On a beautiful and cool winter’s afternoon yesterday, our STC men were magnificent in recording a 4/2 win against arch nemesis Gailes at BGC. This crucial win puts us half a win ahead of Gailes at the top of our round robin group, with one game to go. We always knew that Gailes were going to give us a fight to the bitter end and yesterday in five of the six matches that was indeed the case. Early in the day the teams were evenly balanced with BGC up in some and down in others. By the middle of the afternoon, we were up in the majority of matches and I was quietly confident that BGC would prevail, but there is no discounting Gailes’ fighting abilities. In three matches they fought back to level from seemingly lost positions, which created a nail-biting ending in the semi-dark for the last two 4bbb matches. Here are the match reports:

1. Peter Lansom once again took on his great rival in the multitalented David Evans. Peter, playing solid golf, took an early lead but Evans fought back well, to be two up, teeing off up the hill on the 20th (12th hole played). This is when the fun started. Peter hit a very uncharacteristic drive into the lake on the left 100 metres off the tee. The ball finished outside the low-lying level of the water and so Peter decided to have a go at extricating it. This proved unsuccessful, which meant he had to drop his ball next to the lake at which point he proceeded to knock his fourth shot pin high to the right between the bunkers – a very good recovery.  Peter still seemingly had no chance of halving the hole due to Evans being in the first greenside bunker for two. However, Evans hit his bunker shot through the green and almost into the water at the back. He then bladed his next shot halfway up the hill back towards the fairway bunker! So, Peter won the hole – an extraordinary turn of events.  More was to come when Peter drained a forty foot putt up the two tier green on the 14th for birdie and Evans missed his relatively straightforward ten foot birdie putt to make the match all square with four to play. In the end, Evans proved too steady, to win two of the next three holes and the match 2/1.  You’ll get him next time Peter.

2. Ian Burgess was up against the very experienced Mark Manson. Ian played some super golf early with a number of birdies and pars to be five up after 12 holes.  From that point Manson put on an exhibition and Ian’s play fell away a little for a 1 up result to Gailes on the 18th. A very tough result for Burg, which should fire him up for his next match.

3. Peter Hargreaves proved again what a wonderful match player he is. Against the very experienced and talented old timer in Bob Ogilvy, Peter decided that holes 8, 10, 19 and 20 were critical to his home ground advantage and success. He played these holes conservatively which proved a master stroke to take him to a 4/3 win.  Once again Peter, a champion effort.

4. The first of the handicap matches pitted the young and powerful Mark Davis from BGC against the old and wiley, Kel O’Connell. Kel, who was the recipient of two handicap shots, took an early lead in the match and going into the 19th (11th hole played), he held a three up lead. This is when he made a poor decision. His tee shot was long and right and finished just behind the bunker at the back. The shot required a deft chip over the bunker onto the hard and fast downhill geen and pin placement.  Kel was obviously nervous, and so chose to putt it around the bunker’s edge and use the embankment to ‘slingshot’ the ball back towards the hole.  The strategy backfired with the ball winding up in the bunker to allow Mark to win the hole. From there Mark played very steady golf including making a number of vital five to eight foot putts while O’Connell, feeling the pressure, started to miss from similar distances.  This resulted in Mark winning the match 3/1 and earning the nickname of the come-back kid. Well done Mark.

5. The first of the 4bbb matches pitted Craig James and Richard Garnham against the very solid Leigh Madsen and Greg Misso. Leigh, being the low marker, gave the BGC pair one shot each and four shots to his partner. Richard played very well early to take the Brisbane pair to three up after three holes.  On the 6th, with Richard safely on the green for two within easy range of a two putt par, it looked like BGC would take a four up lead. Madsen was having none of this. Even though his second finished so far through the green on the left to be almost on the cart path, he calmly took out his putter and knocked it along the ground for 15 metres, up the steep embankment and then down the slick green for 25 feet and into the hole for an incredible birdie win! Madsen proved this was no fluke by doing a similar thing on the 15th. This time his third shot required a chip over the bunker on the left to a back pin position. He skinnied his chip somewhat but got the most important bit right – he hit it straight. His ball hit the pin a few inches above the hole and dropped straight down for another birdie win, when a loss had seemed certain! Despite all of these heroics, Craig and Richard were not to be denied, and hung tough for a very deserving one up win on the last.  A great effort from the BGC pair, with Richard, in particular, putting in a blinder.

6. The final match had evergreen Richard Peacock and Andrew Mullis against the cagey older pair in Neil King and Gorden Petterson. The BGC pair received three and four shots from King respectively. The experienced Gailes pair maintained a solid lead late in the first nine, despite the shorter hitting Richard playing straight and true for BGC. As is often the case, it is the second nine at home when Brisbane comes to the fore. Richard and Andrew ground away and standing on the 17th tee, they held a one hole lead.  Richard, who had been solid all day, both off the tee and on the greens, put his second shot pin high just off the green to the right. King’s second finished 25 feet above the hole leaving him a tricky downhill putt in the late afternoon gloom. Richard inexplicably three putted whilst King was able to two putt to make the match all square going up 18. At this point we had won the fifth match and the scores stood at 3/2 to Brisbane. We were desperate to beat Gailes and so a half was all we needed on the last hole. Richard hit a great drive down to the bottom of the hill on the right. Being a natural drawer of the ball, left him with a tricker wedge shot with the overhanging bough of the gum tree on the right looming. Richard proceeded to hit it dead straight, landing the ball next to the hole and running it 25 feet past. In the dark, he calmly proceeded to two putt from there and win the hole and the match one up.  Well done Richard and Andrew.

So, a nail biter turned into a vital 4/2 win and puts us on top of the group three ladder, with one match to go.  We play Virginia at home on Thursday next week at noon.  We are in charge of our own destiny as a win will ensure we finish on top of the ladder. A draw may also be enough to put us into the semifinals, but I don’t want to rely on that.

Thanks go to Rob Strutt for caddying for Peter Lansom and Geoff Crozier and Peter Martin for coming out to support the guys at various stages of the afternoon. Also, thanks Marto for your support last week at Wantima in our big 5.5/0.5 win there. As usual, Gillian Hirst’s canapes after the game were superb and well received by the Gailes team, as well of course by the BGC boys. To Marcus Hartup, the course got rave reviews from the Gailes team with the greens running true and wonderfully slick.

Keep it going Pinkies!

Rob Brown