The Day
Thanks to the announced earlier than scheduled tee time, most players got an early start and managed to finish early even though the skies opened up at around noon and the rain persisted all afternoon, which some even tried to blame on the new president. Only a few players called it quits, but amazingly enough Bill Lloyd and his foursome turned up at 6pm, some 2 hours later than most and while the prizes ceremony was already well underway.
We had a healthy 6 newcomers: Andrew McDermott, John Melsheimer, John Paul Salgado, Juju Juhairiah, Martin Steinhauser and Mark Sheppard and the usual Welcome Backs topped by Nick Shearman with 9 weeks, but unfortunately a last minute cancellation from our friend Pieter Nielen-Groen who injured his foot and to whom we wish a prompt recovery and return to Tee Set.
To counter the early closing time of Gading Raya, the ex-committee members and some Tee Setters decided to visit the new president’s man cave for some billiard and visit the old Eclectic trophy in its final resting place, pictured here with the Singing ex-President.
The Play
Due to various factors including the one prize rule, some people being OB and a lot of draws most of the winners were determined by the normal criteria and count backs, while a couple were more by executive power.
Low Gross went to Mark Johnson for his 82, while Roger Finnie who tied him was awarded Low Net A Grade for his 70 on a count back from Craig Binks. Low Net B Grade was first awarded to Norman Bunter for his 71, but when Bill Lloyd later showed up with his 70 he was also awarded by presidential decree the coveted Rp100,000. While Low Net C Grade was handed out to Lis Wymer for her 69 also achieved by last week champion Mick Dodsworth.
Based on the one prize rule Low Putts was awarded to Fernando Gaggino for his 26, even though Mark Johnson only had his normal 24. First Par over 30 was won by Lina Bunter for her effort on the 4th hole.
First Sandy Par went to James Ross for his nice recovery on his first hole while First Birdie went to Craig Edwards for his excellent approach that almost went in on the second hole of his up and down round.
Even in the dreary conditions only 4 skirts were reported, including 3 regular recipients: President Pastis Pascal, ex-VP Mel Cantarella who had conveniently left the room during the award to no doubt try to evade the photo but was later caught for a private one and Ricardo Oliveira on his last game before going back to Portugal he couldn’t possibly have completed without a skirt and newcomer Martin Steinhauser.
In order to avoid discouraging newcomers Andrew McDermott and Martin Steinhauser on their first Tee Set round, the Monster Putter was instead bestowed on the Singing ex-President Craig Ewers for his 38 putts.
An unofficial recognition as “lumberjack of the day” was given to Glen Menyennett for the number of trees he hit on the day, while still smiling.
And finally Most Improved who should have gone to Dennis Wee for his 12 was not awarded as he was OB, so was Most Stroke because Martin Steinhauser with 12 had already paid for his skirt and much to the chagrin of the treasurer charging instead the 6 people on 10 might have been harsh.
You can enjoy more pictures of the day here and consult the player by player results here.
Next Up
A return to the popular Cengkareng (and its famous frozen margaritas) at 750,000 Rp with a tee off time of 12:00, so please register here.
A quick note to wish the incoming President Pascal and Vice Presidents Roger and Ric all the best for the 2017 year. I think my title is now the Singing Ex-Prez. I enjoyed what we all achieved together in Tee Set over the last two years and am now looking forward to enjoying the benefits as a player.
The great day is nearly upon us and, despite the absence in Singapore of Tournament Director Ric Wymer, all is fully-under-control-chaos with his Whatsapp red-hot working overtime in whipping the dilatory into shape from afar.
A last chance to practice with Tee Set before the Championship at the lovely Jagorawi on Sunday, the last day of the 2016 Interleague Season when the Tee Set Team will be looking to consolidate their season with a strong performance against Pocksia.
A small hardcore went to on to the Web Guy’s man cave for coffee and hot pies in order to discuss Tee Set past and future and solve a large number of the world’s current issues besides.
For the first time in a very long time we had just one Skirt to award at Matoa, traditionally not a course where the Treasure gathers in too much in the way of Skirt fines so well done to Steven Pattis who had the privilege of getting to wear our full suite of Skirt paraphernalia all on his own.
An important issue to be resolved at the Championship is of course the election of officials, ie President and Vice-Presidents, for the 2016/2017 Season. Should you wish to nominate a President or a Vice-President (up to 3) then that is not more difficult than 
Team GB1 played solid golf to take second place. Mike and Stuart had a few ball problems, with Stuart eventually finishing his round a little earlier than plan to go and sort his out.
Individual play was nowhere near as good as when playing the previous week as a team but some great individual efforts over the two weeks from Wina (Srikandi) who took the singles prize from Tom (Great Lakes Alliance) and Simon (GB1) in the third place. Husband and wife Ric and Lis both played well, having the same net score, in both legs – can’t argue about that guys!
Thanks to Riverside for the event and apologies for being such an inconvenience on what you clearly knew was a busy tournament day. Even with our start delayed until after 1pm, we clearly stopped your caddies having a decent break between rounds and made them work into the dark. Had we known we would have been such a burden, we would have maintained our scheduled booking at the lovely Bogor Raya. Riverside is an outstanding course, which polarises Tee Setters – some love it and some struggle – but a combination of factors has caused us to recommend a change of venue for the event next year.
The post-match was as pleasant as ever, with spare bottles of wine being distributed among the groups. Thanks to Brenda, Aisha, Bebe, Ric, Keith and all the captains for making the event a lot of fun and producing a fair result in what was an experimental format that still leaves some a little confused, not least some of the committee despite having devised it.
