BENKERR CUP ROUND 2

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We had a couple of absentees last week. They were clearly having much more fun than we were, sampling the Parisian bienvenue!

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Meanwhile the second round of the BenKerr Cup.

Gary indicates his credentials as a ROW player

Apparently there's a plaque in downtown Kilmarnok

An illegal alien, from planet Burgessia

Remember Round #1, when the ROW thrashed the Aussies, who put up the weakest of challenges?

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Would the tables be turned today?

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Would the Aussies come good, and respond with a game-changing total?

Who's that in the background?

Or would the ROW continue their dominance, and trounce the lacklustre green and gold?

Shake hands, and may the best team win

Wait and see.

Peter warms up with the Swing-o-matic

Good to see Birgit back after a long lay off.

ROW, in case you were wondering

The weather? Unremarkable, pleasant, not hot, and a little breezy at times.

Picture postcard perfect over here

The rough is getting rougher, and the fairways could do with a bit of mowing here and there.

Peter prepares to take his second shot, once Lynley has teed off

The grass in the trees is dying off, so fewer lost balls today.

Watchful tree on the 8th

The greens seemed slowish - given the number of putts that never made the distance, or perched on the edge.

Scores were surprisingly good - only four golfers failed to get into the thirties, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Birgit would like to point out that
she outdrove Gerry on the first

Tomorrow, Glen Pope has a birthday.

Boris celebrates his birthday on Tuesday

To celebrate, Glen has very kindly agreed to make Lot 60 available for our end of year dinner function, which will be on November 25^th. Details will, of course, follow in due course.

Reinstating an old favourite - whose feet are these? 
Answer at the end

Lynne, Lynley and Shelley returned from Queenstown, where they met with Shelley Skinner, who used to play with the group. She sends best wishes to all her friends at SOS, and hopes to maybe join us again at some time in the future.

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We decamped to Perry Lakes for a sausage sizzle after the game.

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Always a popular event.

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Many thanks to Carol for organising - did a great job, and came up with an excellent bean dish to go with the sausages.

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Thanks also to Frances, Earle, and Goochy for their contributions to the general bonhomie.

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Carol and Keith had to hurry to get to their reptile party.

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A quick change into their costumes, and they were off.

Introducing Isobel to the delights of SOS

And the golf?

Novelties as follows:

NTP on the 2^nd, Keith, who went on to birdie, edged out by Popey, who also birdied this par 3.

Men’s longest drive on the 7^th, Earle, then Andrea sailed past but for obvious reasons fails to qualify, Paul Cooper, then Mark Hill.

Paul shows Boris exactly what he's doing wrong

Ladies longest drive, Frances got her name on the marker, but Lynley bettered her, and that’s how it stayed.

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NTP in three on the 12^th, only one name, Keith, and it was pretty damned close, too.

And nearest to the bunker on the 14^th, goes to Boris, who admitted that it was with his second shot, but no-one says it has to be off the tee - and fair enough too.

Birdies abounded today,

Keith 2

Popey 2

Lynley 4, 7

Gary 15

Brett 13, 15

Lynne 8

Goochy 10

Mark Smith 8

Nuria wins the raffle. Again.

The individual scores looked like this:

 

Gerry and Birgit on the same score - should ensure domestic harmony. Perhaps other partners could take the hint.

Our leaders today. Congratulations

Which, adding up the teams scores and calculating an average means that the Aussies came home with an exceptional score of 34.09, beating the ROW, who only managed 32.46

Calculators at the ready

HOWEVER - it is a two week competition, which means the final scores are as follows:

Australia              62.275

ROW                      63.531

A result that couldn’t be closer, ROW take home the BenKerr Cup by a whisker!

Inspired captaincy!

 

 

Whose feet? Did you get it?

Next week - according to the fixtures list it's a stroke competition on the Tuart for the Masters trophy and Stableford for those who don't qualify. Tee off at 7:24 again. 

BENKERR CUP

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The first round of the BenKerr Cup, that knockabout contest between the forces of evil (ie the Rest of the World) and the good guys (Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi).

Aussie through and through

Unfortunately, the prospect of a hard-fought tussle seemed too much for a number of the Aussies, who declined to participate, leaving the ROW with the numbers.

