THE WINTER CUP - ROUND TWO

Round Two - The Winter Cup

Winter? Blue skies and a very balmy 20°.

Yes, that’s right – a typical Perth winter’s day.

New clubs, Earle?

The Round One leaders eyed each other cautiously.

Colin, Faye, Karl and Goochy all sitting on competitive scores.

Who would crack under pressure?

Who could hold their nerve?

No more warm ups for a while

Tee-off on the Tuart at a very reasonable 10:00 am - no need for the alarm clock.

Boris a late sign-up, having forgotten to book in on Wednesday,

Group one led the day off, with two big hitters in Hilly and Goochy, while Derek and Earle made sure the nearer regions of the fairway weren’t neglected.

Well that's a fine mess we've got ourselves into

There were claims of slow play, and counter-claims of being held up by members of the public ahead, but expect tension when a trophy of this magnitude is at stake.

Vickie was relaxed throughout, having won the trophy last year, and thus being assured of perpetual qualification for the Master’s trophy. (Or perhaps Mistresses’ trophy in her case?)

As holder of the trophy, Vickie has taken to
driving around with it on top of her car for the past year

Group two reported that they had plenty of laughs, while hooning around in their carts.

Hooning? Us?

Not a huge crop of birdies – Lynley and Derek on the third, Earle and Puggy on the tenth.

The novelties:

No luck on either of the Golden Holes.

Nearest in two on the fifth went to Mark Hill.

Men’s longest drive, had Derek, followed by Peter, but trumped by Roland,

And the ladies’ longest drive was collected by Frances.

Nearest the pin on the 18^th, had Dave Millar’s name written all over it.

At the afters, Andrea deputised for Gerry.

She noted that Karl is in the process of organising the Country Cup, which will take place on the Sunday after the Grand Final. (Which Grand Final, you ask? Come on!)

While Derek’s birthday was also acknowledged.  

Birthday this week

The results for the day were announced.

A steady round from Frances was enough to win today,

While Peter had the obvious excuse for his poor performance – he had had the misfortune to receive a lesson this week from a golf professional. Of course he was going to have a shocker - doesn’t that always happen?

Training for Match Play

However, he did dock himself two strokes for having struck his own buggy with the ball. As Lynley points out, there is no longer a penalty for that.

Not that it would have resulted in much of a climb up the leaderboard.

Which left only the calculation of the trophy winner.

Aggregate scores were as follows:

Gary 153

Faye 151

Andrea 150

Puggy 150

Colin 145

Which puts Colin five strokes clear, an overwhelming victory, and remarkably 37 years since the last time he won the same trophy. Clearly some sort of record.

Well clear of the field

Congratulations, Colin.

Next week, we have the quarter finals of the Match Play championship, with Stableford for everyone else.

Karl will be in charge, and Peter will do the blog. 

Now thought for the day: 

 
See you next week!

THE WINTER CUP - ROUND 1

 The first round of the 43rd playing of The Winter Cup this year was on The Old course with a very respectable tee time of 10.12 allowing for breakfast to be taken at a civilized hour without fear of indigestion. 

Some concerns were raised however concerning a late tee off and its implication in finding a parking place in what has become a major issue at Wembley and a legacy of having such a great facility. However, the Armageddon like weather forecast put paid too that, and there were no parking issues. 

The anticipated foul weather did however see a greatly reduced field of just 15 registering to play, regardless of what the weather gods may throw at them. Things looked ominous just prior to tee off with a heavy shower causing a group huddle under the awning outside the Pro Shop. By the time the first group prepared to tee off the rain had stopped and miraculously stayed away for the entire round, reinforcing that there is a golf God.

Should Wembley invest in one of these?

Despite the small field some of the game's best were there. The notables being last year's champion, Vickie Scarff, the 1988 champion Colin Kerr, 2009 champion Earle Scarff, 2013 & 2015 champion Garry Burgess and the 2023 champion Tony Gooch.

Your blogger failed to take any pre-game photos and offers apologies for this oversight. Likewise, there were apparently no Spots of Bovver to reports either. There was however a work in progress happening on the 17th fairway where Vickie has commenced construction of what appears to be a new bunker. 

Vickie looking a little disheartened with her handiwork on the 17th fairway - from small things big things grow.

Two of Vickie's playing partners suggested she should have "dialed before she dug". "Vickie's Crater" was substantial, but when compared to some of the maestro's, that bunker is going to take a some time for her to complete. We'll check in on progress when we next play The Old.

We've all seen the sign on the pathway leading from the 13th green to the 14th tee on the Tuart. The photo of Greg following, catching his breath before teeing off on the 15th, suggests a similar sign needs to be placed on the pathway leading to the 15th on The Old. 

Phew!!!!

 There was no trouble finding somewhere to sit at the post-match presentations

 

THE RUNDOWN

In summary Earle had a day he'd rather forget, the ladies had a day out and took off first and third place with Faye backing up her great play of the previous week, and our 1988 past champion made his presence felt with a very impressive par round following a back massage the previous day.

