Afheed Emerges While ‘The King’ Resurges at the BIT & TSCC in 2007

Mornington Peninsular, 5^th and 6th October, 2007: Melbourne airport had been busy for a day or so as competitors started to arrive for two of the premier golfing events on the nnomads Golf Club calendar in 2007. It was that time of year when the Balnarring Invitational Tournament (BIT) and the Tullum Sands Callaway Cup (TSCC) are held on the Mornington Peninsular in Victoria.

Observant club members would notice that the Tullum Sands Callaway Cup (TSCC) used to be known as the Tullum Sands Callaway Cup Classic (TSCCC). However, it was renamed after Brendan, last year’s winner; found he couldn’t get his name and the name of the event on the trophy. Note: The Callaway event has had a number of names since its inception some years ago, hence the need to engrave the name of the event on the trophy each year. “When you have a name as long as mine and an event with a name as long as that, it just doesn’t fit. Besides, the engraving cost me $50, so I was keen to lose a word or two if I could” moaned Brendan who had been complaining ever since paying an extraordinary price for the engraving, but that’s another story.

The Warm Up Round At Sensational Flinders: Situated atop the cliff tops overlooking Bass Strait and Westernport Bay, The Flinders Golf Club provides a wonderful golfing experience combining the sense of tradition that comes with being over one hundred years old with top quality playing conditions. This ACR 69, 5,259 metre course provides both wonderful views and a real golfing challenge (see aerial photograph of Flinders). Hence it was the perfect venue for the Friday warm up round.

High Quality Group of Players: It was around midday when those participating in the warm up round started to arrive at the Flinders’ Golf Club. The interstate contingent was out in full force which included players from WA, SA, NSW and QLD. It meant the local Victorian players were likely to have some stiff competition, or at least that’s what the interstate players thought at the time? “Look we just lull them into a false sense of security today and then blast them away tomorrow” suggested Min when addressing the huddle of Victorian players just prior to tee off. Hence it was a high quality group of players that stepped up to the first tee that afternoon. The first of the three player groups consisted of Rodney (NSW), Harry, Bryan C (QLD) and Stafford (WA) followed by Pete, Tom and Mark V in the 2^nd group and JB (SA), Min, Mark F and Tony (WA) in the final group (see photos of player groups).

Stiff Competition From Interstate Players: Now handicapping some of the interstate players proved to be a difficult task. In fact, Tony and Bryan C had their handicaps revised down after blitzing the field on the Friday. Tony got around in 84 strokes gross which when combined with his generous handicap of 18, gave him a three under the card 66 strokes. Bryan C ended up even with the card after his 96 strokes off the stick and generous 27 handicap. “We didn’t have a track record to base their handicaps on, so Friday was a handicapping round. These guys showed that their handicaps had to be slashed” explained Brendan (the phantom handicapper) later that night. “Bugger. I knew these guys would try to rig it. I shouldn’t have played so well” lamented Tony after being informed that Bryan and he would have their handicaps reduced by two strokes for the main event on Saturday.

A pleasant day was had by all: For the rest of the field, Friday was just that – a warm up and a catch up round. It proved to be a very pleasant afternoon indeed (see on course at Flinders on Friday). In addition to the main prizes, there was a NTP competition on every par 3 and a longest drive competition on 5^th hole, although the last group didn’t bother picking up all of the markers making it impossible to determine who won some of these competitions. “Look we only forgot two or three of the markers. It doesn’t really matter does it?” asked an unnamed representative as the last group came under scrutiny at the end of the round. And of course it didn’t matter because this was just a warm up round and a good time had been had by all. In fact players kept on having a good time into that night at the Balnarring tavern and then back at Mins until, the early hours of the morning. For most, this was the perfect preparation for the main competitions to be held on the Saturday.

Serious Course for the Serious Competition: Eventually all the frivolity gave way to seriousness as players started to arrive at Eagle Ridge for the 10am tee off on the Saturday morning. Eagle Ridge is 5,230 metre ACR 73 course which is rated one of the top 25 public access courses in Australia (see aerial photo of Eagle Ridge). Hence it was the perfect venue for the BIT and TSCC in 2007. “And we couldn’t go back to Cape Schanck after last year’s event. They wouldn’t let us on the course” lamented Harry who could still recall the Cape Schanck course marshal screaming “How could you take six hours in carts?” but that’s another story.

