Monthly Archives: July 2015

Result from the Citabel 3 club challenge – Kikuoka – 29 July 2015

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Yesterday 22 hardy FROGS members braved the blustery conditions armed with only 3 clubs each, some bacon rolls (top idea, what will our starters come up with next?) and beer or German! red wine kindly offered by our starter, the evergreen Froggosorus Swerve – thanks, Merve! With wind and course conditions verging on the Scottish, early speculation was that the Scots would do well – Dennis did not, Bottie did well to miss a golf society event for the first time in his adult (?) life, but Gregor managed to fly that sexy blue & white flag (I still regret not being able to get that (real) Ryder Cup sweater!).

Imagine the disappointment of Lost Ball Brown when he was told that there wouldn’t be a longest drive, but rather a Leary which NO-ONE won!! I’ve recently been told that words like “abysmal” may not go down too well with some of the more sensitive FROGS (collectively Froggosori Preciosi), but that “shyte” has always been acceptable, so there you have it…. Thanks to Citabel for sponsoring the event again.

Looking at the scorecards tells its own story: consistency certainly isn’t a FROGS strength. In a valiant effort to turn around the gloom that descended over the Lost Continent of Down Under on 29 July 2015, a certain Mark Gillies (aka Froggosorus Antipodea or Froggosorus Vegemitea – often difficult to know the full provenance of these due to their – ughm – breeding habits), fresh from the plane from Bermuda (yes, some have it tough), managed some consistency despite not carrying a putter and came in with 15 points, which (remarkably? maybe not…) was just good enough for the win.

A whole host (6 if I recall) of FROGS managed 13 points, but countback for 2nd and 3rd (or first loser and second loser if you’re from South of the Equator) went to Gregor Dalrymple and Will-I-Am-(not) Heath, each with 14 points. Believe it or not, the prime beneficiary of the FROGS members apparent lack of control (our Aussie friend came close, but alas…) into the wind and the resulting failure of all 22 of us to hit the 9th green in two, was Steve Brown, as lucky loser on 13, beating 5 others on countback.

Colin Fraser managed to hit the green and get his ball inside Chris Juste (I hope that’s the last time I ever have to utter those 6 words!) on another (2nd this year!) rare outing for our Veggie Veteran (aka Froggosurus Verte) – who says that we’re not inclusive! – to win the nearest to the pin and, I think, a smashing orange (though slightly sun bleached) cap. David Hopwood (Froggosorus Bownce) managed an abysmally (I can say that, he’s not a Preciosi) low score to comprehensively win the pink ball, despite gallant efforts by at least two others.

Reminders/upcoming events: next event is on Wednesday 5th of August at Junglinster (you can check event details here: http://www.frogs.lu/index.php/schedule-2015/. Your starter, Lost Ball Brown, should be in contact soon. The final CITCO event (which will likely include the showdown between Bottie (Froggosorus Deminutus) and Simon the Bakerman (Froggosorus Cookie) for the SHRM Matchplay will be at Kikuoka on the 19th. Also, please support the (18 hole) KPMG Individual Championship which will be held at Kikuoka on Saturday, August 29th – last chance for glory as that will conclude our (golfing) activities for yet another season. A big thank you to all of our sponsors again.

Results – CITCO round 8 – Kikuoka – 22 July 2015

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A fine number of FROGS and 2 guests turned up for round 8 of the CITCO Grand Prix at Kikuoka.

Thanks to Will Heath, our starter, who had an impressive size cooler welcoming us on to the 1st tee.

Conditions were steamy, wind was minimal… so there could be no excuses.

The top 6 were all within 2 points of each other so count back came into play.

On 17 points, Mark Houston took 6th place, Frank Maitry picked up 5th, Jonny Hill was 4th and Arnaud Bouteiller ended up 3rd.

Luc De Vet took 2nd with an excellent 18 points.

But our worthy winner on his first outing this season, I believe, was Tony Whiteman, who took 1st place with 19 points.

Although Craig Ferreira almost caught him in the last group, Nick Felfoldi claimed the honours for LD with an excellent drive on the 6th and was happy to receive at last the prize he had won but not won as a guest a few times already this season! Frank Maitry, first out, set himself up nicely on the 7th for NtP and sunk his putt for a birdie but Andrew Paton outdid him going pin high to 2 feet to take the prize – he also made birdie.

