PSC golf from the Cafe Kronborg
Monday, Feb. 27, Treasure Hill –Stableford
Thirty one golfers departed the Cafe’ Kronborg at 0815 hours, salivating at the opportunity of tackling this popular course with a relish not seen since Meatloaf was given a free run at the party pie table.
The first group hit off at 1015 hours and finished their journey in four and a half hours.
The weather was as warm with an occasional breeze providing some relief and the course was in top condition with the greens rolling truly.
(L-R) Leif Kirkegaard, The Admiral and Graham Buckingham.
The Aussies were right at home as there were more flies in attendance than punters at a barbecue which included free drinks.
On the fifth hole around fifty yards short and to the right of the green is a hazard and a sign advising that a King Cobra lurks within. Unless you are an expert in snake handling it may be worth keeping in mind that a golf ball is not worth risking your well being.
We welcomed J.C. Lhoste from France today and bid farewell to Mike Herridge.
Mike Gaussa.
In the A flight Leif Kirkegaard showed the way with thirty eight points to relegate Richard Kubicki to second on a count back. Ken Bernek on thirty six points was third whilst Gordon Uvanile and Paul Cardwell filled the minors.
In the B flight our resident scrabble/quiz gun Graham Buckingham, showed a clean pair of heels with an eye catching thirty seven points. The silver medal went to Mike Herridge with thirty three points whilst Brad Todd and J.C. Lhoste both on thirty two points and Ulla Ravn on thirty points rounded out the flight.
A Flight (0-20)
1st Leif Kirkegaard (20) 38pts
2nd Richard Kubicki (13) 38pts
3rd Ken Bernek (17) 36pts
4th Gordon Uvanile (16) 35pts
5th Paul Cardwell (17) 32pts
B Flight (21+)
1st Graham Buckingham (22) 37pts
2nd Mike Herridge (24) 33pts
3rd Brad Todd (23) 32pts
4th J.C.Lhoste (24) 32pts
5th Ulla Ravn (37) 30pts
The short stick brigade resulted in Martin Todd on the 9th and Niels Hansen on the 18th being successful. The accurate ones from the tees on the one shotters, saw Paul Cardwell on the 2nd, Dave Richardson on the 6th and 17th and Mike Winfield on the 13th take the honours.
Niels Nyholm.
The Coveted Compass Cap went to Jan Lovgreen with an effort reminiscent of Captain Smith of Titanic fame who, when asked about his mariner track record, replied “I’ve never lost a ship yet.”
Deefa was again in action in gathering donations for the less fortunate in Pattaya and contributors are thanked for their efforts.
News filtered through recently that one of Pattaya’s most esteemed golfers Arthur Bailey has passed away and all at Cafe Kronborg send our condolences to his family.
Wednesday, Feb. 29, Wangjuntr Highland Course – Stableford
For most of us it was to be our first look at the Wangjuntr Highland Course and although there were once more a couple of annoying “no shows” we ended up with a reasonable field of 22 golfers
Assembling at the Kronny for a slightly earlier departure of 0800 hrs we welcomed Niels Nyholm from Melbourne and your writer (Peter Blackburn) back from 2 weeks in Perth.
The Admiral, Karen Brown & Peter Blackburn.
After waiting around for a few minutes we got away at 0808 hrs and headed off for what we had heard would be a great challenge of golf. After the one hour and twenty five minute journey we arrived at the course which appeared to be surprisingly quiet which was contrary to what we had been told earlier in the week when attempting to secure an extra tee slot.
Our scheduled start time was 1000 hrs but it was 30 minutes after that when we finally got our first group away and the experience began. Spectacular views were everywhere and my camera was working overtime as we enjoyed this wonderful golf course which was in terrific condition with lush fairways and well maintained undulating dreams. I could write a book about this course but instead just suggest that anyone who hasn’t played it should certainly do so.
As the scores suggest the degree of difficulty is quite high but I’m sure that when we come back again, and I’m fairly sure we will, then most of us will finish up with better scores. Even with considerable walking we managed to complete the round in four hours and forty minutes and we hardly spotted any other golfers on the course.
A Flight was well won by Mike Gaussa with 33 points, just 1 point ahead of Dr Paul Cardwell in second spot. Mike Gosden finished third with 31 points and in a three way count back Stu Rifkin (14 point back nine) was able to grab fourth spot with 29 points ahead of your writer and Andre Van Dyk.
