PSC golf from The Outback Golf Bar
Monday, July 16, Burapha – Pairs Tournament
So for our second Monday in a row, we had another Birthday Cup with 44 players playing in a 2-person scramble (Ambrose) to celebrate Suzi’s big four zero!
Playing the A & B loops from the white tees the 22 teams massed at the start and had the benefit of the use of two tees, on what was otherwise a relatively quiet day for the course, with Capt’ Steve organising the show and capably getting everyone smoothly underway. The weather was great and the course in excellent nick with a good pace of play, everybody getting round in less than four hours.
Monday winners, John O’Keefe, Amarjit Banwaitt, Dennis Persson and Ian Heddle with Suzi.
It wasn’t quite clear exactly when Rosco’s group discovered that the game they were playing was not quite the same as everybody else as they were hitting alternate shots instead of both from the same place. However at presentation, after apologies from the organisers over the misinterpretation of the rules, all four players in the group were awarded 250 Baht Outback vouchers for being the winners of the Greensome Event!
The clear winners, with a bogey free round of 68, were Ian Heddle and Dennis Persson (62.7 net) followed in by the level par round from Raji and John O’Keefe, resulting in a net 66.
Near pins were won by John Cunningham B8, Brian Maddox A6, and Greg Hill A3.
Suzi, who was joined by her husband, John, having flown in from Nigeria supposedly on a surprise four day visit, treated her many friends and players alike to a fine spread of lasagne and roast pork, laid on by the Outback kitchen. John, who always has a laugh or two up his sleeve, the proceeded to amuse us all, getting the Outback girls to mime with the rugby version of Old McDonald.
Tiger & Heineken joined the fun as well by sending us a couple of their promotion girls to help with serving drinks and it was noticable that one or two customers indulged in a little more than the usual amount!
Suzi handed the traditional birthday money garland over to Noy (Outback staff) to be shared amongst the staff and she followed that by generously ringing the bell. Thanks and Happy Birthday from us all.
1st Ian Heddle & Dennis Persson (5.3) net 62.7
2nd Amarjit Banwaitt & John O’Keefe (6) net 66
3rd Steve Mann & Tim Knight (6) net 67
Tuesday, July 17, Pattaya C.C. – Stableoford
It’s sometimes difficult to write about the same 9 holes week in and week out and today is one of those days. So what about The Open at Royal Lytham St Annes which started on Thursday and many of us here at the Outback were frantically trying to pick our favourite five players to make the cut.
Birthday girl Suzi with John.
Of the 11 players here at Pattaya, picking a winner was just as hard, with this week being the turn of Ken Young, who hasn’t been seen here for a while and scored a very creditable 39pts off his h’cap of 29 (now 28). Chad followed him home, five adrift with 34 ahead of Mike Coleman & Jim Payne both on 33.
There were no ‘2’s.
1st Ken Young (29) 39pts
2nd Barry Chadbourn (20) 34pts
3rd Michael Coleman (18) 33pts
4th Jim Payne (26) 33pts
Tuesday, July 17, Pleasant Valley – Stableford
With no Laem Chabang this week because of the Pro Tour, we decided to tryout Pleasant Valley, a course we rarely go to – and it seemed it was going to stay that way with only one name on the sign-up sheet on Monday morning but in less than 12 hours, there were suddenly 13 players requiring an urgent call to Joe for vouchers. In the event, Tuesdays are “Sport Days” and the voucher saves only 50 Baht!
Potential new PSC member Martin Burbidge put on a fine display to score 39pts off seven from the blue tees and our organiser for the day, John O’Keefe was the runner-up with 37.
Welcome also today to a newcomer with the Outback, Clive Hanning.
Like at PCC, there were no ‘2’s.
1st Martin Burbidge (7) 39pts
2nd John O’Keefe (17) 37pts
3rd Lance Robinson (12) 36pts
4th Clive Hanning (20) 35pts
Wednesday, July 18, Siam Plantation – Stableford
A reasonable turnout of four groups (14 players) went to Siam Plantation to play the Pineapple and Tapioca courses; it (the course) was heavily booked but we still managed a good pace of play with very few hold-ups. The day was very windy and made for some very tricky holes but had the benefit of keeping everybody cool.
Needless to say the fairways were again in great condition and the greens are just fantastic to putt on. However, the wind and slick greens got the better of most of us and the best score recorded for the day was only 34 points from Tom Fitzpatrick on a 13 handicap with most scores in the high 20’s.
For the third straight outing this week, there were no ‘2’s.
1st Tom Fitzpatrick (13) 34pts
2nd Steve Mann (8) 32pts
3rd Jim Bryan (16) 31pts
4th Steve Poznanski (15) 31pts
Friday, July 20, Green Valley – Stableford
Twenty-two players for our normal Friday outing to Green Valley and we were greeted by overcast, cloudy skies which unfortunately opened to give light (but not heavy) rain off and on for the whole round together with a light breeze, which made for a very cool day. It was also a slow one, as players were in and out of drink stops sheltering from the rain.
Green Valley has always had hard bunkers and at least they were consistent all over the course and in my opinion easy to play. Unfortunately they have embarked on a program of putting more sand in the bunkers and at the moment they are not consistent and in some cases have far too much sand in them. Otherwise, the course was presented well but with the rain the greens got slower and slower.
John Player, from Div B, shot the best round of the day with 39pts, five clear of the second man in that Div, David Day on 34 with Ian Hart in third, one point further back.
David Dunstan equalled his handicap of just 5, to score 36pts to win Div A from regular playing member, Jack Butler on 35 and Capt’ Steve with 33.
There were four ‘2’s from Jan Eriksen, Greg Hill, Andy Makara & Tim Knight.
Div A (0-12)
1st David Dunstan (5) 36pts
2nd Jack Butler (9) 35pts
3rd Steve Mann (9) 33pts
Div B (13+)
1st John Player (20) 39pts
2nd David Day (15) 34pts
3rd Ian Hart (18) 33pts
Best Aggregate Scores: Front Nine: 20pts – David Dunstan; Back Nine: 20pts – John Player; Par 5’s: 10pts – Jack Butler, Steve Mann; Par 4’s: 24pts – John Player; Par 3’s: 9pts – John Player; Most Holes Under Par: 3 – Steve Mann, David Dunstan
