PSC Golf from the Billabong Golf Bar
Monday, July 11, Phoenix – Stableford
As we draw nearer to the King’s Trophy taking place at Phoenix, the greater the activity preparing the course for the big event. The Mountain and Lakes nines certainly look good with thousands of evergreens being planted to add colour to the area but one fly in the ointment might be one or two greens, on the Lakes, particularly the first which resembles the coat of many colours very little grass and the bunkers are still knee deep in sand.
Perfect weather conditions and a near empty course allowed three old codgers, headed by Graham Beaumont with Selwyn Wegner and William Macey in tow to walk the 18 holes in under three and a half hours. Not so many playing today as many of the regulars had registered to play in the PSC monthly on Tuesday.
Back at the Billabong, the man of many moving parts, Alan Bartlett, was adjudged the winner with 37 points, finishing comfortably ahead of Alistair Gall with 35 points in second. Graham-”I have not been well”-Beaumont was as mystified as his playing partners as to how he managed to scramble 33 points for third.
Not surprisingly at Phoenix, there were no ‘2’s.
Wednesday, July 13, Green Valley – Stableford
The index 1 first tee at Green Valley is hard enough but today there were additional hazards to negotiate. The area beyond the water is being filled in, which will make life a little easier for your first shot of the day – when they have finished. Today, not only did you have to reach the fairway with your drive but, with lorries of various shapes and sizes working in that area, your drive had to also miss the construction work going on. Brian Maddox was hoping that the driver of the lorry that had his ball as a companion would drop his ball by the green, but he was to be disappointed.
The course is looking good and the management must be offered our thanks for finding previously unexplored areas on the greens that have not been used before by the Wednesday crowd, but there is still further areas that remain undiscovered by the Billabong regulars.
We had 33 players today with Miss Som continuing her remarkable recent form with 38 points to finish in third behind Miss Sa who, unfortunately, missed out on the top spot on a count back to Miss Orn, both on 41 points.
Eight scores around the 34 mark for the men did not feature today, with Ted Gardner claiming fourth place with 35 points behind Kevin Hamilton who had 37. Kevin Wild again followed his wife, Miss Som, onto the podium for second place with 39 points. Last week they both finished first and there were some conjecture about what their routine might be before going to golf to encourage such consistency – and we will all have a go when we discover the truth. Sel Wegner was embarrassed about his score on Monday and felt he had to convince everyone that 22 points was just an off day by topping the charts with 41 points today.
Back at the Billabong, Miss Som went ‘Wild’ and rang the bell for the second week running, the check naturally being placed in Kevin’s bin, but not before Capt. Bob voiced his surprise that there were no 2s from the ladies – is that the first time ever – and only two ‘2’s from the men which came from Ian Middleton and John Fitzgerald.
Friday, July 15, Burapha – Stableford
What a day out at Burapha it was today playing C and D loops because the Pattaya Singha Open was being played on A and B loops. The place was packed to the rafters including the car park but we still got away a little earlier than our allotted tee time and were all finished in just over 4 hours – quite an achievement really and thank you to the starters.
The course is in magnificent condition with lush fairways and greens that are lightening fast – you couldn’t get a bad lie anywhere. There were some good scores and some a little ordinary with one golfer who could have gone around again and still wouldn’t have made 30 points if he doubled his score.
One team was standing on the 17th tee and all of a sudden a ball landed beside them on the tee block. Out of the rough came a golfer who was heard to say “That’s enough for me today”.
There were two ‘2’s today, coming from Helmut and Auke and because there were only 4 groups playing the prizes went down to third place which was won by Auke with a fine 37 points. Second place went to Bob Philp with 39 points, him being beaten by Gentry Harrington with a great 79 off the stick for 40 points.
