One for the blue boys

This blog tries to steer clear of rampant non-golfing or non-tour/tourer posts, but I just couldn't let this one go past without posting it somewhere - and I'm a blues supporter.

99 Fev Balloons

Another one bites the dust

I have just been reliably informed that Mr Glenn "I can't ever finish a round" Simpson is going to be a no-show for the 2008 festivities. Apparently he thinks it's more important that he go to Thailand and "see his brother". I think we all know what that's a euphamism for - that's right, ladyboys drinking.

Trim, Taut and Terrific

The 2007 champion is gearing up to defend his title. Can he create the back-to-back trifecta, The Storm, The Cats and The Gus? Only time will tell.....

Early Ins and Outs

Well, it looks like we are losing a sparrow and probably a C.Simpson, but they may be replaced with last year's recalcitrants - Big Mike and Kingy although at this stage nothing is definite. Either of you two boys like to comment?

Let the Countdown Begin

109 days or
15 weeks or
2616 hours or
156,960 minutes or
9,417,600 seconds

until the convoy begins. Are we ready for our own 9/11 (good thing we do the whole d/m/y thing differently to the US otherwise it would just be a boring 11/9)?

Same old, same old

Well, not too many goings on to report. This is just one of those "thought I should put something in in case they deactivate the blog" type entries. The Cats and the Storm are, as expected, working their way to the inevitable back to back premierships, Queensland are a monty for the State of Origin and The Big V took the cake in the game nobody seemed to care about.

About the only thing of any note at all is that there was a card game for a few of the bretheren and some ring-ins a couple of weeks ago. A good night (and early hours of the morning) was had by all; nobody lost a sheep station and a few walked away with more than they started.

Which One's the Baby - a.k.a. Harty's Photos

If you want to have a look at the photos from the Hart-Pearce trip to Vietnam, look no further

Here they are

The Great Northern Travellers

Well, it seems that a number of the bretheren are back from traipsing around the world creating mischief.

Harty and Pearcy are back from Vietnam

Nigel is back from the USA, Canada, Mexico and Cuba

Craig is back from the big Red Centre

Bill has returned from Olinda

Jack is back from Portarlington

Over the next few days/weeks I will post some pictures etc as they are made available to me. The one in this blog entry is from Nigel and is a streetscape from Trinidad in Cuba.

Holiday Adventures

Well, it's been a while since the last post so I thought I should put something in in case they decide to pull the blog for being inactive. There isn't a whole lot of news to report, but a number of our bretheren have been or are going on holidays.

Pearcey and Harty have gone off to Vietnam for a bit of a pounding look-see and to visit some current and ex-tourers, Messers C. Simpson and J. Roberts

Mr Tingate has just returned from a sojourn to Alice and the Rock and I'm sure will be regaling us all with stories of the Alice Springs golf club.

Mr Roulston is off to the US of A and the Republic of Cuba for a holiday with his missus. Golf however is unlikely to be on the itinerary, but you never know.

The other bit of interest is that there has been some talk that this year will be the 3rd at Rich River, and perhaps it may be time to start thinking about a new venue for 2009? The obvious requirements are - economic viability, space for ~ 20 blokes, at least 2 courses (if not together, then very very close), preferably on the river, driveable in a reasonable amount of time from Melbourne, proximity to pub and punt venues. Any thoughts? Do you even want to move? Chuck 'em in the comments.

More later......

The Drummonds do Melbourne

Although not a recent tourer, he is a man with his name on the trophy 3 times for the Northern and twice for the Mildura tours. So, it's always good to see Jim and his lovely wife Kay when they pop in for a southern sojourn. They seemed in good spirits and I'm sure were off to have a great time with The Bear and the fabulous Sue at Spam-a-lot.

Great Northern Tour 2007 - The Movie

Well, it was only a matter of time before the tour became a straight to TV daytime movie, and now you can own your very own piece of it.