First & Second place getters

THE NOVELTIES

Hole # 2, The Golden Hole 1 - Club

Hole # 4, Longest Drive (Men & Women) - Gary

Hole # 9, Nearest in Two - Mick Fisher followed by Roland

Hole # 10, Nearest in Two - Andrea followed by Puggy

Hole # 16, Golden Hole 2 - Club

Hole # 18, Closest 3rd Shot - Kerry, followed by Gary, followed by Andrea followed by Goochy

BIRDIES

Andrea on the 1st

Glenn K on the 11th

Due to reduced numbers there was no raffle, however the squealing (please note the correct spelling) pig didn't disappoint and made an appearance.

THE AUCTION UDATE

The auction night last Saturday at Peters by the Sea was a great success where the Match Play auction raised $1,290 and the auction of donated items raised a further $800 for the club (out of which came the expenses for the night)

"THE GREAT WINE HEIST"

An unexpected offshoot of last week's auction night was the clubs first "Wine Heist" (please note this is intended to be tongue in cheek).

Earle has asked the members who were at Peters By the sea last Saturday to put on their thinking caps to ascertain the whereabouts of the bottle of red wine that mysteriously disappeared.

Earle brought to the function a magnificent 2009 Warrabillah Durif, purchased on one of Earle and Vickie's wine/golf holidays in the Murray River region, problem was the wine has a cork, and the restaurant had lost their corkscrew, so it remained on the table unopened.

It disappeared when Earle went to get his car which was close by, to give Peter Baird a lift to his car which was about a km away.

Now Earle drank various other persons wine on the night, so it needs to be drunk, but by multiple SOS members, not one.

 So, whoever took the wine, obviously by mistake, needs to fess up, and the wine can be reserved for a future club function.

 Earle has told the committee that a Royal Commission is an overkill, but CCTV from the function centre is a viable option to investigate the whereabouts of the wine.

Return of the wine or a suitable replacement next Saturday is required to avoid an inquisition!!

NEXT WEEK

The second and deciding round of The Winters Cup will be played on The Tuart course with a 10.04 tee off allowing once more for a leisurely start, and plenty of time for pre-game practice.

The forecast at this stage is almost identical to yesterdays but without the benefit of the "Weather Forecasting Stone" BOM's forecast, as we know, proved wildly inaccurate. So, please don't let the possibility of showers deter you from registering to play

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

What are big days on the SOS calendar?

Club Championship Days.

Match Play Auction Days.

To have both on the same day? Amazing.

A bit like when Christmas and Easter fall on the same day. (Apparently not a common event)

Stroke play, of course, and a few disasters to spoil otherwise good scores.

No excuses for the weather - it was absolutely perfect.

The novelties featured a number of the usual suspects:

Longest Drive on the 4^th went to Mark Hill.

Nearest in 2 on the 10^th, Hilly had his name on it, but it went to Pug Dog.

Nearest the bunker on the 14^th, Hilly again but outpointed by Shelley.

Nearest in 3 on the 18^th, Gardy, beaten by Colin.

Neither of the Golden Holes were claimed this week.

Birthdays were celebrated this week by David Williamson and Tony Gooch.

Hope you both had a chance to enjoy yourselves.

The results

A three-way tie for second place, Keith losing out on countback.

Pictures from Gary of a Whistlng Kite on the 4th last week. Great shots.

After the game today, we got tidied up and made our way to Peters by the Sea, for the Match Play Auction.

We mingled with the trendy crowd at the Scarborough beach, where we were probably mistaken for Health Inspectors or undercover police in mufti. The free drinks and finger foods were enjoyed, and thanks to Andrea, Frances, Carol and Puggy for making it all happen, and of course Brett for his auctioneering skills.

Our very own Master of the Mallet auctioned some excellent gifts, warmly donated by members - thanks to all those very generous souls. The proceeds will go to enhancing our enjoyment at the annual Gala Dinner.

So, how did the Match Play Auction itself go? Spirited bidding for the favourite seeds, and some bargains available on the less fancied horses. With a notional 8/1 chance for the winner, with payouts for the minor placings as well, all the successful bidders were getting pretty good odds.

So what did they go for:

Barry	$110
Peter	$100
Keith	$210
Roland	$140
Pug Dog	$130
Steph	$200
Gerry	$150
Goochy	$250

 

So, heavy betting on Goochy, Steph and Keith. We’ll see whether the punters got it right on August 12^th, the day of the final.

There was a mega-raffle with $200 in prizes, well-done those winners, and well-played everyone.

 We understand (but were not present to witness) that many members partied on at the karaoke bar until the small hours - we stand in admiration of your stamina.

A great evening all round, and one of those things that SOS does so well. The benefits of membership spread well beyond the golf course,

Thanks to Birgit, Paul B and Gary for your great photographs this week. 

Next week - first round of the Winter Cup on the Old Course at 10:12. The latest tee time of the year (and yes, the days are already getting longer. Surely you’ve noticed).

We understand that current holder Vickie will be defending her title! 

If you weren't there last night, here's a taste of what you missed:

Shelley and Barry's auction items waiting for their Uber home.