Hough's It Ricci Cloud and Jared Solomon maintained their 1st round grip on this first Men’s major of the year when they added another 45 Betterball Stableford points to their opening 48 pointer for a total of 93 that was too good for the rest of the field. Great golf gents! Ricci and Solly with The Sid Brews Trophy |
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Next up on the club’s annual tournament calendar will be the Club Championships, with the Ladies and Men’s C Div playing on the weekend of the 24th and 25th of February, and then the Men’s A & B Divs playing the following weekend on the 3rd & 4th of March. The entry lists are up on the shop windows.
This Saturday sees the opening of the new 12th hole, with 2 shotgun starts at 7:15am and 12:15pm, followed by a Braai on the Roof after golf.
And the next big club function will be the Captains Birthday Bash on Saturday March 10th. Both Yvonne and I celebrate our birthdays on that same day, so the club decided that any excuse for a party was the thing to do. It’s a big milestone for Yvonne as she hits the big Six Oh, so the theme will be a 60’s evening with a DJ and dancing, delicious chow and lots of whisky, beer, gin and wine.
The liquor tastings will take place between 6 and 7pm that night, during which time we’ll do the prize-giving for the day, and the draw for the R50k raffle at 6:30pm.
During the day, we’ve lined up some big prizes for nearest the pins on all the short holes, which include Amor luxury perfume, separate Bitcoin prizes for the guys and the dolls on the 9th, the normal Pogir-sponsored R10k cash prize, plus a night for 2 people – with brekkos – at the 4 Seasons Westcliff hotel! Hough abought that?
Tables for the dinner are for 10 people, so book early with us to avoid missing out on this great evening.
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Local: Chilean visitor and rookie Tour Pro Matias Calderon sank a 10m birdie putt on the tough par 4 finishing hole at Eye of Africa on Sunday to get out of the tie with overnight leader Combrink Smit, and take the SA PGA Championships trophy. I was lucky enough to be invited to take part in last Tuesday’s Pro-Am at ‘The Eye’, and what a treat it was. The course is in great condition, with the greens rolling smooth and fast, and the knee-high rough was a helluva challenge if you strayed from the pretty wide fairways. Then during the event, the Sunshine Tour’s Selwyn Nathan announced 2 new events for the stay-at-home pros at some of the best courses in Gauteng, namely our Nicklaus cousins at Serengeti and Steyn City. Serengeti is now owned by the man who also owns The Eye, our own member and developer David Nagle, and it’s great to see Dave and his team getting so involved in the development of the game and the Tour.
PGA Tour: Unheralded lefty Ted Potter Jnr prevailed over a stellar chasing bunch on Sunday at Pebble Beach, where everyone had thought it would be a cakewalk for World #1 DJ, but Jason Day, Phil and an in-form Chez Reavie were also in the mix, but none could prise away Potter Jnr’s vice-like grip on the trophy.
DJ had a 4-shot lead mid way through Saturday’s 3rd round, but then suddenly went AWOL with 7 bogeys in his next 27 holes or so, something that wasn’t quite expected. Day seems resurgent of late, and Phil at 47yo still contends and looks to be in good form after quite a few Top 5 and 10 finishes this season, plus he’s now played himself into the Top 12 in the US Ryder Cup standings. Phil – who’ll be 48 when the R-Cup matches are played later this year - has played on every US Ryder Cup team since Oak Hill in 1995, and has always played his way onto the team, never once relying on a Captain’s pick.
Reavie, in great shape following 2 consecutive runner-up finishes, is also well in the mix of the R-Cup standings at #9 on the list.
Ted Potter Jnr and the former Mayor of Carmel, Clint ‘Dirty Harry’ Eastwood! |
Tiger returns this week in the Genesis event at Riviera, the only course on the PGA Tour schedule that features kikuyu grass – and rough - and the tree-lined course offers warning signs for wayward drivers, so Tiger’s gonna have his work cut out to drive a whole lot straighter than what he did at Torrey Pines two weeks ago. If he doesn’t adjust the GPS settings on his driver, then he’s due for a weekend on the couch!
That’s about all for this week.
Have a great one.
Kappy. |