“Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—…” there were two Captains. No, one wasn’t called Ahab, in search of a great white whale. They were both called Priems, in search of a great silver cup. However, today, we had to be satisfied with just one Real Priems and one Unreal Priems (to whit, Pepsi, who was standing in for CJ, who was unable to extricate himself from the thumb that he was under). The morning started out cool, though it felt colder, and it only felt worse as the wind picked up as the morning progressed. By the 10th, the cloud had thickened, and Ken started to mutter about getting his wet weather gear out. His prognostication was just a little off the mark, as the first drops only appeared as the AGM was winding up and the barbecue was being cleaned down after the lunch. The equipment yard/lunch venue has a wide selection of poultices and potions stored in IBCs, drums and bags, which might help to explain the improving look of the fairways and greens under the care of the new greenkeeper. Though the fact that you almost could take relief from casual water on the 15th tee was a bit of a downer when there was a fair chance that there were better tee spots available. A turnout of sixteen members was a good result, and we look forward to a bigger and better crowd for the second round of the PC later in the year.
The members of the two teams were evenly distributed through the field so that the last cards to come in could be just as important to the result as the first. Despite this, the Unreal Priems started to call the result with barely half of the votes counted. As it turned out, the last four cards were pretty much evenly split between the two teams on a points basis, and so, made little difference to the result, and the early call that TeamCJ (under the captaincy of the Unreal Priems), had taken the day turned out to be accurate. A couple of scoring errors (changed indices/missed two stroke allowances) meant that the margin increased slightly, from the announced result (237 to 215) to an actual TeamCJ (239) defeated TeamRob (215). Rob will have to do some serious coaching in the meantime in preparation for Round 2 with a fair bit of ground to catch up.
Brendon completed the first nine holes just three strokes over the card. The second nine looked to be going just as well, if not even better. Did the handbrake come on? From one under the card after six to five over after nine? Should the Club Captain be looking into this? Despite the ‘collapse’, a card with 35 points to the good was enough to take the day, and to wrestle himself clear of the log-jam at the top of the Order of Merit. Craig made five single pointers on his way to second place just the one point off the pace which suggests there were plenty of opportunities that might have gone begging. However, Marc had one more singleton and a miss on his way to match Craig’s score suggesting that, he too, could easily have been rather higher placed than he was.
SteveG had as many gashes as Craig had singletons, but he compensated with a swag of four pointers and three pointers to finish just a point further back. One of the four pointers was for a birdie on the 12th, which was the first BallPin. His tee shot finished a mere 300mm from the hole, and the birdie was one of seven for the day. The only other contender for the ball on the 12th was JQ, who just about needed a cut lunch, his ball was so far from the hole. Blighty managed to sneak up into 4th place, that he shared with Matt on thirty-two points. Matt made it to that level of scoring because of an eagle on the 14th. Now, versions of how this was achieved are many and varied, ranging from, he duffed it off the tee and hit it 200m, to, he drove to 40m and pitched it in from there. In his own words, 50degree wedge, lofted onto the green two hops and spun back into the hole. Believe that, if you like! Pepsi collected the last point for the day.
Matt and AndrewV wanted to get their match done and dusted and opted to play today. With eight strokes in his pocket, Andrew got off to a good start and zipped away to be three up after seven holes. Maybe the lead went to his head, but the form abandoned him for a while and, by the 11th, the match was back to all square. Matt kept the pressure up, and he was two up after fifteen. Andrew ‘wasted’ one of his shots on the 16th by winning it outright and just needed to repeat the performance on the 17th to be square on the 18th. Did the pressure tell? Three chips to get onto the green tolled the death knell, and Matt took the match 2 and 1. Don’t forget, matchplay is now compulsory. There is some time between now and 20 June, but don’t dawdle. Time has a habit of getting away.
The ProPin today was on the 15th and nobody made the winner’s circle, and the sixteen will start the pool for next week. The BallPIn on the 18th went to AndrewV with a shot to 16.5m. It will be interesting to see if that holds for the ProShop comp.
Rob played a shot from the 17th tee that was heading for a swim in the Yarra, Typical Priems, it hit a tree and came back into play. Poetic justice, or not? He sprayed the next on into the penalty area, so it got wet any way. Raj took the trophy for the shanks today, which prevented him from scoring better. One of his shanks was from the 12th tee into the penalty area. He played a provisional, but did find his first ball, and decided to play it from where it lay rather than take the penalty. He blasted it out, and the ball finished on the green almost within gimme distance. Sank the putt for an ‘easy’ par. Ken had some problems with trees today, particularly on the 3rd, although they did keep him in play, if not in scoring. His hard luck story however was on the 8th, where he left a putt a few centimetres short. The ‘little’ tap-in was a little firm, a little off line, made a little contact with the pin, made a little contact with the lip of the cup and made a little spin out of the hole. The Birthday Birdie has a little fluttering to do this week with a visit to SOS, who will undoubtedly be out partying during the week though, maybe, he partied enough in Cambodia.
Results for Saturday, 11 Apr 2026
1st Brendon Mitchell (35) 2nd Craig Cameron (34) 2nd Marc Phillips (34) 3rd Steven Gervasoni (33) 4th Andrew Blight (32) 4th Matt Hunt (32) 5th Andrew Petricola (31)
Priems Cup Results: TeamChris {Andrew Petricola (31), Matt Hunt (32), Ryan Porker (27), Marc Phillips (34), Harry Boughen (30), Bob McDonald (19), Craig Cameron (34), Andrew Blight (32)} 239 def TeamRob {Robert Priems (25), Rajesh Mahto (30), Andrew Vogan (27), Brendon Mitchell (35), Gordon Hill (18), Ken Watson (17), Steven Gervasoni (33), John Quinlan (30)} 215
Seniors Results: 1st Craig Cameron (34) 2nd Steven Gervasoni (33) 3rd Andrew Blight (32) 3rd Matt Hunt (32)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 12th Steven Gervasoni BallPin No 2 – 18th Andrew Vogan
Eagle’s Nest Results: Eagle – 14th Matt Hunt