The Billabong Bar Golf Society
Monday, July 10, Phoenix Gold – Stableford
A huge thank you to the management and staff at the Phoenix Gold Golf Course for letting the Billabong play the course as it was set up for the ladies professional tournament. Now we know why the winning score was only 5 under! If you got into the rough just to find the ball was a feat in itself but the greens were fantastic. It took a bit longer than normal to get around due to looking for golf balls.
There were only 4 players who scored 30 points or more with Capt Bob taking fourth spot with 31 points and Sandy Chapo in third with 32. Jason Ruming had to settle for second for second spot after losing a count back to Sasicha Chapo, both with 34 points.
There was only one ‘2’, coming from one of the finest shots ever seen on a golf course: it was an exaggerated hook that hit about 3 trees and every branch, then came from 50 yards off the green to about 25 feet. And yes, he got the putt. Well done Sandy!
Wednesday, July 12, Green Valley – Stableford
Green Valley today and even though the course is under renovation it is still in reasonable condition, just a little patchy in places. It will come right but we just have to be patient. The greens were good to putt on after being sanded recently and are almost back to what they should be.
We had 8 groups playing including 3 groups of ladies the scores were good. Miss Sa came in third in the ladies’ division 35 points, one behind Miss May in second while taking the top spot was Miss Pin with 38 points. The girls also managed to get three ‘2’s, coming from Miss Porn, Miss Sasicha and Miss Kran.
In the men’s division we had a count back for third with Lloyd Shuttleworth losing out to the Hong Kong copper Glyn Davies, both on 36 points. Second place was taken by John Player with 37 points and first went to Aussie newcomer Kevin Northern with 38 points. The guys had three ‘2’s also, coming from Sel Wegner, Tony Oakes and Arch Armstrong.
Friday, July 14, Burapha C & D – Stableford
Burapha was the challenge today and while it rained on the way up Route 7 by the time we got to the course it was dry and that’s the way it stayed for the duration of the round. The layout was in great condition apart from about 2 tonnes of surplus sand in most of the bunkers. You couldn’t get a bad lie anywhere on the course apart from the bunkers.
With 7 groups playing it turned out that the scores were all fairly good but only 4 players managed to beat handicap.
There was a three-way count back for the minor podium places, all on 37 points, with Brett Gale taking fourth, Sasicha third and Lloyd Shuttleworth second. Meanwhile Gary Ritchie shot a fine 75 off the stick to take first place with 40 points.
There were ten ‘2’s in all, coming from Lloyd Shuttleworth, Jason Ruming, Auke, Sasicha, Danny, Brett Gale (had 2) and Gary Ritchie, who just missed a couple of hole in ones, took the other 3 of them.