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Geoff Pymar
Slowing down a bit - but still going strong
The New Cross Speedway Team
1946. (L to R) Les Webbon, Mick Mitchell, Keith Harvey, Geoff Pymar, Ron
Johnson (captain), Les Wotton, Eric French, Phil Bishop.
by Elfi
Geoff Pymar began his auto racing career in the early
days of the sport, and for over 20 years was considered one of the greats of
his era.
Born in Eye, England in 1912, he started his racing career in 1929 at the
age of 17. Working as a car-mechanic at that time, cars and motorbikes were
the love of his life. The racing bug was planted by one of his bosses who
went to watch one of the very first auto races, which took place in
Sheffield. When his boss returned and couldn’t stop talking about it, young
Geoff became curious and went to London to watch a race on his own. From
then on he was lost to the world of auto racing.
 A
teacher of golf today, in the early days of racing Geoff Pymar was a legend
in the making.
“The race looked quite hectic, but I thought, if they can do it - so can I,”
Geoff reminisced in a recent interview with Pattaya Mail.
He went on to say that as soon as he returned from that first experience as
a spectator, he managed to buy a motorbike and began to race on the streets
of his hometown. When he gained enough confidence to believe he was good
enough to enter a race, he did just that. Of course he didn’t win this very
first time, but he caught the attention of some organizers and was soon
signed to race with the famous “Wimbledon Team” as a professional.
From then on, his new career afforded him the ability to travel around the
world, from race to race. “Most of the places we visited, I didn’t see too
much of. I was always on the race track practicing. But sometimes I had the
chance to go sight-seeing. I have been all over Europe and I believe there’s
not a single country there I didn’t visit.”
However, he was never able to race in the USA, a fact of life he very much
regrets. “During my time, speedways weren’t famous in the States yet and
therefore I never had the opportunity to go there”.
He did travel to Australia quite often though, for as soon as winter set in
in Europe, Geoff and his team were on their way to Sydney. The English would
always pick their strongest team to compete against the Australians - and
many times they won.
It was in Australia where Geoff was introduced to golf. Being talented in
many sports, he managed to become quite good at golf, and even caddied for
many years for top-professionals like Tony Jackline, Christie O’Connor (both
Senior and Junior), and Amon Darcy, just to name a few.
He took advantage of the opportunity that caddying for professionals gave
him, and while studying the likes of Greg Norman, who became a close friend,
and Seve Ballesteros, he gained a keen knowledge of the sport. At the age of
50, Geoff decided it was time for him to say good-bye to the speedway and
begin his next career as a golf instructor.
Geoff first came to Pattaya 20 years ago with a group of some 30 -40 golfers
competing in a tournament at Siam Country Club. Since then, he’s been back
for competitions every year. “Thailand has some of the most beautiful golf
courses in the world,” Geoff commented, “but not only that, Thailand also
has many very beautiful women.”
One of those women, whom he met in Pattaya in 1983, became the love of his
life. Geoff, who had never been married (“I never had the time for that”),
fell head over heals in love with her. After they were married, they
commuted between England and Pattaya before finally deciding to buy a house
in Rayong in 1989. Since then, Geoff has spent more time in Thailand than
back home in England. Even though he and his wife were separated two years
ago, he still stays here to be able to visit his two children, one boy and
one girl, who live with their mother.
“Even though I don’t have too much money left (I lost almost everything to
my ex-wife) I like to live in Thailand. My dream would be to teach golf in
Pattaya until the end of my life and help develop some of the young players
to be at the very top.”
We hope Geoff’s dream will come true, and looking at the old, tough Speedway
racer, we believe he’s going to make it, for he is still going strong.
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Water sports at Jomtien
Sujarit Pajchimanan, the Governor of Chonburi, opened the
‘Water Sports Competitions’, organised by the Jomtien Boat Club as part of
the Pattaya Festival. Featured sports included jet-ski races, windsurfing,
and banana boat races.
Pattaya Drop Outs take third straight
The Pattaya Drop Outs had to overcome a two game deficit
to force a penalty kick shoot-out in order to push their winning streak to
three straight years over the Mighty Orphans at the 4th annual Pattaya
Orphanage charity soccer match on Saturday, May 3.
The Mighty Orphans took what seemed to be an insurmountable lead, winning
the first two games 3-0 and 4-1, before an intermission that featured a
thrilling sky dive from Mike Skeet, jumpmaster for Siam Airsports.
