Last Weekend of Freedom

Only joking. I plan to still have some freedom once the family returns. That's the plan anyway.

Perth Glory were playing at 7pm on Friday so it was a case of buying something for tea, Subway as it turned out, and heading off to the match. No time to go home. It was a good game but was it Damian Mori's last game in the Glory's colours? It was a good game, not least because Glory beat New Zealand Knights 3-0. Mori did the hard work to set up the final goal but didn't get on the scoresheet himself.



I waited until nearly 11 o'clock in Korea before ringing my missus. It was her last day of work and she wasn't home yet but the boy was still awake. I think that he misses her a lot while she's at work and stays up until she returns so that he can have a chat. Can't be angry with him for that I suppose.

Saturday morning I was up before 6 to allow me to get a huge lot of washing done before being picked up by Shayne for golf at Hammersley Public Golf Course. I wasn't too impressed with the service in the pro shop. No credit cards for green fees accepted and the guy didn't even want to give me a scorecard. Played again with Joe, Shayne's cousin, and Wazza. Bumped into John on the putting green who took my job when I moved to my current place of employ. I greeted him with the nice greeting of "The things you see when you haven't got a gun." His friend Dave thought that that was a bit rough but that's the way we greet our friends in Oz.

Bit of an enigma is young Wazza. He tried a few shots before our tee time with some new clubs that had graphite shafts and was so impressed that he bought the full set of irons and woods with a bag and buggy. He almost needed to buy more balls as he lost five and spent a lot of time thrashing about off the fairway.

Wazza's 4th shot on the par-5 3rd.

Wazza's 5th shot on the par-5 3rd. It's almost as difficult as his 4th shot.

My game was quite good early on apart from missing a couple of putts for par on the 1st and 2nd. I had a 12 foot birdie putt on the fourth and walked off with a bogey. Filthy with myself. Then came a 10, with three putts, on the par-5 6th. Had to chip out of trouble twice. I was absolutely filthy with myself. On the par-3 7th Wazza didn't reach the ladies tee off the tee. That facilitated a round of soft drinks after the game that was much appreciated. The 7th is an interesting hole as once everybody is on the green you call the next group to have their tee shots and then resume play. It has obviously casued a lot of hold-ups in the past. You have a fence to hide behind. When we were on the next tee we saw someone almost score a hole in one. Shayne had a run of four consecutive holes where he required only 1 putt including a birdie on a par-3. Top stuff!

Front Nine Scores:

Shayne 61 - 17 putts
Me 50 - 19 putts
Joe 54 - 17 putts
Wazza 57 - 23 putts

The 10th saw me score my first par for the day when I dropped a six footer. On the 11th Shayne hit two balls off the tee out of bounds to the right. It appears that his third ball off the tee hit the out of bounds fence on the left but came back into play. I parred the 12th. Things were looking up. On the 13th I had about a 8-10 foot putt for birdie. Sadly, very bloody sadly, I took four putts and ended up with a double bogey. And I thought that I was filthy with myself after my 10. Temper levels rose to extreme rating.

Back Nine and Total Scores :

Shayne 63 - 18 putts, Total 124
Me 48 - 16 putts, Total 98
Joe 57 - 17 putts, Total 111
Wazza 64 - 20 putts, Total 121

Shayne had the best run of putting, Joe was the best putter (or was that only because he couldn't reach the greens?) and Wazza needs a new set of golf clubs. Oh that's right, he bought a new set on the day. Well, I broke a hundred on an unfamiliar course but three particularly bad holes marred my day. Gosh, does that mean I was happy with the 15 other holes? Hmm, not altogether. Still a bit of improvement to go. We took some video of our shots and I picked up something that will help my game as I lean backwards when I take my shot. No wonder I slice the ball a lot. The sway doesn't appear in my warm-up swing. Something to work on. I'll have time for a game on Thursday before I fly out.

The perfect finish to a day's golf. We stood at the back of Shayne's 4WD and stuffed ourselves. I wonder if this will become our 19th hole.

Had a good chat to the missus once I returned home. She's managed to work out a bus schedule for me to get to Geoje-shi after landing at Incheon Airport on Friday morning. Should get there in time for the boy's final taekwondo lesson. I needed an early bedtime last night.

Not least of which because I had to be up at 4 o'clock to watch Uruguay play Australia in the first leg of a World Cup 2006 qualifier. The Aussies played a good first half but didn't score with all the pressure they had the Uruguayan defence under and then a defensive lapse let the Uruguayans score - magnificent cross from Alvaro Recoba, it has to be said.

I was just about to make breakfast when the phone rang. "Who the hell would be ringing me at 5 to 5 on a Sunday morning?" I thought. No, it wasn't a death in the family but my mate Bill was watching the game also and he knew that I would be up also.

Unfortunately we need to win the return leg in Sydney on Wednesday but the bloody game starts at 4pm Perth time and I'm only going to get home as the match finishes. I should have a word with the guys at FIFA and get them to sort it out. It's not good enough. Should be a cracker of a game though.

I suppose that I should finish packing up my luggage and clean the house so that the missus returns to a spotless abode and thinks that I've been well behaved while she has been gone.

Post script: What happened to equality of the sexes?

Men and women aren't treated equally. I should complain to the Equal Opportunities Commision.

Little bit tricky for the ladies to tee off here.