As Spackler XII rolls around this weekend at Glenmore Heritage I thought it would be a good idea to look back at what happened the last time we played the event here - the winner was an emphatic AD.
October 25, 2008
Spackler VII - Glenmore Heritage GC
| 1 | Aaron | 47 |
| 2 | Justin* | 42 |
| 3 | Deano | 37 |
| T4 | Greeny | 36 |
| T4 | Stumpy | 36 |
| T6 | Ben | 35 |
| T6 | James | 35 |
| T8 | Rudi | 33 |
| T8 | Mudge | 33 |
| T8 | Johan | 33 |
| T8 | Claes* | 33 |
| 12 | Chris B | 30 |
| 13 | Duncan | 29 |
| T14 | Simon | 28 |
| T14 | Phil | 28 |
| 16 | Merce | 27 |
| 17 | Matt | 24 |
| 18 | Chris R | 22 |
| 19 | Timo | 12 |
It was a historic day which saw AD not only wear the jacket home but also take the trophy in a performance that will go down in Spackler folklore. "Where were you the day AD got 47 points?" they'll say. Or if you're Stumpy you might say "48 points would have won it today", as he did at the 19th over a beer on Sunday afternoon. Let's start with his description of the exploits of Group 2.
The roll call cranked up early on the Saturday and 3 lucky names were plucked out of the hat for Group 2 – Jonathan, Phil and Duncan. I’d played indoor cricket for the mighty ‘ZT Sensations’ with Duncan at some stage (I think) but Phil was introduced to me on the day. We did the usual pleasantries before clambering onto our carts and heading off to the 1st tee. Duncan and Phil both got away nicely but yours truly duffed one into the scrub in front of most of the players in the comp – GREAT START JONATHAN. Fortunately I recovered with the second attempt off the tee and Group 2 was away.
We all played fairly ordinary golf on the front nine. We were struggling with our short irons and couldn’t nail a putt to save ourselves. Fortunately for me, the planets aligned on hole nine and a nice birdie was added to the score card. We all decided that surely we couldn’t play any worse on the back nine and so it was. Finally our drives were finding the fairway (well most of the time) and the putts started to drop for all members of our group.
Duncan hit a couple of cracking drives and some really nice short iron shots on the day. Phil consistently amazed me with his uncanny ability to start his shot 50 yards to the left of the fairway and then bring it back onto the middle with a long casual slice. Phil’s iron shots were solid throughout the day but like me, he had some issues with the putter when it counted. All in all a really enjoyable round of golf and it was great to play with Phil and Duncan. I look forward to my next assault on the Spackler title and to having a hit with some of you other blokes as well. [Stumpy]
Group 3 went out with quite high expectations although to be honest most of us would have been very happy with 36 points. The group was made up of Chris Raper (the East Lakes money winner), Herb, Coxy and the infamous Deano. As it was a couple of us did get around 36 points but clearly AD had this score by the 13 hole and so scoring was irrelevant.
Most of the ground on the course was patrolled by the buggies, Deano and I(Herb) hardly ever hitting the ball in the same direction and often leaving the other to walk. In the end Deano found some form previously not seen in a Spackler tournament and came in the top three for the day. Well done! (Timo, this showed there is hope for you). Coxy tried to get a competitive score together but couldn’t hang on making school boy like mistakes too often, however he could be top 3 at Riverside Oaks early next year, (his home club), you heard it here first.
The biggest lesson issued by the Gods within this group was to Chris R (Cr*pper) and others like him who play well in their first Spackler event (yes that’s you Justin). When the heat came on to play for the jacket he was nowhere to be seen (certainly not his golf balls anyway). I think it will be a while before we see him pushing for the jacket. Cr*pper I suggested you talk to Michael Campbell for advice on getting out of a bad run. [Herb]
Group 4 was always going to produce something special, the four ball consisted of Matt Kent (raging $4.00 favourite), Bathwater (Chris B) who has played with the eventual winner no less then 4 times, Mudge who will one day bring his A-game and walk away with all the prizes and AD who was quietly confident after putting in two good rounds back to back!
It all started normally enough. A par and three bogeys to start, but things took off after the par 3, 3rd, when AD holed a twelve footer for birdie. This was a precursor of what was to follow, AD birdied the next and all of a sudden had 12 points from 4 holes! It was also halfway through the front nine that Matt probably knew it wouldn’t be his day, the weight of favouritism and a wayward driver took full effect and although he hung in there, the frustration was evident. As for the other three, well they kept the scoreboard turning over, Mudge turned with 17 points, Bathwater with a healthy 20, but now on, including the player himself could believe that AD turned the corner with 25 stableford points!! It seemed the trophy had a home, but the jacket was still to be had, so refusing to add up the actual tally until well into the second 9, Group 4 enjoyed bacon and egg rolls and got back into it.
AD’s form kept up, with another 22 points on the back, while Mudge soldiered on adding 16. Bathwater, went to water only managing to only add 10 to his tally and Matt continued to struggle. His driver was kind enough to let him on the 13th smoking the competition with the longest drive, 50m past the marker! There were plenty of highlights with AD's early birdies, Matt’s big hitting and a match play comp which was still alive with two to play (eventually won by Mudge & AD). Another highlight was coming across group 2 (Phil, Stumpy and Duncs) who had a long and dry day. When I offered them a beer each it was like watching those mad women who line up to go shopping on those massive stocktake days. They came running fast and furious. I feared that if I didn’t offer them one then they would smell it on me as I drove past and just take what they wanted!!! [AD]
After the first 4 groups had made their way onto the Glenmore Heritage Golf Course a sombre mood swept over Group 5 consisting of Justin, Rudi, Timo and Greeny. The fanfare had gone and in truth, there was no one watching who could care less about where their tee shots were going. It just added to our determination and every tee shot was hit with a confidence not normally associated with a Spackler grouping.
Rudi and Greeny had a solid front nine with 20 and 22 points respectively. Something AD had achieved by the 4th. There were high expectations on the Chuck Taylored Timo who took the Saturday night off to be focussed and sober for the day. A red tinge forced him to tell the group of all the ladies he met during his 7 hour stint on Bondi Beach the day before. This recollection transposed itself into his mind as a love of sand and Timo proceeded to enter nearly every bunker on course. On several occasions, not willing to choose favourites, he made sure he tried out several bunkers around one green.
Debutant Justin looked the goods right from the start and a brand new, fairly high handicap from his home course belied his true golfing ability. He finished with 42 points with the highlight for me coming on the 3rd tee where he hit a 3 wood 70 metres straight up in the air landing only 20 metres from the tee. This guy has skills and could soon be the Harlem Globetrotter of Spackler Golf. He will be very dangerous in events to come.
Rudi and Greeny fell apart a little on the back nine and clawed on to something of a score. Rudi had begun to empty his esky on the 14th after realising his day was over. All groups would have started drinking a lot earlier had we known what AD was shooting. [Greeny]
Spackler VII Results
Spackler VII Photos 1
Spackler VII Photos 2
The first Spackler event of 2010 is booked and ready to go!
