Round one saw 103 of the 128 registered players participating, with plenty of team pride shown.
The weather forecast is looking a bit damp and that might keep a few away, but field numbers are building nicely again.
The stableford competition is likely to a bit more suited to some of the Premier League teams.
Round two will see some interesting clashes with the Noorumboon conference featuring all top four teams facing off against a bottom four team.
Match of the round has to be Twos v Eagles & Birdies.
The match pits Brian ‘Billy’ Bourke against his partner Mandy Phyland. Both led their teams in scoring last week, and Eagles & Birdies will no doubt be desperate to get their first win on the board being one of the favourites heading into the season. Expect a consistent performance from them.
Twos had the benefit of a great score last week from Bourke, scoring 40 points, can he do it again or who steps up this week?
Early pick is Eagles & Birdies in a close one.
Form from round one points to a close contest between Taylor Maids and The Jackson 8.
The big question is the consistency of The Jackson 8; they benefited from two good scores from Jordan Treble (40) and Carol Hardman (37), can they do it again or does someone else lead the scorers?
Taylor Maids will bring their consistency and as such the Pastoral Times expect them to just sneak in for the win.
COVID-8 will be heavy favourites when they play Da Cluster. Da Cluster were way down last week and the young lads will need to find some form if they are to challenge COVID-8.
Golf Mates are expected to put in another consistent team effort, so the Ones cannot take this week easy.
While the league prediction is for an easy One’s win, this may be a much closer contest than predicted with Ones claiming the victory.
In the Steam Plains conference, Bush Whackers escaped with a win last week, but a team of four will not make the cut this week.
The Merinos were the surprise packet last week, and Jim Poka jnr won’t have two bad weeks in a row.
Merinos will take this one, and it could be close if the Bush Whackers can boost their number of players.
Hit & Hope take on Local Knowledge. Hit & Hope are another team looking for an improved performance, but the reality is that Local Knowledge are likely to be too good based on last week’s form.
Old Boys have a few ins this week, and are likely to have all eight players on course
The Wedgies while victorious in round one will need to improve if they are to be in the running.
Old Boys are likely to take this out, but the weather could be an important factor with a couple of Wedgies down early on the timesheet.
We believe the message has gone out to Pennant Team to wear team shirts this week, no excuses.
They will certainly look the part and while an improved performance is expected from The Mighty Mulligans, they are coming from a long way back, and are unlikely to challenge the Pennant Team this week.
Ladders after round one are as follows:
Steam Plains: The Wedgies, 2 (106.72%); Bush Whackers, 2 (102.56%); Pennant Team, 2 (102.26%); The Merinos, 2 (100.73%); Old Boys, 0 (99.28%); Local Knowledge, 0 (97.79%); Hit & Hope, 0 (97.5%); Mighty Mulligans, 0 (93.7%).
Noorumboon: Twos, 2 (116.53%); Ones, 2 (104.44%); The Jackson 8, 2 (102.99%); COVID-8, 2 (100.75%); Golf Mates, 0 (99.26%); Eagles & Birdies, 0 (97.1%); TaylorMaids, 0 (95.74%); Da Cluster, 0 (85.82%).
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