IPGC Golf from The Haven
Monday, June 26, Greenwood B & C (white tees) – Stableford
CSS 74
1st Tom McCarthy (22) 33pts
2nd Larry Gibb (22) 33pts
3rd Tomas Nilsson (12) 33pts
4th Frank Harington (6) 31pts
5th Dick Heaney (16) 30pts
Once again the course was found to be in excellent condition although it was very long for the quite damp ground conditions with little run on the fairways. This was underlined by the CSS moving out to 74 for the day.
Tom McCarthy made good use of his M1 driver to get into close range on some of the holes, especially through the longer C nine, to run out the winner after taking the three-way count back with a best of 18, leaving the improving Larry Gibb in second after he scored 17 and Tomas Nilsson in third with 16.
Frank Harrington made an immediate impact with the group on his return securing fifth place a couple of strokes behind the leading threesome and Dick Heaney was another one back in fifth place.
There were no 2s in either of the divisions.
Wednesday, June 28, Khao Kheow A & C (yellow tees) – Stableford
CSS 75
1st Dave LeHane (18) 36pts
2nd Graham Davis (9) 33pts
3rd Chris Smith (+1) 33pts
4th Tomas Nilsson (12) 32pts
5th Markku Tynell (21) 30pts
6th Toby Glass (11) 29pts
Visiting Khao Kheow is never less than a pleasure as the course is always in good condition and offers one of the toughest tests of golf in the area for all levels of players. This occasion was no exception as the course was sparsely attended and with the tee placements for the day all in tricky positions, scoring was again at a premium with the CSS going out three to 75.
Dave LeHane seems to have got his teeth well into his game recently, having pulled out some good results and is starting to make a good impression on the handicap committee. Once again he injected some real skill into his round and that resulted in another win, this time by three clear strokes.
Graham Davis fought well over the back-nine to win a count-back over Chris Smith with a better 10 to 9 after they had both started the day well with good opening nines, with Chris firing round in just gross 35 strokes.
Tomas Nilsson again showed well in his last outing with the group this visit to take fourth spot ahead of Markku Tynell in fifth and Toby Glass in sixth.
Once again there were no 2s in the second division but Chris Smith slipped in the sole one in the first division to clean out the roll over pot.
Friday, June 30, Eastern Star – Stableford
CSS 72
1st Dave LeHane (18) 35pts
2nd Markku Tynell (21) 34pts
3rd Graham Davis (9) 31pts
4th Frank Harrington (6) 30pts
5th Andrew Purdie (6) 29pts
6th Hal Hart (18) 20pts
After a long hiatus away from Eastern Star the players looked forward to taking on the Robert Trent Jones design that always offers a good challenge, with many holes featuring water and out of bounds markers.
Even though the course was playing long the scores were pretty good with the CSS for the day remaining at level 72.
Dave LeHane was again the be found at the head of the scorers and just one over his handicap was still good enough to give him his second win of the week ahead of Markku Tynell.
Graham Davis took third after a steady round if slightly slower round in the last group, preferring to concentrate of attention to detail rather than “make a race of it”. Frank Harrington slipped into fourth place while Andrew Purdie won a count back for fifth over Hal Hart with a better 18 to 14.
There were no 2s in either of the divisions although Andrew Purdie had a chance to “take it all” under the new rule of “a 2 on a par 4” when he drove the green on the 290-yard 12th and was left with a reasonable uphill putt for glory. Unfortunately three putts later he was a sadder but wiser man, but as usual still smiling.
