With a faint whiff of high octane fuel drifting across from Albert Park, the nostrils of the rev-heads were twitching excitedly. Visions of soaring across the Yarra to take out the 50th Birdman Rally tomorrow were temporarily put on hold as were preparations of the costumes and floats for the Moomba Parade. Of course, dreams of being crowned King of Moomba had long since been extinguished, so at least some of the seventeen members who turned up were not being distracted by the multitude of distractions on offer this weekend. There should have been eighteen members, but it seems that one of our younger members had been out on the Hunt, and couldn’t quite make it. It mattered nought though, because we were joined by Kody on spec, and he was so impressed by our little band of bandits that he plans to get his three cards in and become our actual youngest member.
With the recent bout of rain, the course has really jumped out of its skin and looks a treat, except for the persisting bare patches that seem to have a ball attracting property. The water features were very much in evidence. There was a spout in the main dam to rival the Captain Cook Memorial Jet in Canberra, as well as the cute little fountain in front of the second tee. The water feature by the third tee was also in action. Plus, as a surprise addition, a new water feature came into action just as the second group were teeing off on the 9th. Apparently, AI decided that the tee could do with a bit of water.
Porks put in a couple of contenders for shots of the day, both on the 14th. His drive was so long that it actually went through the green, and finished in what was described as a tough lie in the long. He pulled out one of his trusty wedges, and proceeded to put it into the hole to clean out the Eagle’s Nest (again), and help himself to one over par on the back, seventy-one for the round, and net sixty-seven for the medal. In the process, he also grabbed back his top spot on the Order of Merit. Any bets on the length of run this time? Another shot that garnered a mention for shot of the round was JQ’s chip in for a birdie on the first. However, the shots that were waxed lyrical about most, were a couple by Kody, who, by the way, only took up the game late last year, A drive on the 13th reached past the penalty area on the left, while on the 16th he finished up by the big tree on the right. One to watch, you would have to say.
In a discussion about pace of play, Brendon had to own up to having to search extensively for his ball a number of times over the front nine. One such foray resulted in an Aunty Kate for the hole. And, by the way, there were a remarkable number of Aunty Kates plodded for the day. This came nowhere near Nalin’s effort on the 17th, where four into the penalty area and one lost/OOB resulted in a tally of fifteen. Anyway, Brendon got his mojo back on the back, which he completed just two over with three consecutive bogies to the 18th spoiling his chances of a win, but good enough to collect second place.
Rumour has it that Matt was one of the flyers at the Punter’s Club last weekend, and collected most of the nearest the pins as well. After being let down a bit on the front, he managed the back three over, and fitted nicely into third place. There was quite a gaggle to fill fourth with Harry, CJ, JQ, and SOS all finishing with seventy-three, while AndrewV brought up the rear of the points table.
The Nearest the Pins all went off. The jackpot ProPin on the 12th looked to be all but unbeatable when Harry blithely measured the distance to Pepsi at 0.95m only to be reminded that that was actually Pepsi’s second shot. The distance to Brendon’s first shot turned out to be 2.755m, which Brendon opined would not hold. There were a couple of close calls, but it did, and he collected today’s money, plus the $6 carried over from last week. AndrewV was probably pretty confident about the security of his claim on the BallPin on the 15th, but he hadn’t counted on SteveG who collected the ball, and added a birdie to our tally of nine. Craig was the only one to get onto the 18th for the Jackpot on offer there.
Harry thought his long putt for par on the 3rd should have rated a mention for one of the shots of the day as it ran true and hit the pin dead centre. Although, if it hadn’t done so, it could easily have been off the green. Another long putt of note was from Porks on the 18th, where he had taken three strokes to get to about 6m from the hole. Sinking that saved us from having to do a count-back for the Medal. Craig was pretty cranky with himself for striking the wrong ball on the 13th, although there were other ‘sins’ that didn’t help his score either. Pepsi started to show signs of the putting yips down at the Punter’s Club, which he put down to some of the excesses involved. However, they continued today, but he did spend time at the GP yesterday. Although the compulsory play rule for the Matchplay was waived, and most people opted to exercise that right, Marc and SteveG agreed that they would continue as planned. The result looked to be fairly nip and tuck for the first nine holes, but Steve suffered a bit of a lapse at the start of the back, and, by the 14th the match was dormie 4 in favour of Marc. Steve’s birdie on the 15th was a win to make dormie 3, and he needed to keep winning to bring the match to a chip-off after the 18th. A loss at the 16th brought the match to an end 4 and 2 in Marc’s favour. The Calendar will be reworked, and play in the event will resume, probably next week.
Results for Saturday, 07 Mar 2026
1st Ryan Porker (67) 2nd Brendon Mitchell (68) 3rd Matt Hunt (71) 4th Harry Boughen (73) 4th Chris Priems (73) 4th John Quinlan (73) 4th Stephen O’Sullivan (73) 5th Andrew Vogan (74)
Seniors Results: 1st Matt Hunt (71) 2nd Harry Boughen (73) 2nd Chris Priems (73) 3rd Andrew Vogan (74)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Brendon Mitchell BallPin No 1 – 15th Steven Gervasoni BallPin No 2 – 18th Craig Cameron
Eagle’s Nest Results: Eagle – 14th Ryan Porker