PSC Bunker Boys Golf
Monday, September 21st
Royal Ratchaburi Blue tees
1st Michael Brett (14) 37 points
2nd Les Cobban (7) 30 points
3rd Dave Ashman (21) 29 points
Near pins Jimmy Carr, Tony Robbins, and Les Cobban X 2.
The spirit of adventure is alive and well at the Bunker Boys and this week we embarked on our third away trip of the year in what has been a challenging year for all golfers.
The first day of our sojourn to Kanchanaburi had us play our opening game at the beautiful Royal Ratchaburi course, which was in excellent condition. The weather was perfect for golf – mild and with no wind. Given that a huge weather system spread across South East Asia over the weekend bringing widespread heavy rain, we had expectations that we might get some interruptions but it seems that it had passed completely, so all was good.
A couple of the group drove up the previous day and were well-rested and ready to play. The remainder made the three-hour journey on the morning and after a coffee were ready to play.
Having come off consecutive rounds of thirty-seven and thirty-six last week and with seventeen points on the front nine, Les Cobban looked set to win again. However, he faded on the back nine to finish on thirty points in second place.
Please Support Pattaya Mail
He did, however, get one of the shots of the day on a par three with his ball seemingly heading for the water, it hit a rock and rebounded back about thirty meters onto the green for a near pin.
Third place went to Dave Ashman on twenty-nine but the winner with thirty-seven was Michael Brett. He also got the other shot of the day with a fifty-foot birdie putt that snaked up the hill in both directions before dropping in the hole. Bryson De Chambeau would have been happy with that one. For his trouble, he also managed to get a couple of hornet stings, luckily the caddie was straight onto it with some treatment to take away the pain.
Les Cobban got a second better near pin, with Jimmy Carr and Tony Robbins taking the remaining two.
Tuesday, September 22nd
Grand Prix, White tees
1st Jimmy Carr (18) 30 points
2nd Les Cobban (7) 29 points
3rd Michael Brett (14) 28 points
Near pins Dave Ashman & Jimmy Carr.
Grand Prix was the venue for our second game in Kanchanaburi. Those that hadn’t played there before were astonished by the quality of the course. The greens were the best that any had seen before. They were virtually like snooker tables but with some very serious undulations and very quick.
We started on the back nine for some reason, nobody could explain as there was nobody waiting on the first tee. Right from the outset, the course bared its teeth and just about everybody struggled to put together a decent score.
Jimmy Carr topped the list with a modest thirty points, his first win for some time. Les Cobban took second with twenty-nine and Michael Brett rounded out the scoring with twenty-eight.
Only two near pins were taken with one each going to Dave Ashman and Jimmy Carr.
Thursday, September 24th
Blue Sapphire A & B white tees
1st Jimmy Carr (18) 30 points
2nd Geoff Parker (18) 30 points
3rd Les Cobban (7) 30 points
Near pins Jimmy Carr and Geoff Parker.
With a rest day on Wednesday, we went back the same road as Grand Prix, this time to go next door to play Blue Sapphire. It felt like going from the sublime to the ridiculous; what a pleasant surprise we got to find this course in such good condition.
The course played very long and our big hitters were taking three strokes to reach a couple of the par four greens.
Three golfers were tied on thirty points and had to be separated on countback. Jimmy and Geoff got the only near pins; it seems the delinquent fund is filling up nicely. On the way to the course, some of the guys made a detour to a new course close by called Blue Star, the general consensus was that it is very raw and not yet worthy of consideration.
Friday, September 25th
Evergreen Hills, White tees
1st Jimmy Carr (18) 33 points
2nd Les Cobban (7) 30 points
3rd Tony Robbins (21 30 points
Near pins Tony Robbins.
As expected, Evergreen Hills was in beautiful condition. It’s a toss-up between Royal Ratchaburi and Evergreen Hills as to which is the second-best course in the area. All the courses we played on this trip were very quiet, the challenge for them is not to overinflate the charges if we ever get back to normal.
Yet another day of low scoring which has been a feature of this trip. Jimmy was very consistent and won again today with thirty-three points. Les Cobban’s thirty points was enough to see him take second, edging out Tony Robbins also on thirty points. Tony got the only near pin.
In the race for the golfer of the trip, Michael Brett laid down an early marker with thirty-seven points on the first day; however, that’s where his fun ended. Having contracted a gastric bug, he was unable to eat for four days and very quickly ran out of energy, or indeed the will to play. This opened the way for Les Cobban to come through and shade it by a whisker from Jimmy.
 |
 |
 |