Jeez, they've got the numbers on us

However, since the day was to be decided on the basis of the average score, rather than the aggregate, the Aussies might have been better off to just put forward one champion golfer who could guarantee a score in the high thirties.

A strategy that seems to have escaped them this time.

Aussies feeling confident

ROW still not sure about their flag

We welcomed back Andrew and Gemma, Stephanie and Bernie, Mark, Mark and anyone else who hasn’t been around for a bit.

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Birthdays this week for twins Frances and Boris on the 24^th.

Their horoscope says it all:

October 24 Scorpios have great magnetism. In love with life, they possess a highly romantic and sensual nature. People born on this date are talented as well as fiercely competitive. While they have a haughty disposition, they are nicer than they appear.

Can’t argue with that.

Three of the Aussies team doing the James Bond thing in the Land of the Long White Cloud, flying round the mountains in their own private helicopter.

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About to storm the villain’s alpine hideaway.

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Then on to the ice bar, for a vodka martini, shaken not stirred of course.

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I gather there was also some golf involved - no doubt in the course of chasing Goldfinger across the greens.

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The weather at Wembley? Overcast and sultry, with the threat (unrealised) of rain. With an early start, we missed the heat that made the afternoon less pleasant.

Desperate situation calls for desperate measures...

...my nice new putter!

Nice to finish early, although the price of the early finish was a 5:30 alarm in the morning. Shouldn’t have stayed up watching movies until midnight.

The spring grass is beginning to die off, so it was a little easier to find those stray balls today.

Golf balls up. One ball being played on the 7th, the other on the 8th!

The dugites stayed out of the way, no close encounters recorded this week. Earle hit a birdy on the 9^th. It wasn’t very happy.

Oi!

Frances shook the hands of her playing partners after 17 holes, having lost count of the number of holes at some point, or counted that wiped hole twice. An easy mistake to make.

Rubbish. I was just congratulating Andrea on a good putt.

Plenty of birdies today, and an eagle!

Don on 8

Gary on 6

Glen on 15 and 16

Mark Wilson on 1 and 13,

Fordy on 7,

Mark Hill on 4 and 9, with an eagle on 15!

Not content with the eagle, he also won the raffle!!

Disappointing that drawing the number 69 didn't really cause a stir. Where are you Pugdog when we need you?

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Three balls in the same bunker. Good team golf!

A lengthy discussion ensued as to strategy

The novelties were hard-fought as usual:

The Golden Hole remains unclaimed

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Tight spot for Andrew on the 17th

Men’s longest drive on the 7^th, Keith with a very nice drive but outpointed by Fordy, who managed to drive the green and ended up about three metres from the pin!

Gerry has subsequently challenged this result, on the basis that longest drives must be on the fairway, not the green. The Supreme Court is considering at this stage, their determination will be crucial in deciding the future of this novelty. 

Ladies longest drive on the 16^th, Andrea edged out by Stephanie

Nearest in 3 on the 10^th: Paul Cooper, beaten by Gary who almost birdied it.

Nearest on the 18^th, Derek, edged out by Mark Wilson.

Moving right along...

And so, to the individual results:

	Gemma	17	ROW
	Earle	18	AUS
	Gim	24	ROW
	Greg	26	AUS
	Barry	27	ROW
	Goochie	28	AUS
	Bernie	30	ROW
	Don	31	ROW
	Mark S	31	AUS
	Andrew	31	ROW
	Andrea	31	ROW
	Gary	32	AUS
	Mark H	32	AUS
	Brett	33	AUS
	Paul C	33	ROW
	Frances	33	AUS
	Mark W	34	ROW
	Stephanie	34	ROW
	Keith	36	ROW
	Derek	36	ROW
	Glen Pope	39	ROW

 

Three Pommie Protagonists leading the way

Top 5 places on the leader board taken by the ROW, leaving the state of play after one round as follows:

ROW                      31.07

Australia              28.185

Plenty to do for the Aussies, that’s quite a lead for this format.

Steph finally collects her trophy. So proud!

Thanks to Gemma, Frances and Andrew for a great selection of photographs of the golf, and Lynne, Shelley and Lynley for the exciting stuff.

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Next week - round 2 of the Cup, then a barbecue afterwards at Perry Lakes - don’t hang around at Wembley, get straight down there.