Scott majors in Mandurah

Mandurah - Winter Cup - Stableford

This week was the Winter Cup down at the Mandurah Country Club. As usual the course was in good condition however if you were being fussy there were a few pitch marks evident on the greens.

It was great to see some high scores on a difficult course as far too often we have had winners anywhere around the high 20’s. It was even better to see Scott on top of the winners list as he has had his far share of NAGA’s this year. No one will remember those but they will always see his name on the Winter Cup as long as the club lives, that’s all that matters. Congratulations Scott on winning your first major and dare I say it I think you will win a few more. Basil was just pipped in the count back to come second in a satisfying round and a great score towards the Master Jacket. The ever consistent Marc Ellis was 3rd, and like I said last week, he has hit a real purple patch lately and is always amongst the top 4 or 5.

On the side was a Match Play between Scott and Nigel. This was one the great Matchplays of the year so far, as it came down to the last putt on the last hole. Nigel sunk a 4 meter putt which placed pressure on Scott sink his 2 meter putt for the win, which he did.

Around the grounds it was tough going with a few people struggling on the first 9. There were a few people between 10 and 12 points, I was one struggling early until at the 5th hole strung together 8 pars and a birdie to break away from the bottom. Dave Ovel was unfortunate and had no luck at all to finish NAGA on a count forward . I described it best as “You could fall into a barrel of tits and come out sucking your thumb “. He is one of the clubs best strikers and he will be around the leaders very soon.

On a side note, it was this week a few seasons ago that an unusual event occurred. Playing at Maylands around 4 holes into the round on a rather sunny day, black clouds rolled in from the west. Within a few minutes the sky was over cast and the temp dropped. It became darker still as if was suddenly 7.00pm and when looking across at the city, it suddenly disappeared, all you could see was grey with no distinction between the ground and the sky. The rain pelted down on the river and fast approached us like a wall, except it wasn’t so much rain it was hail stones. We all bunkered down in the bushes as it passed over and stopped as quickly as it came. The sun came out again and we were off, the fairways were covered in hail as per the below images. Some were hoping their cars were o.k., others with good insurance hoped they were not and some just though it was a good time to draw pics on the greens. Ever the professionals …….C**k and balls was a popular choice.