One of the good thing about already having a few tournaments under your belt is that you have a record, and hopefully if it is good one the players will come back. So it was this year with the 4th annual Poppy Day golf tournament to be held at Khao Kheow on Nov. 8, and the sign-ups came in fast and furious until on the night before the competition we had close to 152 players.
I have to say here a thank you to Khun Surapol and his staff who look after us all every Poppy Day at Khao Kheow – they are ‘stars’. Also this year we were trying a different slant on the night out and had decided to hold it on the Saturday, the 9th, to give players the chance to relax after the game and next day to take their ‘significant other’ out for the night at Amari’s ‘Tavern by The Sea’.
Near pin winners show off their Poppy Golf medals.
A day such as this does not go on without weeks of work and good will from many of the golfers. Here, Max and I were well supported by the golfers of Tropical Bert’s Golf Society in the run up, especially by Daryl Evans, Mashi Kaneta, Dick Warberg and Keith Phillips. They added many of the items for the raffle, and also made my efforts much easier.
On the night before the competition I was pretty relaxed, but at about 0230hrs on Friday morning my wife told me I had better get up and “Look at this”. It was raining really heavily and from then on for the rest of the night I watched as it poured down. A check on the weather forecast said it would be bad all day. How was I going to get out of this?
Derek Brook (center) presents prizes to the tournament winners, Nick Shaw and Jim Elphick.
At 0700hrs the phone started to ring and I realised I would have to make a decision, and the rain still came down in Pattaya. So I phoned the course hoping for a miracle, and whilst it was not great news at least they told me the rain had stopped there. So it was time to ‘bite the bullet’ and the message was sent that we were to play.
On arrival at Khao Kheow, Max and Matt were there set up with Ron Smith who had his ‘Poppies’ ready to sell. The thing now was would the golfers turn up? I had many calls on the way up, answered by my ‘secretary’ in the car, ‘Turbo’ Frank, informing all we were still on.
On a day like this I always go out first, and today I was partnered by Nigel Cannon, with the comp being a 2-ball better ball stableford. As we set off on the A & B nines we could see that many golfers had arrived and were lining up, but I would not know until I had finished if enough had arrived to make the day worthwhile. So it was over to Max and his crew.
Max Matthews (left) congratulates the third placed pairing of Pierre and Yui Bietry.
Out on the course the overnight rain had left the layout soft and no carts were allowed but other that it held up well and was very playable. We got around without it raining more than a few drops and it even held off until the last player finished his round. Somewhere, someone must love me.
Inside Max informed me that a few players had stayed in bed due to the weather, but that over 125 had turned up. I left them to it and nipped upstairs for a cup of something.
The strongest team of Jack Robertson and Otto Schmid with Max.
The function was to be at the Tavern by The Sea the following night and, as usual, the Amari put on a superb buffet that was enjoyed by all. Certainly the best I have seen for years. Also, with the drinks at specially reduced prices, the beers went down well.
The night started with Graham MacDonald MBE, President of the Royal British Legion, handing out ‘Certificates of Appreciation’ to Colin Davis of Lewiinski’s, Brendan Daly, General Manager of the Amari Orchid Resort Pattaya, and last but not least to Maxwell Matthews who has given us so much support over the years. I thank all three, and one more certificate will be presented to Khun Surapol of Khao Kheow for all his team’s help.
Graham MacDonald MBE, President of the Royal British Legion, (left) presents a certificate of appreciation to Brendan Daly, General Manager of the Amari Orchid Resort Pattaya.
It was then time for the scribe, and Chairman of The Royal British Legion Thailand, to say his thank you to the sponsors, namely Boots the chemists and Pattaya Realty, to Chris Balzis for his fine shirts delivered on time, Giorgio at The Trattoria Italiana for his continued support, to the Navy lads for the trophies, Pattaya Mail for media coverage and last but not least to Graham MacDonald and the M.B.M.G. Group who are the tournament’s biggest supporters.
Colin Davis of Lewiinski’s (right) receives his certificate of appreciation from Graham MacDonald.
The presentation to the day’s winners followed and I have to say that the scores here were very good, when you consider that the weather was not the best and the course was wet.
We had five teams all tied on 49 points vying for third place but after all the calculations had been done the bronze was awarded to Yui and Pierre Bietry. They were followed on the podium steps by the duos of Mick Robertson and Tom Gorrey, Andy Byrne and Kevin McEntee, Brian Dunbar and Ed Wyckoff, and Mashi Kaneta and Tom Herrington in fourth to seventh places respectively.
The work of tireless organizer Max (right) is recognized by the Royal British Legion.
Taking second spot on 50 points was the team of Matt Cronin and Liam McGuiness, while the winning team on the day was the pairing of Nick Shaw and Jim Elphick with a very fine 52 points. Well played gentlemen.
Near pin prizes were picked up by Kevin McEntee, Joel Flor, Colin Davis, Derek Brook, Noi Emmerson, Chris Balzis, Bob Watson, and Mick Coghlan. Long Putt awards meanwhile went to John Bartley, Tom Herrington, John Harrison and Leif Kirkegaard
Finally we had a ‘strongest team’ award to hand out and this was presented to Jack Robertson and Otto Schmid who always give of their best and epitomise what the game is all about.
Poppy Golf at Khao Kheow – players and caddies ready to go.