In full living colour you can see the glory of Anthony Pearce as he strides down the fairway and witness the glory of the 2007 champion as he holes the championship putt. Anyway, if you want a copy, let the usual suspects know and we'll try and get one to you.

Nearest the Pins 2007

Round 1

3rd - Gus
8th -
12th -
16th - Harty

Round 2

4th - Craig

8th -

13th - Craig

Round 3

3rd -

8th - Pop

12th - Nigel

16th - Craig

Championship Round

4th - Phantom

8th - Glenn

13th - Laney

Score Changes!

Well, it seems that some of our tour bretheren have difficulties in the mathemagical arts. After taking the scorecards and having them added up by someone who doesn't have to take his pants off to count to 21 (ie, not one of our bovine brothers), there have been some changes in the final scores. It should be noted that out of the 4 cards on the last day, 3 of them were wrong! Not bad for a bunch of ex and current statisticians, a guy from Treasury, a teacher, a bloke who runs his own business, a market researcher and a financial advisor.

So, the fallout is as follows:

Gus is still the champion with 136

Pop Palmer comes in at outright 2nd on 140

Craig, Nigel and Mick De Nittis (Phantom) end up at equal 3rd on 146

Garry Martin and Greg Lennox equal 6th on 149

Gary Lennox outright 8th on 151

Rob Hart, 9th on 153

Tony Lane, Glenn Simpson, Vaughn Moore and Greg Attrill equal 10th on 157

The Metronome 14th on 170

Col Simpson and Tony Pearce were both DNF

Pictures from the tour 2007

For some more pictures of the tour, try here

If any of the tourers (or friends) would like the full hi-res versions, just let one of the usual suspects know and we'll organise something. Be warned though, they aren't small (about 500Mb).

A New Champion!

After trying for many years and being the perennial runner up, Robert "Gus" Starke has taken the next step in his golfing career to become the 2007 Great Northern Tour champion. After a particularly poignant (and unexpectedly sober) speech by the 2006 champion, Greg Attrill, the Bee Moore Trophy was handed over to Gus and met with tumultuous applause (and a very short version of "For he's a jolly good fellow" loudly led by Robert Hart, another previous champion).

It is unlikely that there has ever been a more deserving nor a more popular winner and the blog would like to extend its personal congratulations.

For the record, Gus won with a score of 136 (2 rounds of 68), and was followed by Messers Palmer and Roulston on 140.

More scores and photographs to follow over the coming days.

New Look

The Northern Tour blog is now sporting a fancy new look! "Why?" you may ask. "I'm not sure" I may answer.

Basically, I was just bored with the old one. If you don't like the new one, please leave a comment that I'll go right ahead and ignore.

Only Two More Sleeps

Well my beloved blog readers, it's only two more sleeps until the convoy begin the trek to the river for this year's event. A fair bit has happened over the last week or so. The cup has been run and won, Mr Pearce has come out the winner on the punt - there is something quite disturbing about typing Pearce and winner in the same sentence.... there has been some murmuring from another old tourer threatening to make a comeback (Mr Vaughn Moore) and the election campaign has hit its peak with the only people showing any interest seeming to be the candidates themselves.

So, as per usual, we will try to keep you updated with scores and ladders and things, but the availability of electricity and tin cans with wet string may mean that these postings will be few and far between. You never know though, in the last 12 months Echuca may well have caught up with the rest of the world (although I doubt it).

So, for the tourers, Good Luck and we'll see you Sunday, for the rest of you (and I doubt there are many), we'll try to keep you posted.

Hypothetical Market

Hypothetically, if this was a professional sporting event, and if there was a professional gaming authority that was framing a market for that event, then there is conjecture that it would probably look something like this.

