People were wondering how wet under foot the course would be today. If the rain forecast for the coming week comes to pass, there is little doubt as to how wet it will be next week. The management have even taken to laying out great swatches of plastic ‘duck-boards’ in selected areas to try to minimise the damage by carts. Of course, another option would be to ban carts for the interim. Despite all this, we had fifteen people venture out to try their hand. There were twelve members, with the numbers being bolstered by three guests. Dan brought along Rick (aka James), Nalin brought along Shab, and CJ brought along Jake. Jake’s round did not get off to a great start, as his drive from the first barely made it off the tee peg, and trickled down into the garden bed in front. He went close to repeating the performance on the second, and by the sixth, he had managed to score as many as two points. He then managed to birdie the 7th for four points which seems to have lifted his spirits more than somewhat. Another birdie on the 11th helped him to a total of twenty-six points over the final twelve holes. The membership could only manage two birdies between to lot of us.
Michael was exhorting JQ to give Matt a towelling, if not a four iron, to try to keep some interest in the remains of the Championship. JQ heeded the call, and set about making a pretty good job considering the conditions on offer. He didn’t feature in the birdie count, but he did manage to score ten pars on his way to thirty-eight points, a clear win to take the top spot on the table, and to cement his position at the top of the Order of Merit. Harry was a bit cheesed with his start to the round, particularly after a tap-in putt on the first, didn’t. However, from the third hole one he scored pretty steadily, made the highest points on the back nine, and finished the round reasonably happy with the result. Brendon had dashed off to some important happening like a basketball game or a ballet performance, so there was little commentary on his very steady performance to share second place.
Dan took a bit of a towelling on the handicap front recently (when he didn’t qualify for points in the event), but that seems to have worried him little. Despite three gashes on the card, he still managed to come home into a tie for third. Pepsi also managed a gash on his, but his main complaint seemed to be about the quality of SOS’s vision. Seems that SOS stepped on Pepsi’s line on a green, and when reminded to take a little more care, SOS retorted – well if you would get a decent sized marker! Turns out, Pepsi’s ball was still on the green. Now, here’s where things get interesting. At the call of the cards, Nalin had fourth place on his own, and there was much glee in the ranks when Matt looked like being limited to just a single point. However, a poor correction to the points record led to an arithmetic error, and Nalin then had to share fourth place with Prez and Matt. This will just add salt to the wound caused by missing an Eagle putt on the 17th. Matt did mark Rob’s card, but there is no hint of collusion as they played in a three with JQ. Prez was claiming some bragging rights about his second shot on the 7th from the tree-line on the right, over the protruding greenery to stop about half a metre from the hole, and a par. Raj will undoubtedly accept the point that was gifted to him.
The ProPin was a Jackpot from last week on the 4th hole. It promised to be tough again with the soft ground offering little in the way of run if you were short, as CJ found out on his approach shot. As the last group walked up to the green and eyed the position of the shot marker, there was an almost universal estimate that it was further than 5m from the hole. Even pacing the distance did not settle the question. So a check measure was made, and, sure enough, the distance was 4.8m as dutifully recorded against Prez’s name. When it was suggested that Prez might shout, big brother opined that he wouldn’t shout if a shark bit him. The first BallPin was on the 15th, and Matty tried to close it out from the first group, but, he didn’t count on Pepsi who managed to get just a little bit closer. Harry was pin high and maybe a little closer, but not on the dance-floor, so no cigar. Dan managed to leave his ball teetering on the brink of the apron slope on the 18th to take out the BallPin there. When asked how he had managed to pull it up there, it came out that the ball had actually run back down from the upper deck, so, possibly, even more miraculous.
In case you are wondering about Rick/James, as Prez was preparing to do the call of the cards, he checked with Big Brother for the names of the two guests. He should have known better because BB pranked him something fierce. The Birthday Birdie is going to be busy over the next week, with visits to Ken, Brendon, ChrisV and JQ.
Results for Saturday, 08 Aug 2026
1st John Quinlan (38) 2nd Harry Boughen (35) 2nd Brendon Mitchell (35) 3rd Dan Marie (34) 3rd Andrew Petricola (34) 4th Matt Hunt (31) 4th Robert Priems (31) 4th Nalin Samaranayake (31) 5th Rajesh Mahto (30)
Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen (35) 2nd Matt Hunt (31) 2nd Robert Priems (31) 3rd Chris Priems (29)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 4th Robert Priems BallPin No 1 – 15th Andrew Petricola BallPin No 2 – 18th Dan Marie