A Big Field for Two Big Events: This year there were nineteen players that made it through the qualifying rounds and into the final competition. The first of five player groups consisted of Brendan (Winner TSCC 2006), Steph (Winner BIT 2006), Tim B (multiple past winner BIT) and Tom (current club champion and co sponsor), followed by Pete, Fang and Bryan C in group two, Steve, Rodney, Jack and Tony in group three, Mark F, Emile, Min (co sponsor) and Fritz in group four and JB, Mark V, Stafford and Harry in the final group (see photos of player groups ). All were there to compete in the BIT 2007 (a handicap event) and the TSCC 2007 (a Callaway handicap event) to be played simultaneously.

A Clear Champion On Handicap: The Eagle Ridge course proved to be tough for all but a few standout players (see on course at Eagle Ridge on Saturday). Emile, who has been threatening to take out a major event for some time, put in a stunning performance in the BIT on handicap. His gross score of 110 strokes combined with his outrageous handicap of 39 strokes put him two under the card on a net 71 strokes, and a clear five strokes in front of the rest of the field. This was enough to win him the BIT very convincingly for 2007. “It’s the practice net in the back yard that has made the difference. I’ve been training in secret” admitted Emile as the results were announced later that night.

Other performances of note in the BIT included Bryan C who came in second and was best interstate player on net 76 strokes (101, 25, 76). This was despite having his handicap slashed two strokes after his Friday performance.

Brendan was the other standout with a best off the stick of 93 strokes (93, 13, 80). “But not quite good enough to win. You needed a much better score than that” he suggested as he acknowledged Emile’s achievements. And he was right because Emile won by a massive five strokes, a very convincing margin in anyone’s language.

The Callaway King Does it Again: The TSCC Callaway competition proved to be a very close affair with four players within a stroke of each other. At the end of the day a somewhat, or is that supposedly, surprised Steve prevailed with a net score of 74 strokes (105, 31, 74), just in front of Harry (110, 35, 75), Stafford (113, 38, 75) and Mark V (103, 28, 75) in equal second place. “Look I am surprised and very pleased to win such a prestigious event” commented Steve at the presentations later that night. “Some of us are not that surprised. They don’t call him the Callaway King for nothing” mumbled ‘the hanging judge’ Jack as he recalled the myriad of Melbourne Cup Cup Callaway events Steve has won over the years. Note: A mistake was made when doing the Callaway scoring whereby we didn’t realise Mark V had also come in second. He was not acknowledged at the time but was later).

Gala Presentation Night: Now, Saturday night proved to be a fantastic affair with a sumptuous menu of tastings and quality beverages of choice, setting the scene for a gala night of presentations at Chez Mins. The official ceremony began with a parade of past nnomads Golf Club champions, each embracing the new perpetual club championship trophy. “It is truly motivating thing to see all those old past greats parading up there. It shows you what you can achieve in life” sighed Emile as each past champion was applauded enthusiastically by crowd (see parade of past club champions).

Then came the main presentations. It started with the warm up game on the Friday, where of course Tony won the event and Bryan C was runner up. “It was a clean sweep for the interstaters on Friday so they slash our handicaps for the Saturday at the last minute. It was sheer panic by the Victorians I tell you” moaned Tony as he received his winnings. Fortunately, the last group on the Friday did manage to find two NTP markers and recalled the outcome on another hole. It proved that Tony got another ball for a NTP and Pete got two balls for doing it twice. The committee congratulates these players for their Friday performances (see Friday presentations).

Tension as Winners Announced: Now, no one was aware of who had won on Saturday until it was announced. So there was real tension in the air as Emile was announced winner of the BIT on handicap and Bryan C runner up. Equally or not so surprising, depending on your point of view, was Steve winning the TSCC, and Harry, Stafford and Mark V as runners up. Pete won another NTP as did Steph, Tim and JB. Jack won the longest drive, Brendan best off the stick, Bryan C best interstate player, and finally Emile won the ‘sliding under the door’ prize due to some sneaky behaviour at a game in previous weeks which was totally unrelated to the events of the day). “It was just a convenient place to present his prize retrospectively” explained Brendan trying to justify the additional unrelated presentation that had been quietly slipped onto the agenda.

But it didn’t matter. In five minutes everyone had forgotten as the celebrations continued into the night. The winners were toasted over and over again as the crowd acknowledged their efforts. The media was clambering over each other just to get a decent shot of the winners in celebration mode. At the end of the night, all agreed it had been just one of ‘those’ nights as people retired gracefully (or not so gracefully). The committee congratulates all winners for their great performance on the Saturday (see Saturday presentations).

A Smooth Warm Down: And so ended another BIT and another TSCCC, now to be known as the TSCC. As usual, Harry cooked eggs Benedict on the foreshore at Tom’s for any player that arrived before midday the next day, which most did. As usual, Brendan and three other early birds (Steph, Steve and Pete), played Flinders early on the Sunday morning. In fact Pete was the only person who played golf on all three days (well done Pete). As usual, they didn’t get back in time for eggs Benedict. “You bloody changed the cut off time last night. You extended it to one o’clock. We all heard you” argued Brendan as he realised he would have to cook his own brunch.

