Strong Field Contests a Classic BIT in 2005

1st of October 2005: It was around 9.30am when a strong field of contestants started to congregate at Eagle Ridge on the Mornington Peninsular to contest the Balnarring Invitational Tournament (The BIT) and the Tullum Sands Callaway Cup Classic for 2005. The serious nature of these competitions was reflected in the pre-game warm ups on the practice range as twelve players prepared themselves for the game. “It wasn’t bad value really. If you hit the side of the nets when teeing off you could pick your balls up and hit them again.” smiled Ricko after a solid session on the range.

High Quality Field: Three groups of players congregated around the first tee as the game time approached. Brendan, Pete, Steve and Steph were to head off in the first group with Tom, Harry, Mark and Min in the second and Gordon (last years winner of the TSCCC), Tim (winner of the BIT for the last two years), Ricko and Fritz rounding out the high quality field (see The Players as they tee off and various faces around the course).

“Are we playing off the Blue or the White markers?” asked Brendan as he went to tee up on the first. A decision was made by those within earshot to play off the blues (the members markers, and the most difficult on the course), a decision a number of players subsequently regretted at various times during the game. “Where were we? Our group didn’t agree we should play off the blue markers …. Any reasonable person would have known they were the member’s markers!” argued Gordon when the issue was discussed later that evening…. But that’s another story.

A Tough Event: Well Eagle Ridge was in beautiful condition. The fairways were challenging and the greens were fast (see The Course). In addition, the breeze was up slightly and really came into play on certain holes. Combined with the additional distance resulting from playing off the blue markers (which could go some way to explain why the third group had to defend the slow rate of play to the group behind them), the whole environment and the conditions of play made for a really tough event.  Oh and did I mention the bunkers? Well the bunkers were brutal…

Two Players Stood Out On Handicap: And those tough conditions were reflected in the final scores. Brendan was the only player in the field to break the ton with a 97 off the stick, with Tim next in line with 104 off the stick, a superb performance for a 30 stroke handicapper. Then there was huge gap of 9 strokes to the next group of players, Harry, Steve and Tom on 113. So as you would expect, these guys took the prizes! On handicap Tim with a net 74 strokes was a convincing winner of the Balnarring Invitational Tournament (The BIT) for 2005, and for the third year in a row. The committee congratulates Tim on his accomplishment and notes that his name remains the only name on the BIT trophy (introduced three years ago). “Is there any point me bring this trophy back every year? I may as well leave it at home permanently.” sniggered Tim when as he was presented with the trophy once again. Brendan was the runner up with a net 81 strokes and Ricko was only a stroke behind on a net 82. “Another ball is another ball” smiled Brendan as he was presented with a ball for second place by Min ….and … errr….Mark?  (See the BIT presentations). Fortunately Mark was available for every presentation on both days. The Club thanks Mark for his diligence on this matter! 

Two Players Stood Up in the Callaway: But that was not the way it happened in the Callaway event. As most members know, Steve is a Callaway specialist and really knows how to play to Callaway rules (see any article on the Melbourne Cup Cup in the last few years). So lo’ and behold Steve and Brendan ended up net 75 strokes each in the cup, followed by Harry on a net 76. And you can see how Steve did it by looking at his game statistics. While Brendan had four pars to Steve’s one, and they both had 5, 6 or 7 bogies and double bogies, it was Steve’s strategically placed three ‘Give-ups’ and three ‘Off-to-the-pubs’ to Brendan’s 1 of each that did it. That got him a Callaway handicap of 38 strokes, do you believe it? So with Brendan’s handicap of only 21 it brought these players into equal first place. And as results were not available until the presentations back at Balnarring later in the early evening a play off could not be held at the time (although chipping a ball onto the trampoline in the dark at the back of Min’s place was mooted at one stage).

Dramatic Play-off: Now the nnomads Golf Club doesn’t have an equal first place in club events. The rules require that a winner is decided by some means. This can be Rock, Paper, Scissors or a play off of some type, for example nearest the pin. In Callaway they often decide based on the handicap. But Steve and Brendan decided to have an 18 hole play-off at 6.00am at Flinders Golf Club the next morning. Ironically the play off was a handicap event and while it was neck and neck until well into the second nine, Brendan eventually prevailed with a net 69 versus Steve net 76, winning the Tullum Sands Callaway Cup Classic for 2005. Steph oversaw the competition to make sure it was played according to the rules. The club congratulates Brendan on this excellent win and notes he played under the hardest of the three different sets of rule adopted by players in this event. (See the TSCCC play-off and presentations).

