PSC Golf from the Café Kronborg
Monday, 30th April – Bangpakong – Stableford
Thanks to a late inclusion we had seventeen starters for the day’s competition at Bangpakong Riverside Country Club and we all assembled at Café Kronborg looking forward to the day. After welcoming big Dr John Naponick here from Cambodia for some well earned R & R we departed the Kronny right on time at 0815 hrs.
After the 65 minute drive we arrived at the course to find it fairly busy so it was obvious an early tee off was not on the cards. As it was we managed to get our first group away right on schedule at 1000 hrs in glorious weather conditions with just a welcome gentle breeze to cool things down as it was rather humid. The course was looking great as usual although the greens were not as slick as normal due to many of them having residual sand. Moving along at a fairly good pace a few drink stops were necessary and our full round was completed in four hours and fifteen minutes.
Mike Allidi, The Admiral & Frank Donnelly.
There were 2 flights with A Flight for handicaps 0 to 17 and B Flight for 18 and over. There were rewards for nearest the pin on all four par threes and longest first putts on the ninth & eighteenth greens with joint sponsors being Walter Baechli, Rita Zoebelli & Monzart Bronze – many thanks to them.
That very fine golfer Mike Allidi tore the course apart with his 68 off the stick (14 pars & 4 birdies) to win the A Flight with 43 points. Big Ken Bernek came second with a fine 40 points and in a count back for third place Martin Todd (21 point back nine) just edged out his old Aussie mate Mike Gosden (20 point back nine), both having 39 points.
The B Flight was well won by Frank Donnelly with 43 points, 6 points clear of Alain Taddei in second place. Another count back was necessary to determine third place with Dave (The Admiral) Richardson (16 point back nine) just ahead of Graham Richardson (12 point back nine), both on 31 points.
A Flight (0-17)
1st Mike Allidi (3) 43pts
2nd Ken Bernek (16) 40pts
3rd Martin Todd (8) 39pts
B Flight (18+)
1st Frank Donnelly (21) 43pts
2nd Alain Taddei (18) 37pts
3rd Dave Richardson (26) 31pts
Near Pins: 4th – Frank Donnelly; 7th – Mike Winfield; 13th – Dave Richardson; 16th – Mike Allidi
Long Putts: 9th – Mike Gosden; 18th – Takeshi Hakozaki
The Compass Cap was won by Bo Cardwell after having lessons from a golf pro over the weekend (maybe a lesson to be learnt there), but it was with much relief to yours truly who very nearly went from chocolates to boiled lollies in the space of just 4 days! Deefa the Dog was present as usual and collected several donations to charity from the generous Kronny gang.
Martin Todd, The Admiral & Marie Rowles.
Thursday, May 3, Mountain Shadow – Stableford
A very good low-season field of 21 golfers signed up to tackle the challenging Mountain Shadow layout. Assembling at Café Kronborg we welcomed from Australia Bob McPhail, Lionel and Marie Rowles & Tony Leece. We departed on time at 0815 hrs and 50 minutes later arrived at the course after several suggestions during the journey that the weather would not be kind to us today. Oh ye of little faith! Very rarely do Café Kronborg golfers get wet whilst playing golf in Pattaya and today was to be no exception.
It was not too busy and our first group was able to tee off 30 minutes ahead of schedule at 0930 hrs in hot and humid conditions with very little wind. The course was looking quite good although very dry in parts and the greens were just a tad off their usual tip top condition although still super quick at times for putts from above the hole. The advantage of the dry fairways was that there was significantly more run on them which was especially pleasing to The Admiral.
We progressed at a very good pace and with just one stop for a drink on the back nine we were able to complete our round in four hours and fifteen minutes.
There were 2 flights on the day plus rewards for nearest the pin on the four par threes. Rewards for the longest first putts on the ninth & eighteenth greens were kindly sponsored by Aussie Fred Cuypers.
Once again the course was playing fairly tough with just 3 players bettering their handicap and Australian Martin Todd continued his good form by winning the A Flight with 37 points, 2 points ahead of Ken Bernek in second place. A three-way count back for third spot on 34 points saw Walter Baechli (19 point back nine) edge out Stu Rifkin and Mike Gosden who both had 16 points on the back nine.
New arrival Marie Rowles had a fine 39 points to win the B flight from Henry Wong in second place with 37 points and Rita Zoebelli was third with 34 points.
A Flight (0-17)
1st Martin Todd (8) 37pts
2nd Ken Bernek (16) 35pts
3rd Walter Baechli (16) 34pts
B Flight (18+)
1st Marie Rowles (20) 39pts
2nd Henry Wong (23) 37pts
3rd Rita Zoebelli (24) 34pts
Near Pins: 5th – Stu Rifkin; 8th – Graham Buckingham; 15th – Peter Blackburn; 17th – Dave Richardson
Long Putts: 9th – Marie Rowles; 18th – Peter Blackburn
The Compass Cap (awarded for worst score on the day) was won by Dick Braimbridge, and Hunter paraded Deefa the Dog who once more collected many donations to charity from the ever generous Kronny crew.