A few showers were predicted for Wednesday afternoon, however despite that forecast all of the Wagglers got off their couches to turn up for golf, so we had a field of 26 players in total to start the day. That was after a Morgan withdrawal and a TK addition, plus a visitor Grant Woodham addition.

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The conditions were benign at the start and we all teed off with the expectations that all 26 players would get back into the club house to celebrate Jarod's 50th birthday.  Not to be, as the drama for the afternoon unfolded over the next 12 holes.

 

Firstly it should be acknowledged that the glamour group for the day was Henderson, Laney, Duncan Croudis (not Kallum) and Keenan.  Duncan's first baby steps towards Waitahuna no doubt.  On the No 1 tee they elected to toss the balls for the team haggle and it was LIV golfer Henderson and Duncan Croudis who paired up against Laney and Keenan.  Duncan was on a plus 5 and Mike on a 3 handicap, so it should have been a cake walk for them with 8 shots in the bag. Not so, as after 7 holes where Duncan had made 4 birdies on the trot, they were three down in the haggle and looking for miracles.  It was about this time that the rain started to fall and it got progressively worse until the greens became very sodden. They continued on and played out the Glen with water well settled on the green and clambered up the rope walk to attack the 12th hole.  In front of them was a Phantom group including Stepper Grant, Tony and Jarod who were coping very well, as would show in later results, with Tony cleaning up the Blue Jacket.  However Bruce decided that the front pin was unplayable and shifted it to the back of the green after playing out the hole. This confused the glamour group behind them who had a number of bogies here and sadly decided to call a halt on their golf.

 

The pin replacement did not become apparent until after the third Guinness in the club rooms later, where Mike was perplexed when Bruce said he played a 7 iron into the green, when he and Murray Edgar had played a 5 iron. This could be as bad as Farm Gate and Egg Gate thought Mike while contemplating the R&A rules of golf around pin changes.  About this time on the course there seemed to be a number of medical exemptions taking place, as we do have some doctors in the group who get called on at times to administer their trade. We had Geoff Laney  and Kallum withdraw from the field with mild flu symptoms, so hope all is OK.  At the same time the glamour group decided to retire to the bar after just 12 holes of play....as Vaughn would say "a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush"

 

The residual groups continued to battle out the remaining holes in miserable conditions to record some mixed scores.  The team scores were as follows:

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First 6 holes won convincingly in 33 points by Henderson, Laney, Croudis and Keenan.  The second 6 holes shared between 3 groups in 36 points, being teams Ellis/Edgar/Woodham, Williden/Attenborough/Grant and      Senaka/Sandy/Nugget/Kallum. The third 6 holes won with an impressive 47 points by Williden/Attenborough/Grant.

 

The Blue Jacket won by Tony Attenborough who shot 76 in very trying conditions and a clear 3 point winner with 38 stableford points.  The Swingers trophy was won by Duncan Croudis, (surely the first of many nights out in Balclutha )who had four birdies after playing just 12 holes. What a pity the weather was so bad and what may have been the birdie count if he had played 18 holes.

 

The raffle was won by Vaughn Keenan with number 25.

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We sang a hearty happy birthday to Jarrod Williden, reportedly aged 50 years, spring chicken.