Melbourne Cup Cup 2004

Rubber Man Stamps His Seal on the Cup Once Again

 

Dew on the fairway

 

Curtis and The Bloke

 

Play-off – Rubber Man and The Bloke

 

Pup presenting trophy to Rubber Man

 

Lamingtons for Stavros

The dew was still heavy on the ground as the eight invited players teed off to contest the Melbourne Cup Cup for 2004. This was the 9th running of this prestigious ‘Seal Bros’ sponsored Callaway event and the field was keen to turn history on its head. So just after 7.00am The Cardinal, Nurse Min, Pup and Cinders led the field away followed by Stavros the Greek, Curtis, The Bloke and Rubber Man in the second group.

Cardinal On Fire: The Cardinal was the first to show true form on the day with 7 pars or bogies on the first 9 holes. This however, even with an excellent 94 off the stick wasn’t enough to win this Callaway event for 2004 (due to a slight malfunction in the computational systems employed). “What’s with this Callaway scoring system? If the best player on the day can’t win then what’s the point?” he was heard commenting to Pup as the results were announced.

Rubber Man (95 off the stick) and Curtis (96 off the stick) were very close behind. In fact, Curtis came home very strongly with 2 pars, a birdie and a number of bogies on the second nine. But even this was not enough to get him over the line. “You come, you play, and you lose. I mean that is what the Melbourne Cup Cup is? Isn’t it?” He mumbled as he got into his car at the end of the day. The rest of the field just enjoyed the beautiful morning. Stavros tried to compete with Sir Donald (with a 10 on the last), while Nurse Min and Cinders put in credible rounds. Pup didn’t have such a good game (102 off the stick) but didn’t seem to mind. “It’s the thrill of the competition. It’s just great being out here.” he said as he banged his club into his bag after missing another putt.

Quiet Achiever the Bloke Almost Took the Trophy:  But the real news of the event was The Bloke who quietly and consistently stayed within striking distance of the leaders.  With only two blow-out holes in the round, he got home with 100 off the stick, but of course that was not what it was all about. As readers will recall, in the 9-year history of this event only once has someone other than one of ‘The Brothers’ won the event. Was 2004 going to be the year to break this tradition?

Play-off required: At the end of the day the Callaway handicaps were calculated and low and behold it was a tie with Rubber Man (surprise!) and The Bloke both ending on a nett 75. “So, do we call it a draw?” asked Nurse Min as he opened another beer? “What the normal procedure? Has this ever happened before?” asked Stavros as he did the same. “Yeah, it’s happened before and we had a play off from down by that tree.” said Rubber Man rather reluctantly. And so, it was decided. The Bloke and Rubber Man were to play off with a single shot – closest to the pin on the last from a few hundred meters away.

There was a delay for a few minutes as a group of golfers came through. The atmosphere was tense as the crowd looked on and the players waited. Then the opportunity presented itself and the two contestants had their final shots.

History repeats itself: Now I don’t really need to tell you the outcome. While The Bloke’s shot was a beauty landing just off the green, Rubber Man delicately placed his ball right on the green and only 15 feet or so from the pin. “Well, there is always next year.” said The Bloke as he congratulated Rubber Man on his win. “At least it’s not another cup. I wanted something else to look at on the mantelpiece this year.” explained Rubber Man as Pup presented him with the 2004 Melbourne Cup Cup trophy. Rubber Man also won three balls for his efforts giving him a 10 point boost up the nnomads league ladder.

Stavros Wins the Lamingtons: Of course, there was the traditional ‘nearest the pin’ competition which Stavros won convincingly. As there wasn’t a NTP trophy, Pup and Rubber Man decided to present Stavros with a spare pack of lamingtons that hadn’t been consumed during the celebrations. “No point throwing them out” said Pup as he handed the lamingtons to Stavros. “No, I can do that just as easily as you” commented Stavros as he accepted the prize. Stavrs also won a ball and two league ladder points for his efforts.

The Tradition Continues: At the end of the presentations ‘the Bros’ announced their intention to continue the Melb Cup Cup tradition. “Same time, same place next year boys” stated Pup as everyone was heading for the cars. Yeah and remember, anyone can win this event” emphasised Rubber Man with a snigger. “Oh yeah! And that’s why there is such a long list of previous winners” someone was heard groaning as the crowd dispersed. The club committee extends it congratulations once again to Rubber Man for his convincing win, albeit in a nail bitting playoff against The Bloke. The committee also wants to point out that next year will be the 10th running of the Melbourne Cup Cup and thus it is sure to be a big event. “We have got to knock ‘the Brothers’ off the perch and next year would be the perfect time to do it.” said The Cardinal at the last committee meeting. So that is the challenge members…. to beat ‘the Bros” in the 2005 Melbourne Cup Cup. Start practicing now!

Hidden Controversy: Oh, by the way, if you look at the results table below (calculated properly by GMAC using the Callaway computer program), you will see that The Cardinal was also equal first on a net 75. That means there should have been a three-way play-off between Rubber Man, The Bloke and The Cardinal. John Doe did the scoring (for safety reasons we can’t disclose the name) with the aid of hard copy Callaway instructions printed from the nnomads website, and a group of competitors looking over his shoulder. The markings on the card shows he picked the right holes for deduction. However, for some reason The Cardinal’s handicap was recorded as 16 instead of 19, putting him out of contention. When the correct calculations are used, the results clearly show that The Cardinal should have been in the final play-off. However, the results have already been declared, the trophy and prizes presented and the points have been allocated, so it is impossible to turn back the clock. But if The Cardinal had won he would have gained 3 balls and 11 points on the nnomads league ladder. If he misses out by 11 or less points at the end of the year, you can just imagine what he will be saying! He was third on the ladder last time I looked so Folks, as always it could be another very controversial end to the year. See you at the presentations.

 

Winner Overall: By Callaway Results – Yarra Bend 2/Nov/04

Player

Score

Net Score

Cal HCP

The Bloke

100

75

25

Rubber Man

95

75

20

The Cardinal

94

75

19

Curtis

96

76

20

Nurse Min

108

77

31

Pup

102

79

23

Cinders

111

80

31

Stavros the Greek

120

81

39

 

Player Statistics Yarra Bend 2/Nov/04

Player

Birdie

Par

Bogie

Dbl Bogie

Give up

Seek Help

The Bloke

0

2

6

8

1

1

Rubber Man

0

4

6

6

1

1

The Cardinal

0

4

6

6

2

0

Curtis

1

2

6

7

1

1

Nurse Min

0

1

6

4

5

2

Pup

0

1

6

8

2

1

Cinders

0

0

4

7

5

2

Stavros the Greek

0

1

3

4

7

3