Nearest The Pin & Longest Drive: Other performances of mention included Tim again who took out the longest drive. This was much to Harry’s disgust who thought he had it won. “I even had the picture next to the marker ready, until Timbo came along. Was he really playing off the blues at the time?” Harry questioned after he realised he had been beaten. Congratulations to Tim once again. Fritz took out the one and only NTP for the day, as no one else in the field got on the green for the other available NTP. Well done Fritz.

Presentations, Celebrations and Controversy: In that order! Back at Min’s place after the game, the Callaway results were calculated and the presentations for the BIT & TSCCC were conducted. Congratulations were bestowed on the winners (or at least to those that could be congratulated as Steve and Brendan’s contest was yet to be decided). Min and Harry and the rest of the crew did a lovely job on the food side of things (including Harry’s famous Eggs Benedict at Tom’s place on Sunday morning); while all did a very good job on the raging side of things. And so the celebrations went on into the night around the fire. So where was the controversy you ask eh?

It was the Fire’s fault!  … It was nice and warm, and the day’s adventures were being recounted, the stories getting taller as the night progressed when Gordon uttered the words …. “Oh yeah, we played off the white tees for the last 9 holes”! ……

There was silence … throats were wetted … and then a minor Hell broke loose.

The Winner On Handicap; Tim, and the Nearest The Pin; Fritz, came from that group. So as you might expect a solid and rather robust conversation ensued. This resulted in the realisation that each group of players had used a different set of rules.

The first group played off the blue markers throughout and thought they had one ‘mulligan’ for the game, which they wouldn’t use on principle. These were the “The Purists”.

The second group played off the blue markers throughout and thought they had two ‘mulligans’, one per nine holes. These were the ‘Sticklers’ as these were what they thought to be the agreed rules at the beginning of the game. Incidentally, this group used their two ‘mulligans’.

The third group played off the blue markers for the first nine holes, then used the white markers for the second nine. They also thought they had two ‘mulligans’, one per each nine holes, they of course used them. This group were the ‘Righteous Four’ (soon to be available on itunes).

 

 

So how do you reconcile three sets of rules after the presentations have been made? Did we consider the arguments? … Yes we did! … Did we do anything as a result? … We had a great time arguing! … Did we learn anything? … Not really, ‘cept it’s pretty hard to organise a bunch of nnomads!

So congratulations to the winners. And to those that were not there – Apart from missing the fun, remember this is an Official Club Championship Event. So don’t miss out next year - put it in the diary – The weekend after the AFL grand final 2006 at a classic peninsular golf course yet to be decided.

Results: The Balnarring Invitational Tournament 2005

Player

Out

In

Score

HCP

Net

Prizes

Tim B

56

48

104

30

74

First & LD

Brendan

45

51

96

15

81

Second

Ricko

61

57

118

36

82

 

Harry

57

56

113

29

84

 

Tom

58

55

113

27

86

 

Min

59

60

119

33

86

 

Steve S

61

52

113

22

91

 

Gordon

62

59

121

25

96

 

Steff

61

56

117

21

96

 

Fritz

63

62

125

27

98

NTP

Pete S

62

59

121

22

99

 

MarkF

69

65

134

34

100

 

 

Results: Tullum Sands Callaway Cup Classic 2005

Player

Out

In

Score

Net Score

Cal HCP

Brendan

45

51

96

75

21

Steve S

61

52

113

75

38

Harry

57

56

113

76

37

Fritz

63

62

125

77

48

MarkF

69

65

134

78

52

Min

59

60

119

78

41

Ricko

61

57

118

78

40

Tim B

56

48

104

78

26

Gordon

62

59

121

79

42

Pete S

62

59

121

79

42

Steff

61

56

117

79

38

Tom

58

55

113

80

33


Results: Tullum Sands Callaway Cup Classic 2005

Player

Birdie

Pars

Bogie

Dbl Bogie

Give up

Off to Pub

Prizes

Brendan

0

4

7

5

1

1

First

Steve S

0

1

6

5

3

3

Second

Harry

0

1

5

7

1

4

 

Fritz

0

1

2

4

4

7

 

MarkF

0

0

0

4

7

7

 

Min

0

0

4

7

2

5

 

Ricko

0

0

4

6

4

4

 

Tim B

0

1

6

7

4

0

 

Gordon

0

2

3

3

4

6

 

Pete S

0

0

1

9

6

2

 

Steff

0

2

1

7

3

5

 

Tom

0

0

5

8

2

3

 

 

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If you want see even more photos, then look at our  Gallery of Other Photos.

 

The Players

The Course

Various faces

The BIT Presentation

TSCCC Presentations

Gallery of Other Photos

 

This Month Competition:

The answer is none or zero – What is the question?

Hint: It involves Mark and presentation photos.

 

 

Don’t look until you have decided on your answer - Answer, I mean the question.