There were two winners of the pink ball this week: one, “Man down”, was Steve Kaiser, who through injury did not manage to complete the 9 holes – perhaps awarded slightly unfairly. And the other, as pointed out by our Ryder Cup Captain, is one of the FROGS better golfers and down to play in the singles for the Cup. But don’t worry, Captain oh my Captain, he was clearly just getting rid of all his bad shots in view of the big event this Saturday. Yes, Jess “The Viking” Have took the honour with 8 points.

Best guest award went to Ron Dickie.

With 8 events complete, Andrew Paton has remains in the lead on 86pts but Arnaud Bouteiller is creeping up steadily and is now on 80 points. All to play for in the last 2 rounds.

Thanks to our main sponsor CITCO for their support.

SHRM Match play
The semifinals of the SHRM Match play were also played on this humid evening.

Simon Baker put to the sword Jess “The Viking” Have 3&2.

Jonny Hill saved his best for last and did away with Alan “The Shrek” Botfield winning the last two holes and going through 1up.

Looking forward to the final! Simon Baker v Jonny Hill

Thanks to SHRM for their continued support of the Match play event.

The next CITCO event (Round 9) is at Junglinster on August 5th. Steve Brown will be your host and will be in touch next week.

But the next FROGS event is the Citabel 3 Club Challenge at Kikuoka on 29th July. Merve Herneman will be contacting you shortly.

2015 MIXVoip Pairs – results – Junglinster – 15 July 2015

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32 FROGS and guests took to the Belenhaff hillside for the MIXVoip Pairs last night. Rob McCorduck greeted all players on the 1st teebox with a MIXVoip pitch-repair & choice of cool beers before seeing them off in an orderly fashion. Cheers Rob.

Most FROGS were excited by the idea of having the last three holes considered in the 12-hole competition as the bulk of their what-if stories seemed to be on these when not being counted in previous competitions. Could they handle the pressure now that it mattered? Steve Brown definitely could. A monster drive on the 12 cut the corner & left all others in his wake. It was so far up the fairway, some were claiming that it must have been a ball that rolled out of his bag & down the hill from the first teebox! Longest Drive number 3 this season – BOOM!

A lot of FROGS were confused by the idea of a nearest-to-the-green prize on the 3rd! “Shouldn’t that be nearest to the pin?” they said, “but it is a par 4!” they exclaimed. Once they got to the tee-box on the 3rd, they realised they could forego their usual 5 iron nudge to the dog-leg for something a little longer & take the tiger-line over the long stuff. Take the tiger-line they did, but find the short stuff they did not! Dave Winters kept his head & his regular 5 iron to the corner, running his ball around the bunker, onto the fairway and took the honours.

Full flights of 4’s meant the pace of play was “moderate”, letting the last flights combine to make up a 6-ball. The excitement of which clearly distracted 4 of the 6 players. The Van Rooyen/Parisis and Doherty/McCorduck pairs in the final flight were determined to take the pink ball award with rapid fire drive and reloads sending salvos of balls in random directions about the course. Doherty/McCorduck managed to pip their opposition by one point with their score of 18 points. They were not rewarded with the Pink Ball, but instead received a spicy fruit-based beverage. As it does not contain any alcohol, they are confused with what to do with it!

The Pink Ball was awarded on the night for the “Most Artistic” shot displayed on the course. Colin Cameron was the proud winner having taken his driver to play a ball lodged up a tree, but only managing to send it scurrying backwards down the fairway he had just played up.

There were many pairs licking their lips at the prospect of their mid-20’s score earning them the title, or maybe that was just because their food had not yet arrived. Groans of disappointment were heard around the table when it became clear that high-20’s would be needed to be considered. The pairing of Lowe/Hopwood managed to score 26 points, but this was only enough to 4th place, having lost out to the Van Eysinga/Tippin duo on countback. The Houston/Baxter pairing knew they had two more points than this, so had visions of glory. They did have the highest score on the night with 28 points, but could not match the birdie/birdie/birdie/birdie/birdie finish of team Brown/Botfield, and so had to settle for second place. Congratulations to Steve & Alan on becoming the 2015 MIXVoip Pairs Champions.

Thanks Frank & MIXVoip, for your continued support of the pairs event.

