[PHOTO: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images]
It was another riveting day’s golf in the second round. Here are some of observations from on the ground.
Turf crew under the pump
Spare a thought for the greenkeeping staff at The Grange Golf Club who have kept the course in superb condition for the second rendition of LIV Golf Adelaide.
Superintendent Rowan Daymond’s crew of 30 have been joined by 30 volunteer turf managers from interstate for the biggest week in Australian golf.
They faced a challenging lead in to tournament week with Adelaide’s dry spell impacting preparation. In addition, half the maintenance team have come down with the flu, according to Turfgrass magazine editor Brett Robinson.
Their day begins at 3:30am with a team meeting. They’re out on the course by 4:30am and must complete the course preparation by 9am. In a little more than four hours they will cut all tees, greens and surrounds with walk-behind hand mowers. Fairways will be cut with ride-on mowers.
Once they’ve finished the prep, some of the crew will accompany a group around the course to ‘level’ the bunker bases after a shot.
Post-round, the crew will ‘blow’ the course and ‘divot bomb’ tees and landing areas on fairways. They’ll also do ‘moisture measuring’ on the greens and a hand water if required. Plus, they will check the green speed so as they’re running between 12.5 and 13 on the Stimpmeter for the next day’s round.
A standard finish for the crew/volunteers is anywhere between 7 and 8pm.
Drive away in style
Guests in the Barossa hospitality suite overlooking the 158-metre, par-3 14th hole have a particular reason to be rooting for their favourite player: the opportunity to win an MG4 XPOWER electric motor vehicle valued at $60,990.
All they need to do was enter their contact details and 1) Nominate a player to score an ace; 2) If their player gets a hole-in-one, they go into the draw to win the MG4 X Power.
Those who picked Matt Jones would have felt jilted in round one when his ball struck the flagstick, only to defy gravity and settle an inch from the cup.
Dean Burmester of Stinger GC throws out a hat to the crowd on the 12th hole. [Photo: Mark Brake/Getty Images]
A different type of sustenance
It requires sustenance to play professional golf, especially when spending eight hours a day at the course. During a round, many golfers will opt for a banana, ‘power bar’ or some other finger food to maintain their energy.
However South African Dean Burmester [above], winner of LIV Golf Miami, caught the attention late into his round when he pulled out a clear plastic bag of a brown, tacky substance.
It piqued the curiosity of one wag in the gallery who called out: “What have you got, mate?”
To which Burmester replied: “A little bit of biltong, mate.”
The dry, cured meat must have done the trick because Burmester produced a beautiful approach to set up birdie in a six-under 66 that put him three strokes from leader Brendan Steele.
Shot ‘Off’ The Day
Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent produced the most improbable of birdies in the second round. From the left side of the fairway on the 345-metre, par-4 18th, Vincent airmailed the green into the Club 54 hospitality suite.
Vincent clearly had too much club and onlookers feared for the worst as the ball clattered into something hard – no flesh – striking the back of the outdoor viewing deck before ricocheting back onto the course and finishing 15 feet from the flagstick on the fringe of the green.
Of course, Vincent sank the putt to rapturous applause.
