There was a certain amount of speculation last week as to whether a catchup of seven points was within the realms of possibility as that was the margin covering the likely eligible field after the first round. A delve into the Fount of All Knowledge (aka website Statistics menu) shows that it is, indeed, possible. Mehmet Akdag, managed to turn a nine point/stroke gap into a win in the 2012 Stuart Clarke Memorial. The next best catchup was six with a swag of contenders, so the conclusion is that seven might be pushing it a bit.
The Bureau promised a 30% chance of rain, but only small totals if any. Nalin was calculating the odds, and predicted that we would play 14 holes in the dry. There were a couple of mizzles before then, but the only significant (inconvenient) shower came after the fifteenth. The course was blessed with preferred lies, and that was much appreciated, as the mud was particularly tacky, and there were several reports of plugged balls, particularly around the greens. Thirteen members, and CJ’s mate Peter, took on the task of completing the second round of the Fred Howe Winter Cup (or not, as the case may be).
The scores today fell into two distinct groups, brilliant and below average. First, let’s have a look at the better half. The round of the day would have to go to that soft-handed surgeon, Dan, who absolutely blitzed the course to card a personal best of 77 off the stick for a massive forty-four points. Would that have been enough to snag a catchup gong if he had been in the running for the major? Unfortunately not, he would have had to be only four strokes behind the leader to have beaten the eventual winner.
Last week, our tipster-in-chief made a couple of prognostications. The first was that CJ could win. He failed on that count. The second was that, if CJ didn’t win, then SOS would. In that case, he got it just right. Rumour has it that SOS has been getting in some quiet coaching in recent times, and that seems to have stood him in good stead today. He managed a very commendable twenty-one points on the front nine, and, if it hadn’t been for a miss and a singleton on the back he could easily have challenged the heady heights attained by Dan. He did reckon that Pepsi and Matt were trying to put him off by chatting away while he was taking shots. His forty-one points propelled him to the top spot in the event, leaving all and sundry in the wake of his seventy-five overall. His winning margin of 12 strokes/points matched the equal best so far.
SOS was also ten clear of the next best scores of the day with the leaders of the below average group being Brendon, JQ and Nalin. However, Matt only needed twenty-seven points to secure himself second place and yet another first in the Seniors where he looks to be building up an unassailable lead. Brendon, JQ and Pepsi lobbed into third place with sixty-one points. Brendon and JQ did it with identical totals on both days while Pepsi suffered badly after five gashes on the trot on the back nine. He can’t blame to greens as he was saying how good they were after the round. CJ was threatening to give his clubs away after today’s performance, though it was suggested that it was probably the nut on the end of the shaft that was the problem. He’ll take the points going for fourth place, though. Raj and Rob finished out the points allocation. Rob was apparently helped on at least one occasion by a typical Priems tree-return-to-play.
The first BallPin was on the 7th, and Harry cracked a beauty that was right on line, but a couple metres short of repeating his previous moment of glory there. He didn’t make the birdie, and we could only come up with four for the day. Two of those were down to Nalin, who was testing out a new driver, which might need a little more work, although some shots were right up to standard. The ProPin on the 15th was a double Jackpot with lots of moolah on offer. JQ put in a valiant effort to just over four metres, but he was well outdone by Peter, who rocked in with 3.49m. CJ reckoned that the money should be his, as he put in the money to pay for Peter’s entry. Nalin scored the BallPin on the 18th, although Brendon reckoned that he would have had it, if not for the amount of backspin causing his to suck back too far.
Stan turned up for the barbeque, and he is looking and feeling well. He has been getting in a few holes at Heidelberg with some mates, and played a full nine yesterday. He reckons he will be back on deck in a week or two to show us how it is done. On the new club front, Ken has a new five wood, and rumour has it that he could be sleeping with it tonight, he loves it so much. Perhaps not the same feeling for his driver which alternated between smash and shank just about all day. He also managed a nice little chip in on the second to score himself a three pointer.
By the way, Stan has discovered a left-hand Ping three wood in his bag. If anybody is missing such a club, contact Stan, and he will happily return it.
Results for Saturday, 25 Jul 2026
1st Stephen O’Sullivan (34, 41, 75) 2nd Matt Hunt (36, 27, 63) 3rd Brendon Mitchell (30, 31, 61) 3rd Andrew Petricola (36, 25, 61) 3rd John Quinlan (30, 31, 61) 4th Chris Priems (33, 27, 60) 5th Rajesh Mahto (29, 27, 56) 5th Robert Priems (30, 26, 56)
Seniors Results: 1st Matt Hunt (36,27,63) 2nd Chris Priems (33,27,60) 3rd Robert Priems (30,26,56)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Peter Stevens BallPin No 1 – 7th Harry Boughen BallPin No 2 – 18th Nalin Samaranayake