But it all settled down as the day went on and the annual games of extreme bocce started to appear on Balnarring beach. As usual it was a very pleasant way to warm down after such a big event. Then slowly the various players went on their various ways, some leaving that afternoon and some the following morning, back to their homes across the various states of Australia. “What a load of crock. Tony and his mate Stafford stayed for days. They played golf all over the peninsula for days - Cape Schanck, Moonah Links. I didn’t know how to get rid of them. And then when they did eventually leave, I had to pay to send them the stuff they left behind!” complained Tom after reading the previous line in the article.

Strong Interest In Next Year: Interstate newcomers Tony and Stafford, have already booked their places for next year, as have Bryan C, Rodney and JB. It illustrates strong interstate interest in next year’s event. “Why wouldn’t we come? This place is easy pickings for winning balls’ laughed Bryan C. Note: Bryan C came 2^nd on Friday (1 ball), came 2^nd in the BIT (1 ball) and was best interstate player (1 ball). Since then he went onto win the ABLURU with Jenny (3 balls) and the best interstate player at the Melbourne Cup Cup (1 ball), but that’s another story. “Expensive balls when you come from WA” added Tony who won four balls for his efforts. In fact all interstate players won a ball (Stafford for 2^nd in the TSCC (1 ball) and JB a NTP (1 ball)), except Rodney who is still waiting to collect the multiple balls he won at last year’s event. “And my Victoria Bitter bottle opener and my Royal Freeo hat and the strap off my golf bag” intervened Rodney who didn’t mind so long as he got it all back one day. “The implications for Victorian members are greater interstate competition at these events in the future. It means we need to be there to defend the heritage of Victorian only winners” suggested Gordon at the last committee meeting. And he is right! So put it in your diary now – The weekend after the AFL grand final 2008. Be there!

Results: Balnarring Invitational Tournament 2007
Eagle Ridge

	1st 9 holes	2nd 9 holes	Total	nnomads Handicap	Bit Net
Emile	52	58	110	39	71
Bryan C (QLD)	50	51	101	25	76
Mark VAS	53	50	103	26	77
Tony (WA)	47	47	94	16	78
Tom	54	48	102	23	79
Brendan	43	50	93	13	80
Steph	50	51	101	21	80
Mark F	54	64	118	36	82
Rodney (ACT)	54	52	106	22	84
Harry V	48	62	110	25	85
Jack	54	50	104	19	85
Tim B	62	53	115	30	85
Steve S	50	55	105	19	86
Fritz	60	55	115	28	87
Stafford	59	54	113	24	89
Min	62	59	121	31	90
JB (SA)	69	59	128	38	90
Pete S	53	58	111	19	92
Fang	59	55	114	22	92

Results: Tullum Sands Callaway Classic 2007
Eagle Ridge

	1st 9 holes	2nd 9 holes	Total	Callaway Handicap	TSCC Net
Steve S	50	55	105	31	74
Stafford	59	54	113	38	75
Mark VAS	53	50	103	28	75
Harry V	48	62	110	35	75
Tony (WA)	47	47	94	18	76
Brendan	43	50	93	17	76
Jack	54	50	104	28	76
Emile	52	58	110	33	77
Bryan C (QLD)	50	51	101	24	77
Tom	54	48	102	25	77
Steph	50	51	101	24	77
Rodney (ACT)	54	52	106	29	77
Fritz	60	55	115	38	77
Pete S	53	58	111	34	77
Tim B	62	53	115	36	79
Min	62	59	121	42	79
JB (SA)	69	59	128	49	79
Mark F	54	64	118	38	80
Fang	59	55	114	34	80

Results: Warm Up for BIT/TSCC 2007
Flinders Golf Club

	1st 9 holes	2nd 9 holes	Total	Callaway Handicap	Net
Tony (WA)	43	41	84	18	66
Bryan C (QLD)	46	50	96	27	69
Harry V	50	48	98	25	73
Mark F	57	53	110	36	74
Rodney (ACT)	51	52	103	22	81
Stafford	56	50	106	24	82
Min	60	53	113	31	82
Tom	57	48	105	23	82
Pete S	62	46	108	19	89
JB (SA)	70	62	132	38	94
Mark VAS	63	63	126	26	100

Aerial photo of Flinders

Friday player groups

On course Friday

Friday presentations

Aerial photo of Eagle Ridge

Saturday player groups

On course Saturday

Saturday presentations

Parade of past club champions

This month’s competition: It was a picture of another par three. Which hole was it a picture of?