After the break, the Drop Outs, amply refreshed with amber liquid, came
storming back to win the final two games by identical 2-1 scores. They
almost didn’t make it, however, as it took a goal in the final seconds of
the fourth game to force the shoot-out.
The Drop Outs went on to win the shoot-out 5-4 to keep their winning streak
alive.
The true winners on the day were the kids, and the many programs run by
Father ray Brennan. The event this year raised around 70,000 baht, a good
day indeed.
Full details and pictures on pages 12 & 13.
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Roy Mitchell takes back to back PGS titles
(L to R) Runner-up Peter Johansson, PGS second
season champion Roy Mitchell, third place William Rice.
Roy Mitchell, who won the Pattaya Golf Society Cham-pionship last season by
one stroke over Ken Carr, made it two in a row when he won the PGS second
season ‘97 trophy by one stroke over Peter Johansson.
Going into the final week of the season, played on April 22, Roy had a five
shot lead over Peter. Johansson managed to shave four strokes off the lead,
but alas came up short, leaving Roy with the honour of being the best golfer
of the 31 who participated in the 2 month long second season.
Peter Johansson didn’t go home empty handed, however. Peter earned “Golfer
of the Month” honours and became the first golfer in league history to be a
two time winner of that honour.
20 PGS golfers and friends turned out for the end of season awards
presentation party held on Friday night, May 3 at First House Hotel.
The Pattaya Golf Society third season ‘97 will be held from September 9
through November 11, when all members will be gunning to keep Roy from
keeping the trophy permanently.
Top five results from the PGS “fun” tournament at Green Valley on April 29:
1. Roy Mitchell, 97 gross, 76 net. 2. George Meigh, 96 gross, 77 net. 3.
Svein Vistung, 91 gross, 78 net. 4. William Rice, 116 gross, 84 net. 5.
Peter Johansson, 113 gross, 86 net.
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Pattaya Sports Club Golf
Wednesday, April 30, Stableford at Bang Pra Golf Course.
Having just returned from a short trip to the U.K., PSC Golf Chairman Alec
Chilcott stated that he tended to wilt in the intense heat by comparison, as
did 9 new members on their first visit to Thailand.
35 golfers participated on a course in excellent condition after some
overnight rain and once again a higher proportion of players in A flight
allowed four prizes to two in B flight.
Darren Ottoway, Skippy Young, Terry Hart and Roger Smith won nearest pins
and were presented with the new model PSC golf shirts.
Gordon Tarapasky won B flight with 32 points from Victor Chance on 30
points.
The lovely Nalinee Surya came fourth in A flight with 32 points from Skippy
Young third on 36 points. Runner up was Lumpy Russell on 37 points. However,
once again PSC’s best golfer, Darren Ottoway, playing off 2 handicap and
with 72 gross made a great score of 38 points.
Improve your Bridge
by Barrie Kenyon
It can easily happen from time to time that bidding your
hand, or rather overbidding in the example below, can be of more assistance
to the enemy than to your partner. North opened one heart, East passed and
South replied one spade. Now Naughty Norman was sat in the West seat and
looked at this collection of rubbish:
Spades None
Hearts 5, 4, 3
Diamonds King, Ten, 5, 3, 2
Clubs Jack, 9, 8, 7, 6
Norman was bored. He had sat there for two hours and had hardly managed to
make an opening bid. To relieve the monotony, he decided to put his spoke in
the wheels as it were. So Norman intervened with One No Trump. This is
clearly meant to be the unusual no trump: the opponents have bid two suits,
hearts and spades in this example, so Norman was indicating to his partner
that he held good length in the two unbid suits, clubs and diamonds.
Ignoring, but dutifully noting this intervention, the opponents went on to
bid seven spades to be played by South. Naughty Norman was on lead and chose
a small diamond. North put down the dummy:
Spades Ace, Ten, 6, 5
Hearts Ace, Queen, Jack,
Ten, 9, 8, 7
Diamonds Ace
Clubs 2
Declarer South examined his own hand and could see there was only one
problem. He had to be careful in case one opponent happened to hold all four
missing trumps. South’s holding was:
Spades King, Queen, 8, 7, 4
Hearts King, 6
Diamonds Jack, 6
Clubs Ace, 5, 4, 3
From South’s point of view, the missing trumps are Jack, 9, 3, 2. If all
four are in one of the opponent’s hands, the loss of a trick is likely.
