SOS Golf: CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP, ROUND 5

A cold and crisp morning soon gave way to warm sunshine, and the relatively late tee-off time meant that we were peeling off the sweaters before the game even started.

Did the unseasonably pleasant conditions give rise to excellent golf?

Not, it has to be said, in all cases.

Shelley distributes the rules

However, by the time we finished, the temperature had reached a spring-like 20 degrees, and we all decamped without further ado, in anticipation of the later revels at Lot Six Zero. More of that later.

Peter practising the 'near miss'

Derek's second shot on the first, from just past the ladies..

...and Earle (in the background) on the second, lining up for his second

It was, of course, the fifth round of the Club Championships. A stroke competition on the old course, always a fine test of skill, a sorting of the sheep from the goats.

Vickie considers her options

Six groups of four, where we welcomed back Carol and Keith from their European adventure. Apparently there was a fair bit of golf involved, although much of it appeared to have been spent sheltering from hail and sleet behind Keith’s arctic-standard umbrella.

Great to be back in a Perth winter, rather than an English summer

Carol noted that they revisited a course where they had spent their honeymoon - an episode which she recalls as having predominantly been spent searching for golf balls. Keith laconically observed that there had been little else to do at the time.

We also heard that Vickie had lost her credit card, and she asks that if anyone has one that they’re not using very much, she’d be happy to look after it for you.

James indicating which of his shoulders is the dickie one

She's back!

The novelties? With Mark Wilson in the first group, not surprising that his name featured frequently in despatches. We notice that he did, however, fail to get a mention on the women’s longest drive - about the only way we can keep him off every card. However, some careful play by Brett sees him with two of the five prizes on offer.

Hole	Novelty	Contenders	Winner

8	Longest Drive Men	Mark	4D
17	Longest Drive Women	Vickie	Kerry
15	NTP in 3	Shelley, Mark Puggy	Gary
6	NTP		Keith
10	NTP in 2	Mark , Puggy, Lynley	4D
Golden Hole			None

Gerry in a spot of bother

No problem!

Birdies were few and far between, although anecdotally there seem to have been a number of near misses, and the usual putting for birdie - ending with bogey experiences.

Gardy on the 4^th

Gary on the 9^th

and Brett on the 2^nd

And perhaps at the other end of the spectrum, a sprinkling of golfers taking advantage of the mercy rule, and carding a 10 on holes that just weren’t working out for them.

I'm going to study these

After a quick dash home for hair and makeup, while choosing outfits in which we didn’t look fat, we made our way to Lot Six Zero for the festivities associated with International Night. You were either there, in which case you enjoyed the fun and know all about what happened, or you weren’t, in which case you aren’t really interested, so just a brief outline:

The food was excellent, with great variety and something to suit everyone’s taste. Much enjoyed was the event where Brett auctioned off stakes in the match-play finalists, accompanied by good-natured sledging of the golfers involved. Many people were involved in making the evening such a success, but special mention must be made of Shelley and her team, and a huge thanks to Glen and Lindsay for making this fantastic venue available. And interestingly, the number 25 winning on the raffle, exactly the same number as last week. Expect to pay slightly more for number 25 next week.

The going rate for the finalists are as follows - the successful bidders should send their bid amounts to the SOS account (not the booking account) ASAP. Clearly some of the horses (sorry, golfers) are better backed than others, belying the seeding positions .

Finalist	Price	Odds

Puggy	300	4/1
Maureen	200	6/1
Earle	150	8/1
Greg	140	9/1
Gary	140	9/1
Roland	120	10/1
Barry	120	10/1
Peter	80	16/1

A short-priced favourite, while very good odds were available on a dark horse candidate. Expect some ‘horse-trading’ of those bids after next weeks quarter finals, when remaining fillies will become much more valuable.

Perhaps at this stage it’s better not to reveal who owns the various bids, but look out for some unlikely benefactors subsidising your oats and veterinary bills over the next couple of weeks.

And that’s it. If the fixtures are to be believed, next week it’s the Matchplay Quarter Finals on the Tuart, while the rest of us will probably be playing Stableford. Phew.

Enjoy these pictures, from our night of nights...thanks to all the contributors.