A field of 15 brave (or foolhardy) souls braved the wintry conditions at Rockingham on Sunday. Despite all the rain of the previous 48 hours the course was in surprisingly good condition, provided you stayed on the fairways. Rockingham’s mix of grass trees, scrub and solid gum trees rewarded those who kept out of trouble and punished those who didn’t. Judging by the scores most were well punished, with a couple of notable exceptions.
20 points for each nine was enough for Stafford to take out the win on the day. Straight drives and only one wipe for the day got the job done (there was only a single one point hole in that score too). A great score on a testing day that saw rain jackets on and off and umbrellas up and down on a regular basis.
Finishing only a single point further back was Lui Dinardo, a round of no wipes and steady scoring across the eighteen holes. A consistent round from the man who’ll have a pretty decent golf swing when it finally fully develops…
As for the rest…
Generally when you start your round wipe-one-wipe you know you’re in for a rough day. The scribe certainly thought as much teeing it up on the fourth. Fortunately, a big drive put him in a better mood, and he was definitely feeling better after his first par of the day on the sixth. A direct hit on the flagstick with his second shot saved him from playing his third shot from Port Kennedy, and the resulting par helped to kickstart his round. Sixteen points from the first nine, and then harvesting twenty from the second, the resulting thirty-six giving the scribe his first podium of the year, one point ahead of the unlucky Gary Hammond.
There must have been something going on in the second group today, as they not only gave us first place, third and fourth, they also gave us a quality NAGA effort from Paul Heine. Some massive drives were unfortunately not backed up with massive efforts elsewhere, and he finished bottom of the pile. I’m sure he’ll take some solace in the Bombers beating the Eagles the night before though.
In truth the four groups got off lightly with the rain today, and certainly appreciated the club house afterwards. The Rockingham team pour a decent pint and dish up a pretty decent feed as well. Unlike the Vines of a fortnight before, no pints were harmed during the distribution of novelty prizes.
Next week sees us back at Collier for a Par round before El Caballo the week after. As usual please make sure you get in early to advise of your availability so we can get as many groups as we can.