round, with a triple on the 16th really taking the shine off an excellent back nine. SOS suffered a bit of a slump half way through the front, but the back was a completely different story. Other than perhaps the 17th where he ‘went for the green’ despite the wind in play. From just off the green, he chipped across, needing to chip on and two putt for a point saving five. Coulda, shoulda!
In the excitement of sorting the cards, Prez almost got over-looked in the announcements, but he was not to be over-looked, and complained bitterly. Sorry, Prez! JQ’s mood was a bit up and down as the day progressed, and his game and luck oscillated between good and ordinary. As an example, a good drive on the 11th was followed by a good pitch that found a ‘twig’ that dropped the ball virtually at the base of the tree. The follow up pitch found the green and rolled just past the hole, missing by a whisker, leaving just a putt for a par. So, a four point turn-around is all that is required for this leading list of members. And, the rest of the field is not too far behind. Next Saturday could/should be moving day!
There were two balls to play for on the 4th, and Marc put in an early claim for the pair. Unfortunately for Marc, JQ managed to finish closer to the hole, even though he did not really see where the shot had gone. You don’t have to post pictures on Instagram! The pin on the 18th was just at the foot of the slope on the bottom deck, which might have contributed to the close fought contest for the ball on offer here. AndrewV put in the first claim from just over 12m, which means it must have been barely on the green, in whichever direction. CJ was obviously closer, but he was no match for Stan, whose shot to 6m was enough to take our day, but we will have to wait and see if he held on for the inside comp. Stan’s short game was apparently OK, as he was credited with one chip in and one putt in from off the green, as well as his 6m putt here for his birdie, and one of the six that the eighteen of us could score on the day. The ProPin was on the 12th, and getting close enough to the pin was difficult with a fair old cross-wind in play. Harry had a go, but his little fade took him just a bit too far to the right. Craig, however, was right on the money, and caused some oohing and aahing as the ball rolled past the hole to the tune of 4.465m. We won’t say how many putts he took, but he finished with a four for the hole.
On the 11th, Whitey put his drive into the trees on the right, and was about 100m out from the green. The brought out his legendary putter which he used to put the ball onto the green about 2m from the hole, much to the amazement of a couple of our newer members. SteveG was thought to have been abducted by aliens as they played the 6th hole. Last seen as they left the tee, he was nowhere to be seen as the rest of the group gathered on the green preparing to putt. Eventually, he was spotted jumping up and down and waving his arms from the other side of the turkey’s nest dam on the 1st fairway. Needless to say, he did not end up in a scoring situation from that sort of location. Marc’s game oscillated between pretty good to pretty awful, according to his group, leading to the suggestion that he might qualify as Young Unreliable.
Make sure that everybody planning to play next week registers so that we can get the catering right. Doesn’t matter if you didn’t play this week, everybody is welcome, and you could win yourself some cash or a ball, or two. If you don’t register, and you turn up, there might not be a sausage or burger for you. And, we would hate that to happen!
Results for Saturday, 19 Jul 2025
Leaderboard Round 1: 1st Rajesh Mahto (38) 2nd Targe Mifsud (37) 3rd Gordon Hill (36) 4th Andrew Petricola (35) 4th Ryan Porker (35) 4th Stephen O’Sullivan (35) 5th Robert Priems (34) 5th John Quinlan (34)
Seniors Leaderboard: 1st Targe Mifsud (37) 2nd Gordon Hill (36) 3rd Robert Priems (34)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Craig Cameron BallPin No 1 – 4th John Quinlan BallPin No 2 – 18th Stan Blackshaw