While I have your attention, I think it is a good time to point out some men’s health issues that have been highlighted on WORT.lu this morning. Everyone will be aware of the need to keep checking our bits for lumps & bumps, but domestic abuse against men is something not everyone considers. This morning, the Human Resources department at BNPParibas reported a case of suspected domestic abuse against one of their staff to the relevant authorities. “He arrived to the office this morning – his face was battered & bruised” stated a shocked colleague. The sergeant investigating the case has advised that, while it is unusual, men are also subjected to physical abuse at home. “This case in particularly sad” reported the sergeant, “the victim – referred to Big Dave in order to protect his identity – vehemently denies any wrong doing on his aggressor’s part”. Much like Stockholm syndrome, cases like this see the victim defend their aggressor & invent these cover stories. “He insists on claiming that his facial wounds are as a result of a golfing incident” mocked the sergeant. “We will send a car to investigate the glass door at Junglinster Golf Club, which the victim claims to have run into with his face – but seriously, who does that!” stated the exasperated sergeant. “While he is still visibly emotional about the claimed incident, another flaw in Big Dave’s cover story is the suggestion that all 31 of his friends pointed & laughed at him instead of coming to his assistance!” he reported, “clearly that could not have happened!” It is a sad case, and a warning to us all. Take care out there, FROGS!

Results – CITCO round 7 – Preisch – 2 July 2015

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22 FROGS braved the heat wave conditions of Preisch for round 7 of the CITCO Grand Prix.

Mark Houston, our starter, decided that the FROGs needed to be reminded of their roots and offered up cold beers – or coolish for the last flights – and crisps on the 1st tee. Much appreciated by all.

Although there was another fall in the standard scratch to 14 points, the scoring was close as the FROGS tried to take advantage of a light warm wind and dry fairways. Arnaud Bouteiller tried to claim that the wind stopped him winning the LD but in reality, using his natural abilities and local knowledge, James “Le Roi” King left all trailing in his wake on the 5th. Mark Houston attacked the tight pin position on the 6th but and would have been the worthy winner but…

And now for the results:

Danny Kaiser picked up 5th with a solid 15 points. The next three places all shared 18 points so the count back mechanism came into play: Mark Houston took 4th place, Andrew Paton was pushed into 3rd by Arnaud Bouteiller.

But where was our French FROG? Still on the course trying to work out how he had messed up his round with a double bogey! In any case, he was not there.

Unperturbed, Dave Winters took control of the situation: Mark Houston handed over his NTP to Danny Kaiser and then accepted the voucher for 3rd and Andrew Paton moved up to 2nd.

But our worthy winner was Simon Baker who showed that his 18 points of the previous week was no flash in the pan and followed up this 3rd place by taking the winner’s rostrum with 19 points. And this was while taking on Dennis “The Meance” Robertson in his match play (result below), which included a memorable 6th hole: playing his second shot from the water and with Dennis safely on the green and in contention for NTP, Simon halved the hole! Dennis, as you can imagine, was gob smacked!

With 37 points and having only played 2 events could Simon Baker be a dark horse for the CITCO? Just make sure you are there for the next 3 events, Simon!

New candidates put themselves forward for the Pink Ball: Graham Paul, after a beer, sneaked off hoping that this would take his 7 points out of contention and was lucky… (this time!) He was saved by the efforts of Mark Lowe and Colin Cameron, who tied on 6 points. After a very careful [reverse] count back, the Pink Ball was awarded to Mark Lowe. But Mark too had disappeared. Don’t worry, Mark, you cannot escape the Pink Ball and it is being carefully looked after so that you can use it on the 1st tee of your next outing with the FROGS.

With Nick Felfoldi having retired from the role since becoming a proud member of the FROGS, Best guest award went to Keith Burman.

With 7 events complete, Andrew Paton has managed to increase his lead from 7 to 9 points over Dennis Robertson, who is still in second place with 77 points. Arnaud Bouteiller on 76 points has taken over 3rd place from Duncan Tippin.

Despite Dennis, in a moment of depression after his turbulent evening and as he drowned himself in bottle after bottle of rosé, ceding his title, there is still all to play for in the last 3 events.

Thanks to our main sponsor CITCO for their support.

The next CITCO event is at Kikuoka on July 22nd. Will Heath will be in touch.

But the next FROGS event is the MIXvoip Pairs on 15th July sponsored by Frank Maitry. Rob McCorduck will be contacting you next week with details including confirmation of where the event will be held.

SHRM Match play
Quarter finals of the SHRM Matchplay are underway.

Dennis “The Menace” Robertson was beaten 3&1 by Simon Baker Graham Paul’s timely announcements of the scores was also much appreciated by both players.

Jess Have and Stephane Ayache are going to battle it out this Friday while Daniel Kaiser is taking on Jonny Hill over the weekend!
The date and time for the Alan Botfield v Arnaud Bouteiller clash remains a mystery.

Thanks to SHRM for their continued support of the Matchplay event.