Niels Nyholm emerged victorious in the B Flight with 29 points ahead of Henry Wong (14 point back nine) who finished ahead of Bjarne Kjaer (11 point back nine) with both golfers on 27 points. Mick O’Connor finished in fourth place with 26 points.
A Flight (0-17)
1st Mike Gaussa (12) 33pts
2nd Paul Cardwell (17) 32pts
3rd Mike Gosden (11) 31pts
4th Stu Rifkin (14) 29pts
B Flight (18+)
1st Niels Nyholm (18) 29pts
2nd Henry Wong (24) 27pts
3rd Bjarne Kjaer (20) 27pts
4th Mick O’Connor (21) 26pts
Near Pins: 4th – Peter Blackburn; 8th – Ken Bernek; 15th – Henry Wong; 17th – Dick Braimbridge
Long Putts: 9th – Dick Braimbridge; 18th – Paul Cardwell
Thursday, March 1, Mountain Shadow – Stableford
Many of us were weary after the previous day’s experience at Wangjuntr Highland but looking forward to playing another classy golf course, Mountain Shadow. Numbers were a little down but nonetheless we had 34 golfers signed up and assembled at Café Kronborg in readiness for the journey.
We welcomed Tom (T.C.) Cotton from Tropical Berts, Beat Michell from Switzerland, Mashi Kaneta from everywhere and Peter & Somkit O’Brien from Bangkok. Sadly we were bidding farewell to Brad (son of Martin) Todd who was returning to Perth and Rob & Karen Brown who are off back to Scotland after their long annual holiday in Pattaya.
We departed the Kronny a couple of minutes early at 0813hrs and just 45 minutes later arrived at the course which appeared to be reasonably busy but we were confident of an earlier than scheduled tee off. Such was the case as our first group got away 15 minutes early at 0945hrs in perfect weather conditions albeit fairly hot & humid but all stocked up with cold water (cold Heinekens in Stu Rifkin’s case)
For fear of sounding repetitious I will once more say how great this course is, with beautifully prepared fairways & greens. Putting from above the hole on some of the greens almost always resulted in 3 putts as they were super slick but a pleasure to play on. There were very few delays ahead of us and even after stopping for a couple of lengthy drink breaks we completed our full round in four hours & twenty minutes.
The course was playing fairly tough on the day with just 2 golfers playing better than their handicap. Yours truly (20 point back nine) managed to shake off his weariness from the previous day & international travel and won the A Flight on a count back with 37 points from Jesper Rasmussen (17 point back nine). In third place came Ken (let’s hear it for) Bernek on 36 points and another count back saw Leif Kirkgaard (18 point back nine) finish fourth with 34 points ahead of Mashi Kaneta (17 point back nine) in fifth spot.
It was a fitting farewell for Karen Brown as she won the B Flight with 36 points and in a Quenella for the ladies Carole Kubicki finished second with 34 points. A welcome return to a bit of form saw Peter Hammond take third spot on 33 points and with 2 golfers on 32 points we saw Mike Winfield (18 point back nine, 13 points last 6 holes, 6 points last 3 holes) finish fourth with Graham Buckingham (18 point back nine, 13 points last 6 holes, 4 points last 3 holes) in fifth place.
A Flight (0-20)
1st Peter Blackburn (12) 37pts
2nd Jesper Rasmussen (19) 37pts
3rd Ken Bernek (17) 36pts
4th Leif Kirkgaard (20) 34pts
5th Mashi Kaneta (11) 34pts
B Flight (21+)
1st Karen Brown (32) 36pts
2nd Carole Kubicki (24) 34pts
3rd Peter Hammond (21) 33pts
4th Mike Winfield (21) 32pts
5th Graham Buckingham (22) 32pts
Near Pins: 5th – Ken Bernek; 8th – Jesper Rasmussen; 15th – Peter Hammond; 17th – Stu Rifkin
Long Putts: 9th – Mick O’Connor; 18th – Mike Winfield
The Compass Cap (awarded for worst score on the day) was awarded to Ulla Ravn and Hunter paraded Deefa the Dog who once more collected many donations to charity from the ever generous Kronny crew.
