Kwinana - The Summer Cup
A very healthy field of 26 contestants lined up for the first Summer Cup actually played in summer (who’d have thought it after more than 50 years of the club). A couple of familiar faces returned, and a switch to Kwinana seemed to be a positive move as well. The course looked in great shape, and the food laid on after the round was in a quantity guaranteed to enlarge one’s shape. Some rather good golf shots were produced, and ultimately a count back was required to separate the two rounds that stood out from the rest.
Emerging on the right side of the count back and clutching the Summer Cup was the Canadian Crusher himself, Mike Patton. 80 off the stick around Kwinana is a very good effort, and only two double bogeys certainly helped. Lawrie Gibson played a consistent 18 holes, bagging a pair of birdies on the second nine to keep the pressure on Mike. The wily campaigner just missed out on his second Summer Cup and showed there’s still plenty of golf left in the Silver Fox yet.
Best of the rest was the ever-smiling assassin Jack Wagner. Only one double bogey for the day certainly helped, and some killer approach shots helped as well. 82 off the stick was another commendable effort around Kwinana, and his 34 points bagged him third place and just kept him ahead of the rest.
The scribe made his first appearance for the season, well-tanned and well-fished from his most recent stint at work. His brain was probably still focused on fishing judging by his first tee shot. The first nine wasn’t much better, and at the turn he was minus two balls and looking a dead cert for NAGA with seven points. Something must have happened during the walk from the 18th green to the 1st tee, as he promptly crushed his drive to within metres of eventual A grade long drive winner Mike Patton. Further good drives and examples of what might be described as golf shots followed, netting him another 13 points, and condemning the unfortunate Craig Billing to last place on the day.
The putt-off provided a few laughs but unfortunately no one took out the cash. The scribe finally made a putt go the full distance, but he missed to the left. Putts falling short drew the usual responses from the peanut gallery. Thanks to Rob for organising both the putt-off and the “easy money” hole.
Full field results available on OneGolf via the link below
MP:
And a few words from your resident handicapper/webmaster.
Today was the maiden voyage for my new irons. Hit a few balls on the range and everything was flying straight and long. Even the driver was behaving. I tried not to think "Hmm, hope this carries over the course", as that is one of the surest ways to taunt the fickle golf gods. Dead pull left on the first tee into the trees. Yup, so much for that. But after that, apart from a couple of bad driver swings and the putter alternating between stone cold and red hot, it was one of my best ball striking days in a long time.
Enjoyable company and encouragement from my playing partners also helped. Thanks gents.
And a big hats off to Scott for managing the temporary hole changes that were not reflected in the MiScore app.