Travellers Rest Golf Group
Monday, Jan. 23, The Emerald – Stableford
Div 1 (0-15)
1st Ito Akitoshi (10) 39pts
2nd Alan Gibb (9) 35pts
3rd Roger Wilkinson (14) 33pts
Div 2 (15+)
1st Bill Oconnell (21) 36pts
2nd Derek Thorogood (15) 36pts
3rd Reg Glass (20) 35pts
The start of the last week of January saw the TRGG visit Emerald Golf course, a wonderful example of Thailand golf set within a very natural habitat. You always need to bring you’re “A game” to Emerald and this was certainly the case for Ito Akitoshi who managed to score 39 points off his 10-handicap. This blew the rest of the field away in division 1. Roger Wilkinson scored 33 points to take 3rd place, and 2nd place went to Alan Gibb who scored 35 points from his 9-handicap.
In Division 2, Reg Glass scored well to take 3rd spot with 35 points and it was a welcome return to form for “da boss” Derek Thorogood as his 36 points took 2nd place. However, the day’s top round in division 2 went to Bill O’Connell who bravely beat the boss on count back. This is commonly known as short term gain, long term pain!
Tuesday, Jan. 24, Burapha – Stableford
1st Lawrence Lee (21) 38pts
2nd Freddy Starbeck (17) 36pts
3rd Alan Gibb (9) 36pts
On Tuesday the group visited Burupha and there was a 4-way tie on 36 points for 2nd place with Freddy Starbeck’s final 9 being good enough to take the prize. Narrowly behind on count back was Alan Gibb who was rewarded with the 3rd placed prize. However, the top prize of the day went to “Hawaiian hotshot” Lawrence Lee who took the gold with 38 points.
Wednesday, Jan. 25, Phoenix – Stableford
Div. 1
1st Jim Best (12) 38pts
2nd Paul Colfer (4) 37pts
3rd Joe Stranks (13) 36pts
Div. 2
1st Freddy Starbeck (17) 42pts
2nd Sochai Bobby Rattan’p 41pts
3rd Reg Glass (20) 40pts
Wednesday saw the start of a new competition as the group visited Phoenix. The last Wednesday of the month will see a stroke-play competition running alongside the normal stableford competition. At the end of the year the 12 monthly winners will play off against each other to see who will be presented with the Ferdinand Cup.
With a wide variety of prizes on offer this had the desired effect, with good numbers and healthy scoring on show.
In division 1, Joe Stranks took 3rd place with his 36 points. Paul Colfer, who was 2 under par after the front 9, came 2nd with 37 points but this was not quite enough as Jim Best took the division’s first prize with a fine score of 38 points.
In terms of the overall competition, Division 2 led the way. The man from the Rockies, Reg Glass, shot a fine 40 points but this was only good enough for 3rd. In 2nd place came Sonchai Bobby Rattanaruangsup with 41 points, but by sheer coincidence the winner of the day was Freddy Starbeck with 42 points.
Quiet, shy and modest are fine traits but not ones that you would normally associate with Freddy, however, more importantly he happens to be the owner of Ferdinand’s Bar and in conjunction with the Travellers Rest Sports Bar this effervescent businessman is sponsoring this competition. So it was only fitting that Freddie should walk off with the day’s top prize and the bragging rights.
Thursday, Jan. 26, Green Valley – Stableford
Div 1 (0-15)
1st Richard Talbot (15) 36pts
2nd Garry Blackbone (8) 35pts
3rd Joe Stranks (13) 35pts
Div 2 (16+)
1st Ted Senior (18) 41pts
2nd Peter Cahill (18) 35pts
3rd Bill O’Connell (21) 34pts
Thursday felt a little bit like “after the Lord Mayor’s show” as the group visited Green Valley. Currently there are huge building works at the complex but this did not distract from the quality of the course.
In Division 2, Bill Oconnell came in 3rd with 34 points and Peter Cahill turned the clock back years (and I mean lots of them) to finish in 2nd with 35 points. However, no one got close to the safe breaker Ted Senior as he amassed 41 points, giving his impression of daylight robbery.
In Division 1, Joes Stranks scored 35 points to claim 3rd and then celebrated by staying in the Green Valley bar for the next 3 hours. Garry Blackbone came 2nd also with 35 points but the day was won by Richard Talbot with 36 points. The ex-Deputy Head claims proudly that his greatest academic achievement was graduating from Milton Keynes University with a 3rd class degree in pottery and ancient jigsaw puzzles, but today he was too smart for the other low handicappers.
Friday, Jan. 27, Mt. Shadow – Stableford
Div. 1
1st Richard Kawagoye (14) 38pts
2nd Victor Ko (13) 32pts
3rd Freddy Starbeck (15) 29pts
Div. 2
1st Reg Glass (18) 33pts
2nd Eddie Townsend (21) 30pts
3rd Jack Macnamara (18) 30pts
The destination on Friday was Mountain Shadow. On a day when scoring was not high Division 1 was won by a very good round of 38 that came from Richard Kawagoye. Victor Ko took 2nd place with 32 points and 29 points from Freddy Starbeck was enough to claim 3rd.
In Division 2, both Eddie Townsend and Jack Macnamara scored 30 points but Eddie took 2nd position on count back. The winner was once again the rodeo king Reg Glass. Reg’s winning formula is simple as he keeps taking the prizes with low scores, so his handicap stays the same. In laymen’s terms he isn’t playing quite as badly as everyone else.
Saturday, Jan. 28, Greenwood – Stableford
1st Yasuo Saikai (11) 34pts
2nd Mike Rushant (13) 32pts
3rd Richard Talbot (15) 30pts
On Saturday the weekend golfers visited Greenwood and somehow the gods had conspired to arrange that every hole played into the wind. This however did not to affect Tokyo bus driver Yasuo Saikai who had a fine round of 34 points and took first place. The ever-consistent Mike Rushant came second with 32 points and Richard Talbot claimed 3rd with 30 points.
