16 August 2024
Report courtesy of Rob Manton
Round 6 of the Senior Interclub Season saw RAGC’s elite senior golfers take on Kooyonga at The Grange (West) in a match that was as inconsequential as a 2024 AFL contest between Richmond and North Melbourne. Now, before readers fire up too much about the analogy, be advised that this report writer is a North Melbourne tragic who has suffered through as many disappointing seasons as Royal Adelaide’s Simpson Cup pennant team – well … almost (actually it’s not really that close but you get the point).
To be eligible to play in the finals the competition conditions require a player to play at least one game during the regular season. The Manager/Captain/Selector/Report Writer (MCSRW) (yes, I am referring to myself in the third person) had benched himself for all matches to date to ensure all other team members had the opportunity to represent our club throughout the season. With one game remaining, and needing to select himself to meet the finals’ eligibility criteria, said MCSRW (you can tell I used to be in the military by my love of acronyms) inserted himself far higher in the order than form would ordinarily dictate to protect the team’s lower order players – talk about taking one for the team!!
We welcomed back Rod Phillips (Wayne’s brother) from his scouting trip to the Gold Coast (unsure what he was scouting but it sounds better than ‘holiday’) at number 1, the MCSRW at 2, with Gavan Fox (Purple) at number 3, Terry Thornton at 4, Eddie Bell at 5 and Tim Astley at number 6.
As the MCSRW was playing it is difficult to provide any detailed reporting of the earlier matches though a few snippets (that may or may not be accurate) did sneak through.
In the top two matches Wayne’s brother and the MCSRW started solidly with both being 1 up through 3 (meeting Dodo’s crucial Ryder Cup requirement – read the ‘complex’ report from a couple of weeks ago) and the MCSRW extending his lead to 2 up through 4 holes following his opponent’s shaky start of bogey, double, bogey, bogey. Unfortunately said shaky player then turned into a buzz saw and did not drop another shot running out a comfortable winner 5/4 – ordinarily I would be ‘managed’ this week!!
At the other end of the contest, Tim Astley, who ordinarily spares his opponents the threat of a root canal without anaesthetic until the match gets tight, cruised to an early lead and rode his opponent’s less than average play that enabled Tim to leave his putter in the bag on a number of occasions (thank goodness) eventually evening the ledger with a 5/3 win. (There is no truth to the rumour that Tim performed a tooth extraction on his opponent on the 2nd tee).
Eddie was in a tight tussle and had his opponent precisely where he wanted him with two holes to go (read 1 down) and was ready to pounce until he suffered… wait for it… a malfunctioning amygdala that resulted in a 40 foot putt from off the front of the green at 17 coming up 25 feet short!! Two putts later and Eddie was done, down 2/1. Given that Jake has not come through with any putters that work we have asked the good Doctor Darryl Watson to keep an eye on Eddie over the next week or two. Darryl, feel free to invoice the Golf Ops sub-committee – I’m hopeful the senior golfers’ budget extends to PTS treatment.
Our No Laying Up recruit, Terry Thornton, played well early, consistently hitting his trade mark, knee high, bullet fades (yes, even his wedge has an aversion to heights) to be a couple ahead at the turn. Unfortunately, Terry then became engaged in some course design analysis (his real passion) that distracted from his play and began hitting shots higher than normal (there are reports that his drives were at least head high and his sand wedge into one green actually left a pitch mark). Despite a fighting performance Terry eventually succumbed 2 down.
Purple’s match was arguably the match of the day. 4 down through 5 holes he got a thorough talking to by Terry who threatened to frequent his pub and regale patrons with blow by blow descriptions of Purple’s match if he didn’t pull his socks up – yes he was wearing shorts on a day when the temperature rarely rose above 12 degrees. Responding magnificently Purple began swinging more smoothly than a lumber jack wielding an axe and clawed his way back into the contest to eventually finish square. He was last seen returning Terry’s thorough talking to… with interest.
You may be wondering what happened to Wayne’s brother in the top match – then again, you may not!! Before describing some highlights readers should be aware that, while Rod uses a long putter (a combat indicator of his putting ability), his opponent carries two putters, so the two were quite evenly matched once they got to the green – 20 foot putts were regularly conceded on both sides – ‘good – good’ was a not uncommon refrain. Indeed on number 10, Rod holed a 20 footer for birdie on the same line as his opponent who, with a chance to halve the hole from 15 feet, picked up his ball, conceding the hole simply saying ‘I can’t make that’!! Rod had got out to a 3 up lead through the middle of the round until the unexpected match situation sent his adrenaline soaring and he proceeded to airmail both the 17th (finished closer to the bathroom in the adjoining property than the green) and 18th greens (by some margin) and lost 1 down.
So we have them right where we want them. We play KGC again this week in the playoff for the bronze medal in a 16 hole sprint at the golf course slightly south of Adelaide Airport. Fingers crossed everyone!!