Divs	Name	06	05	04	03	02	01	00
$14.00	Bill McNaugtan	5/16	1/12	F	9/9	2/10	7/12	10/12
$10.00	Bob Starke	4/16	2/12	-	-	3/10	2/12	7/12
$13.00	Col Simpson	8/16	F	F	-	F	6/12	-
$10.00	Craig Tingate	7/16	7/12	1/14	5/9	1/10	5/12	6/12
$10.00	Garry Martin	-	-	-	-	-	8/12	5/12
$9.50	Gary Lennox	6/16	5/12	-	-	-	-	-
$10.50	Glenn Simpson	12/16	F	F	4/9	6/10	-	-
$12.00	Greg Attrill	1/16	3/12	2/14	8/9	4/10	3/12	2/12
$10.00	Greg Lennox	F	6/12	4/14	1/9	8/10	-	-
$9.00	John Palmer	F	F	F	-	-	-	-
$11.00	Michael De Nittis	11/16	-	-	-	-	-	-
$9.00	Nigel Roulston	2/16	4/12	F	-	-	-	9/12
$11.00	Peter King	10/16	8/12	8/14	-	-	-	-
$20.00	Rob Hart	3/16	-	7/14	1/9	7/10	-	1/12
$17.00	Tony Lane	F	-	-	-	-	4/12	-
$25.00	Tony Pearce	F	9/12	F	7/9	9/10	1/12	-
	Starters	16	12	14	9	10	12	12

I'm not sure who did the framing of this, but it looks a bit wobbly to me, I mean, John Palmer and Nigel Roulston sitting as the two favourites. Pop hasn't actually posted an official placing in the tour EVER, and Nigel, whilst fluking a second place last year is hardly what I would call true golfing material. All in all I think it's a bit dodgy.

The Honour Roll

This is the honour roll for the Northern and Mildura tours. Our illustrious and all knowing chief handicapper found it somewhere in the archives.

	Northern Tour
1977	B. MACFARLANE
1978	W. RICHARDSON
1979	B. MACFARLANE
1980	J. DRUMMOND
1981	W. RICHARDSON
1982	G. ATTRILL
1983	G. GOOK
1984	J. ROBERTS
1985	D. JONES
1986	G. ATTRILL
1987	B. MACFARLANE
1988	W. RICHARDSON
1989	J. DRUMMOND
1990	T. KENNEDY + D. MAGNUSSON
1991	J. DRUMMOND
1992	T. KENNEDY
1993	G. ATTRILL
1994	T. LANE
1995	S. GILD
1996	K. HARLING
1997	GUMBY
1998	C. TINGATE
1999	C. TINGATE
2000	R. HART
2001	A.J. PEARCE
2002	C. TINGATE
2003	GREG LENNOX + R. HART
2004	C. TINGATE
2005	W. MCNAUGHTAN
2006	G. ATTRILL
2007	R. STARKE
2008	P. KING
2009	GREG LENNOX
	Mildura Tour
1978	D. JONES + G. GOOK
1980	G. ATTRILL
1981	G. ATTRILL
1982	J. ROBERTS
1983	G. GOOK
1984	W. RICHARDSON
1985	B. MACFARLANE + M. HOLDSTOCK
1986	J. DRUMMOND
1987	G. ATTRILL
1988	J. DRUMMOND

How hard is it to be a defending champion?

Well, when you look at the numbers you'd have to say "Pretty bloody hard."
Since 2000, there have been only two multiple winners; Chief Organiser and Handicapping Guru Mr Craig Tingate in 2002 and 2004, and the rotund one, Mr Robert "Harty" Hart who won in 2000 and 2003.

Greg "Jack" Attrill, Our current champion came 3rd in 2005 before following up with the top spot last year, but he's had (provisionally) 5 shots - and hopefully about 5 clubs - stripped off him this year and I think he'll find it a much tougher ask. The pack behind have taken heed of previous experience and have done absolutely no training whatsoever in the hopes of keeping themselves tapered for the big event. Whilst this may be seen by some as unconventional, I recently saw an interview with John Daly and he was saying that it is in fact the perfect way to prepare for a grand-slam level tournament.

Of course, only time will tell, but Jack, if you listen really carefully you might be able to hear the ticking of the metronome, the breathing of the oxen and perhaps even the distant echo of the Geelong theme song. "Be afraid, be very afraid."