Stu Rich takes home the jacket
Stu Rich has been a regular participant to the Carl Spackler Invitationals of late and has been getter shorter and shorter at the bookies at every event. Some might say it was just a matter of time before he proudly wore the plaid jacket. But as Herb knows only too well, that is not the case and if you’d seen Stu’s tee shot on 17, you’d be forgiven for thinking he wasn't even in need of any clothing, let alone a jacket.
Carl Spackler organisers rightly shifted the event to Kooindah Waters after getting the run around from Moore Park GC. Designed by the lumpy Australian golfer, Craig Parry, the boys were in for a true test of golf. There’d been a number of emails and sledges going on for weeks to try and put the “cougar into the car” so to speak and Spackler members packed 4 dozen balls into the car and set off for the Invitational XI.
Most golfers brought their ball laden bags up to the course the morning of the round however a few decided to approach the event a little differently and spend the night on site. Much to the dismay and annoyance of the morning arrivals, the Saturday night was not the bruising, drunken affair expected. Most were into bed early and the only sign of potential nerves were on the practice green earlier in the evening. Ben lost a minor but memorable chipping match against Greeny and Matty Kent had once again declared himself a sure thing, two events in row.
The Sunday morning saw all invitees eventually make it to the first tee. Herb looked a little jumpy taking off to the chipping green with minutes to spare and defending champ Johan was giving advice to Martin on how to win the jacket he so proudly wore.
Paddy once again looked confident, as did Tim who always has an air of victory about him despite never winning the jacket. It was Rod who was the most vulnerable though. When the invitation came across his desk to play at Kooindah Waters he promptly said “no” but was somehow coerced into attempting to tame the beast once more.
With the eyes of the Spackler fraternity firmly on his Swedish swing, Johan began the day with a “Ron Jeremy" shot – short but definitely straight. In fact most of the group got off to a fine start and the tournament had begun. Here’s a run down of a couple of highlights playing in the second group.
Funniest moment for me came with Merce putting on the 16th green. He moved his first 15ft putt within about 2ft. While over the ball ready to tap in, he looked up only to see Tim’s second tee shot again fall miserably short and into the water. He let out a cackle the wicked witch of the west would be proud of, looked down and tapped in.
James can consider himself unlucky. He played a pretty solid round of golf despite looking a little shaky early. His approach to 17 wasn’t the best and neither was his approach to 18. Only a bad greenside lie meant he finished a shot back from Stu.
Let it be known that the official Spackler Rules Nazi has softened. Let’s just say a certain golfer smacked a low iron from an adjacent fairway. It scuttled across the fairway and looked 100% certain of finding watery. His playing partner, completely oblivious to the streaking ball, drove the cart up the the waters edge to look for his own ball. It stopped his partners’ ball high and dry. Upon consulting with J.H.Mercer, he was unmoved, happy to let things go on as they were.
As it turned out, Herb softened his score a little towards the end of the round. With Stu finding water on 17, he needed a par on the last hole to win the jacket. He did so and finished with 35 points. A low score by Spackler standards but a sign of the course difficulty.
Paddy was heard moaning about morning golf (I second that), Matt Kent bemoaned a lack of green speed, Rod bemoaned even turning up in the first place and Stu was heard bemoaning a badly placed bet on the Tigers. He looked smart in his new jacket though.
(Playing in one group it was hard to recall or even see all the interesting happenings on the day. Feel free to share them all or just plain old sledge in the comments section below.)
Other Spackler XI stuff
Results
Report
Photos 1
Photos 2
Photos 3
