Oh what could have been! With six matches ending as one down losses, the 13 – 2 defeat was not a true reflection of how competitive we were on the day. A one up victory to David Cook was as good as it got for us with the other point coming from halves from Phillip Rutene and Kirk Collins.
Arriving nice and early gave us plenty of time for a decent warm up and some of the ball striking on the range was exceptional! Unfortunately, the 25 minute delay on our starting tee, the tenth, saw the team cool down as we waited for groups to go through that had taken more than two and a half hours to play their first nine holes!
The experienced pairing of Geoff Masters and Phillip Rutene finally got things underway for us and Geoff rocketed out to an early three up lead. His opponent took a while to get things going but once he did, Geoff soon realised he was in a tough battle. He did his best, but his opponent played well as he went about eating into Geoff’s early lead. Phil was in a tight match of his own throughout the day and as a pair, he and Geoff were always slightly on the back foot in their fourball match. They lost the fourball 3/2 but both singles matches went to the last hole with everything to play for. As mentioned earlier, Phil earned a hard-fought half but Geoff would be the first to register one of those heart-breaking one down losses.
David Cook spent quite a bit of time unsuccessfully searching for his opponents ball throughout his round but he and playing partner Geoff McKay worked well together as they both found themselves in tight matches. All three of this groups’ matches hung in the balance as they stepped onto the ninth tee, our finishing hole for the day. Making sure he didn’t miss to the right where it is dead, Geoff’s tee shot went left and narrowly missed hitting teammate John Ryan as he was preparing to hit his tee shot on the previous hole. Geoff still had a look at the green but he was a long way out. Cooky did miss slightly right meaning he did not have a clear shot to the green but he showed great composure and course management to do what was needed to secure his one up win. Nice work Cooky! Unfortunately, Geoff’s match went the other way, as did the pair’s fourball. Add another two one down losses to the tally!
Jason Paku and John Ryan traded wins and losses with their opponents throughout the round as more close matches ensued. While Jason fell behind in his match throughout the second nine, John’s remained close, as did the fourball. Jason would fall to a 3/2 loss and the pair could only keep the fourball alive for one more hole, losing that 2/1. With John’s match going all the way to the last, he would be yet another to suffer the dreaded one down loss. A great effort though.
The team very much appreciated Kirk Collins answering the call as a last-minute replacement and with Kirk coming off a recent four under par round at this course, playing partner Nathan Frew didn’t think he was going to have to worry too much about the fourball side of things. Unfortunately, both fell behind through a mixture of good play from their opponents, a few silly mistakes and, in Kirk’s case, some unlucky bounces leaving him with tree trouble. An impressive par save on the 18th from Nathan was enough to get his match to two down and the fourball back to one down. Kirk was also one down at this point and both players felt the need for a quick refreshment break before making the walk to the first tee. Feeling refreshed and in a positive state of mind, both would lose the next hole! Kirk would lose the next as well but then the comebacks began to take shape. Kirk would win three in a row and when Nathan’s 58 foot eagle putt dropped on the par 5, 5th, Nathan was one down, Kirk one up and the pair were one down in the fourball. Kirk’s opponent irritatingly made two lengthy puts on holes seven and eight to keep BFHGC one up in the fourball heading to the last. At the same point, Nathan was all square and Kirk one up. Then the “ninth hole wobbles” struck again. Both bogeyed to lose the hole, resulting in the pair only walking away with the half point earned by Kirk.
Team Captain Brent Mackenzie won the first hole with a bogey and based on the way his opponent played the first few holes, he wondered if he had drawn a “sacrificial lamb” at the top of the order. As it turns out, his initial impressions were inaccurate and when Brent went to pull his nine iron on the second hole (the par 3, 11th) to realise he had left it at home, the bad omens were circling. It seems Brent’s daughter had been playing around with the club earlier in the week and only returned it next to Brent’s bag rather than in it. If only she had played around with his driver instead, things may have worked out better for Brent! He wasn’t happy with how he was playing, later telling the team that he was all over the place off the tee with driver and as the team watched him walking the last hole, we realised the only hope of adding to the dismal points tally rested with his playing partner Peter Jackson. Brent lost 2/1 and the pair lost the fourball by the same margin.
Jacko’s form returned after being disappointed with his efforts in the previous round. His match was tight all the way and even though he kept a clean card for the second nine, his opponent did enough to take a one up lead to the final hole. There were high hopes that Jacko could buck the trend of how things had gone for the team on this hole previously but when his approach missed the green to the left, the chances of him winning the hole to halve his match were all but gone. Jacko still wanted to see his opponents putt from 10 feet even though he had three putts to win the match. While this provided some amusement for those of us watching, we ultimately witnessed one more one down loss.
We did our best to drown our sorrows on the van ride home, some more than others, and even though we suffered a heavy loss, there was great team spirit on display. Brent’s driving of the van was about as questionable as his driving off the tee, resulting in multiple complaints from the back seat! Brent struggled to hit most of the very large greens at BFHGC but he demonstrated laser-like accuracy when it came to finding even the smallest of potholes! Seriously though, thanks to Brent for driving and organising the van pick up and drop-off. It is much appreciated by the team.
Back home this coming Saturday to take on RWGC. Looking forward to a great day at the club with all three of our 18 hole interclub teams playing home matches. Lets get some W’s!
Nathan Frew