2013 GBWGC Winter Trophy

WACKO! MACCA WHACKS JACKO!!

The winning putt

Your eye-witness sports correspondent can report an exciting finish to the 2013 GBWGC Winter Cup. First-time winner Macca shocked his fellow contestants, and himself, with a 36 point aggregate from his weekend’s two best nines. He was heard to mumble a word of thanks to his Maker (Dennis the Handicapper) as he slotted in the final putt on the final green to just eclipse the smooth-stroking Jacko. Rampaging Ronzo charged home over the last three holes of his home course to land a come-from-behind third place.

More about the golf later. The real reasons for the weekend trek South – the Gala Black-Tie Dinner and the AGM - went off a treat. Visiting Chef Ga ‘Le Petite’ Little produced a sparkling chicken satay extravaganza that totally titillated the tastebuds. Six sartorially splendid sportsmen toasted the chef, and absent friends Steve, Denno, and Dalbs, who unluckily missed the Moorish mouthfuls. A significant amount of thought and preparation went into the evening’s function. It was indeed a very dainty affair!!

For a copy of decisions made at the Annual General Discourse (a non-AGM apparently) . . . . 2012-13 AGM

Binningup ‘Lakewood Shores’ - Practise Round 2.15pm Friday 26 July 2013
Wet weather finalised the practise round on the 8th at Binningup on Friday afternoon. Some very soggy wimps trudged from the field of battle when storm and tempest (apparently) rent the sky. Tom and Jacko vainly tried to seduce the previously mentioned wimps into finishing but the waves and tide on the lake at the 9th sealed it for the smart ones. Game over!
Despite the damp clothes the round was declared a success and the only injuries were several bruised egos.

Sanctuary 9.30am Saturday 27 July 2013
Two groups of three set out confidently on a slightly wet and certainly windy morning. To put the resulting poor scores into perspective the course was wet underfoot and many bunkers had at least 15 centimetres of water.  Jacko lobbed in some casual water in the middle of the fairway and  Ron,  had to fully extend his scoop to recover the ball from a veritable inland sea about 10 metres in circumference. Reportedly this was the only time Ronzo was fully extended on the day.

Tom, Squancy and Macca started proceedings with a fairly lacklustre front nine except for pars on the first two holes from arsy chip-ins by Macca who accumulated 8 point from the two holes. Just as he did on the card table Squancy showed he didn’t have to have previous experience on the course to play OK though.  TJ indicated he has been working too hard and playing golf insufficiently by showing only glimpses of the power and grace we have seen from him in the past.  

Ronzo, Walks and Jacko fiddled their way around the front nine and at one point (in desperation) Jacko’s plea for a gimmee from 40cm was unheeded. He went on to four putt the hole!! Jacko recovered in the second nine with a skilful 18 points. Walks recovered from a NAGA 10 to cobble together 15 points in the second 9. Your reporter promised not to let his public discover that serial-ball winner Ronzo was the only competitor not to win a ball on the day.

Macca reversed Walks’s scores by winning the front nine but NAGA-ing the second nine with 9 points. Tommy settled into his game to score 16 but after a couple of nice pars early on G4 wiped four holes for just 11 points.

Binningup ‘Lakewood Shores’ 9.45am Sunday 28 July
It was damp and windy and the boys struggled into wet weather gear. There was also the realisation they would each be carrying around a delightful Chris-crafted cooked breakfast in their bellies. A helpful local claimed the rain would be gone within half an hour and he was quite correct. Although there had been heaps of rain in the preceding days the course was not water-logged and only the wind made things tricky.

This needed to be close . . .	Bugger . . . NAGA

The three low scorers Ronnie Allardice, Squancy and Walks took off into the wind with a trio of sensational drives, and that’s all your reporter saw as he was following the high point threesome of Macca, his coach Jacko, and mentor TJ. Word from others in the gallery was that Ronzo scored on every hole to finish with an excellent 17 points to pip Jacko on a count-back for a win on the Home course. Not much could be said for Walks and Squancy and it is likely that carrying all the extra coin they won on the previous night wore them down on the hilly layout.

In the leading group, Tom was the only scorer on the first hole but thereafter the trio played reasonable golf to not have a wipe throughout the rest of the round. Playing supportive golf the leaders enjoyed their round. Jacko overhauled Macca on the tricky eighth hole with a nice three-pointer and the expectation was for a Jackson victory. With two strokes on the final par-three Macca played safely...into the lake. He then pitched to within a metre and holed the putt for a three-pointer. The unlucky Jacko fiddled a bit getting to the green for a five, and one point. Game over!

And the winner is . . .	. . . a happy Macca