Mark Allen's missed black of the spot to make the final...

He'll carry that scar forever.

Me too. I was on at 50/1

Yikes, that must have hurt. Especially as I reckon he'd have been 1/50 or thereabouts to pot that Black (under normal circumstances).

Hi Ray,

What a lovely update, & so nice to hear you are now in such a happy place. What a contrast to when you were playing those 180 Man SNG's on 'Stars & were facing some brutal variance. You got through it though, survived to emerge the other side bigger & better, and then everything fell nicely  into place.

Well done mate, & long may it last.

It's a bit scary how many long-term blondes, many of them 20 years here, are struggling with health. We are all growing old together - obv - at at an age when our bodies start to creak & groan with all manner of ailments.

Has anyone seen or heard of Nirvana lately?

Glenn had heart surgery then suffered a stroke about a year ago. He was undergoing rehab last time I spoke to him which was in November. I have messaged him a few days back, but not heard anything back yet. Will let you know when I do.

Terrible news, but good to hear he seems to be on the mend, according to Little Vinny.

Give him my best regards if chance permits, please.

Kev, sorted.

...and now for something completely different & really quite sensational (if true).

I was watching the LPGA (Ladies) golf at the weekend, the Joburg Ladies Open, & the commentators mentioned a really weird stat featuring New Zealander Amelia Garvey. She's not a world-beater (World Ranking 142) but had a good Tournament, finishing 13th.

So I went over to Wiki to check it, & sure enough, the stat was confirmed on there...


In 2024, during the final round of the Royal St Cloud Women's Championship on the NXXT Women's Pro Tour in Florida, Garvey made history being the first professional golfer to record a par, birdie, eagle, hole in one, and albatross all in one round, a one in 4.5 trillion likelihood.[9] She also had a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and a 6 on her scorecard.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Garvey





It's so unlikely that it's a struggle to believe it happened, but all the google searches seem to confirm it, as did the commentators on the TV.

I'm also a bit perplexed how they worked out the odds of 4.5 trillion to one, or whatever it actually was. How would they work that out?

Most satisfying.

I may have inadvertently contributed to Tom's error.

The 12th & 15th holes are parallel, smack adjacent & in the same direction, with both Greens side by side.

After an errant tee-shot I had elected to go up the "wrong" Fairway, as I was blocked out by trees. My ball landed just shy of the wrong green, as planned, (in a bunker actually) just leaving me a chip over the "wrong" green onto the correct one.

So maybe Tom saw me stood by the wrong green & assumed he should be aiming there.

I could see he was lining up for the wrong Green, but if you say anything whilst he's on his pre-shot routine he gets a bit mardy so I decided it'd be best to say nothing. Etiquette & all that. Besides, our Stabbo scores were tied at the time.

Even after hitting his shot, he never clicked, & strolled up to the Green looking quite pleased with himself, & it was some time before the penny dropped.

Bottom line, he blobbed, I scored 5/3, & I won the round by 2 Stabbos.

Most pleasing.

It's the first Saturday medal of the season tomorrow off the white tees at 11.08am.

Thankfully there's a bit of run and the weather is set fair but it's still plenty long enough for me.

VBOL today Ralph, it is a glorious morning, perfect for golf.

Did you make the money in the tournys?

Epic reply by The Boo

Beautiful day for golf. Teeing off at 9.40, anyone else playing today,

1.30 tee time for me.

 

Update.

Tom is still in hospital but is unable to post on blonde as the Hospital WiFi blocks "gambling sites".

After he was transferred to Coventry on Friday night/Saturday morning, they got him sorted out quite quickly. As I understand it, they found he had some heart issues so they ballooned & stented him up & now he's in fine fettle, slept like a log last night & feels great this morning.

He just has to have an echothingy now, then, fingers crossed he should be able to go home. He's hoping that'll be today, but medication availability on a Sunday may prevent that.

Once he's back home, I'm sure he'll update you properly.

Insane levels of winningness.

How many SCOOP titles this time, & in total?

And he seems to do it in any & all variants.

dont know tom but i have loved reading his diary for many years , light years ahead of all of the others

wishing you as comfortable a recovery as is possible

Huh?

Harsh. Very harsh.

😀

Did you see Ronnies 153?

Morning David.

I doubt he saw it (though I did tell him about it) as he's been unwell all week.

We played golf on Monday, he was 100% fine & normal, but later that evening he was admitted to hospital with severe pains in his chest & upper arms.

This persisted until midweek, he had a couple of really bad nights, then he got chronic fatigue, such that he could barely walk along the corridor to the toilets.

By Thursday he started to recover. I gather it was either a suspected heart attack, or the real thing, I'm unclear which.

When first admitted, he had been referred to the Cardiology Ward & Consultant, but some misunderstanding arose & nothing happened, he just laid in bed in the general ward. So on Thursday he kicked up a fuss & things started to move.

On Friday he was told he'd need to be transferred to Coventry Hospital for an angiogram, & due to Ambulance (non?) availability it might be done at 4am on Saturday.

This morning he told me he was transferred at around 2am, so now he's there & awaiting his angiogram.

Yesterday, the Consultant Bloke cheerfully told him "you'll be able to play golf again in 12 weeks" which I suppose comes under the heading of mixed news...

Throughout, he's been alert & his usual grumpy self, so I don't think he's too bad. Here's this morning's update from the Coventry hospital.....


I've only had drinks and breakfast in Cov but it's definitely a step down. Tea, coffee and hot chocolate all indistinguishable from each other, all like rusty water.

Toast burned on one half and uncooked on the other. I don't mean each side, I mean each half of the same side.

Porridge was Ready  Brek, an egg cup full of which was mixed in front of me using lukewarm water from a jug. I asked for sugar for the porridge and he gave me one of those inch long paper tubes containing less than half a teaspoon, so I asked for more and, with a heavy sigh, he gave me one more.


So that's where we are.

In all seriousness, it was a terrible shock to his pals & of course to him. He's a tough old bird so it must have been bad, but he seems OK now, though still in hossie. More updates as & when I get them, though he may well Post on here himself, hopefully.

Get well soon Tom, we miss you. A bit.

Ahh yes, good spot, I'd clean forgotten about that.