Normally, South would have to guess whether it was East or West, but Naughty
Norman’s earlier bid of One No Trump gave the game away. South reasoned that
if Norman, sitting West, had long clubs and diamonds, it was more likely
that his partner East held all four missing spades. So declarer won the
opening lead with the diamond Ace, crossed to the dummy to cash the spade
Ace and led the spade Ten covered by the Jack and Queen. Ace of clubs and a
club ruff was followed by the marked spade finesse against East. Declarer
drew East’s last trump and the lovely heart suit was cashed without any
problems. Thirteen tricks bid and made. Naughty Norman had turned a “maybe”
slam into a certainty. A swing of 2,210 points against him!
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Splinter A takes first Am-Am
Splinter A Champions of
Pattaya’s first Am-Am Tournament.
Bill Thompson, Neil Munroe, Ciano Glavina and Mike Morris
teamed up as the Splinter A group to win the inaugural TAGGS Am-Am
tournament played at Sriracha International Country Club on Wednesday, April
30.
The format for The Alternative Golf Gentlemen’s Society (TAGGS) organized
tournament used 3/4 of each player’s handicap, then used the two best net
scores for each hole to determine each team’s score.
Under this format, the Splinter A team shot a net 13 under par 131 total,
winning the championship on count back over the Big Dix team. Splinter A
played the front nine in 6 under par 66, helped by a natural birdie by Mike
Morris on #7. Splinter A then played the back nine at 7 under par 65,
carding 8 birdies and a dropped shot into a gale wind and stormy conditions
on the 18th. Mike Morris contributed two more natural birdies on #11 & #16.
Team Big Dix, made up of Mark Gorda, Kevin Ganze-voort, Ray Lepard and Jerry
Lien, tied for the best score of the day, but lost out on count back (over
the second nine on the card) to Splinter A.
Big Dix started out blazing, carding a 9 under par 63 on the front nine,
with virtually all team members contri-buting. The team slipped a bit on the
back nine, but still had a chance to win outright coming up to the last
hole. Unfortunately for them, not one of the team members was able to card
better than a net bogie on the 18th, leaving team Big Dix in a tie and
ultimately relegating them to runners up. They did, nonetheless, card a 4
under par 68 on the back nine, and actually put together more net birdies on
the day than the winners.
Three other teams, Pleasure Dome, Splinter B and Cafe Olé, finished just two
shots back.
In all 11, four member teams competed in the event. The overall good scores
were remarkable considering that greens keepers had spiked, aerated and
dressed the greens right before the tournament, making putting difficult.
Long drive on #1 was won by Mark Garcia. Long drive on #10 was earned by
Ronnie Glaister. Nearest to the pins were won by Bill Collis on #3, Steve
Curry on #8, Stephen Beard on #12, and Ronnie Glaister on #17.
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Bob’s Bar wins Wednesday Quiz four times in a row
The Wednesday boozers’ league for the trivial pursuits
trophy has again been won by Bob’s Bar. The invincible crew of wheezers and
wincers have now laid the golden egg in every season since late 1995.
Notwithstanding occasional forays by rival bars and the odd lapse here and
there, Bob’s whiz kids let nothing stand in their way in their search for
truth and wisdom. Not even the exhaust fumes of the Second Road, road
accidents and interruptions by flower sellers have put them off their
stride. Their average score across fourteen weeks was 82%.
Second in the pecking order, Cheers, put up a strong performance but did
badly in a couple of matches which proved to be their undoing. But they
certainly deserve their second to best position. A known skill of the Cheers
teams is to come up with the correct answer to the more obscure question,
such as “Who was hanged in 1946 for his attempts to raise a British SS
legion in Nazi occupied Europe?” The answer is John Amery.
Special mention should be made of Aussie Ken, one of the smaller bars, who
had their best season for eighteen months. Even after the bar was closed in
late April, they managed a win in the final leg against the cohorts at
Fawlty Towers. The new season of the Wednesday Quiz begins on May 14 and all
Einsteins, past and present, should contact their bar owner for the new
schedule of venues.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Quiz season lasts until June. The game is still too
close to call, but the real battle appears to be between Rising Sun and
Cheers.
The Wednesday Quiz operates on a credits basis in which teams win three
points if they defeat an opponent, two for a draw and one for a loss. The
final table of results is:
The average score across the bars in the fourteen weeks
was 70.5%. The single best result was 90.8% and the worst 32%. Mistakes and
ambiguities by the question setters ran at around 4%, most of which they
blamed on mischief makers on the Internet. But then they would, wouldn’t
they?
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