IPGC golf from the Pattaya Golf Society
On Monday, 27th February the Pattaya Golf Society visited Plutaluang to play a stableford event on the West and North nines (why can we never play the other two?) with the course in fine condition but with traditionally slow greens.
The field was divided into two flights at fourteen and under and in the second flight old mates Pat Murphy and Mr Len managed to tie for third place with 31 points each. In second was Dave Wilkinson with 34 and the winner was Yvonne Earley, hitting the heights on a rare occasion with 35 points.
In the top flight Pete Sumner struggled through the pain barrier yet again to post a score of 34 points which was good enough to tie him in second place with Steve Evans, the latter making a rare visit to the podium. The flight winner was the very much in-form Mike Earley and he added a 38 point return to his recent catalogue of fine performances. His birdie ‘2’ on W3 was matched by Masa Takano on W8 and Rob Alexander and Joe Niisato in the “Lighthouse” hole, N3.
The presentation heard a very fine and comic explanation of why Rick Schramm should receive the Booby Bevy but his absence precluded this and instead it went to Toshihiro Aoki for scrubbing the entire front nine in a disastrous start to his round.
“Rabbi’s” had seen a day when the Earley family fortunes were in the ascendancy and the whole PGS group had enjoyed the day at Plutaluang.
Slattery best of the day
On Leap Year’s Day the Pattaya Golf Society took the trip to Bangpakong Riverside to play a stableford event on the exquisite course, so well tended and presented. Always a joy to play, the lush fairways and consistent greens are balanced by the lashings of Bermuda rough just to encourage accuracy and the golfer who can keep the ball on the fairway will always do well.
The field was divided into two flights at fourteen and under again – such is the quality at the moment – and they set off on time on a relatively empty course. In the top flight Steve Evans emphasised his recent improvement with 33 points for third place, just one behind Masa Takano on 34. The flight winner was the “Rocket Man” Rick Schramm who recorded an excellent level par 36 points and contributed the best gross of the day, 79.
In the second flight Rod Stevens found the secret to his game and shared third place with Michael Sim on 34 points. The runner-up was Barry Horman with 37 points, his best round for a while with the PGS. Larry Slattery produced the best points round of the day to win the flight with 38 points.
Rob Alexander scored the only birdie ‘2’ of the day on the long and difficult hole 4 and will cherish his first taste of golf on the Eastern Seaboard as he boards his plane home at the weekend.
The Booby Bevy was held over from Monday and the saga of the “Rocket Man’s” bad luck at Plutaluang was retold to great amusement by playing partner Dave Moriarty. All in all it was not a bad way to celebrate a day which comes around only once every four years.
