IPGC Pattaya Golf Society at the Elephant Bar
The Pattaya Golf Society visited Khao Kheow, one of the group’s favourites, on Monday, 15th December to play a stableford competition in two flights, with the division at sixteen and under. Again there was quality in the field with the return of Iain Wilson from Scotland and Chris Smith, current PGS champion, as well as other good golfers in form.
The B and A course was in fine condition and as usual the onset of the dry season saw the continual presence of a swirling breeze that kept the golfers on their toes throughout.
Both flights saw tight scoring with only two points separating the top three as Larry Gibb and Jim Ferris shared third place in the second flight with 29 points each, one behind Masashi Iizumi on thirty. The flight winner was Mr Len with 31 hard earned points.
The top flight had Andrew Purdie, Chris Smith and Michael Lindberg sharing runner up place with 30 points and Rick Schramm taking top spot with 32 points. Mikael Lindberg, on his first round since his return from Sweden, birdied the first par three he played and shared the ‘2’s pot with Peter Ditz who birdied the course’s signature hole, the B8 island green.
The non-winner’s beer draw went to Dave Plaiter and although Jim Ferris’ odd golf shoes had been noted, Helen Lindberg took the Booby Bevy with the largest split figures of the day, 8-16, thus denying husband Michael of his usual “welcome back” treat.
Khao Kheow had been a pleasant experience yet again, offering a stunning backdrop to some good and tense competitive golf with the PGS.
Edwards to the fore
Wednesday 17th December saw the Pattaya Golf Society take eight groups to Mt. Shadow to contest a stableford competition. The day started out cool and overcast, with sufficient wind blowing to suggest good scores would be hard to come by. Fairways were in reasonable shape, bunkers were OK and greens were in their usual state – fast and challenging.
Our two divisions were cut at 16.5 and below. In B flight there were three ‘2’s; Bryan Brown at the 5th, and two from Larry Gibb, on the 5th and 15th. There was only one ‘2’ in A flight, from Alan Flynn at the 8th.
The B flight podium saw Ken Lambert come third with 32 points, Larry Gibb second with 36, and the winner, Charlie Charalambous with a one-under par round of 37.
A flight saw John Chelo third with 35 points and Gary Bolger second with 37. The winner was Dave Edwards whose 39 point haul represented the day’s best round, an excellent performance in testing conditions.
Back at the Elephant Bar we welcomed returning golfers Erik Anttonen from Finland, Kim Hewton from Australia, Svenn Lund from Norway and James Smith from Bangkok. One of those returning, Svenn, also picked up the lucky beer draw whilst his fellow countryman, Norwegian Gubbi Innvaer, was given the booby bevy in commiseration for a hard day on the course.
Rounding off an excellent day’s golf was John Mason who kindly donated technical prizes for nearest to the pin on par-3s and closest to the pin in two on the par-4 10th and 16th holes. Winners were, in order, Vic Woolton, Alan Flynn, Masashi Iizumi, John Chelo, Svenn Lund and Dave Edwards.
Masashi tames Pattavia
The Pattaya Golf Society took six groups to Pattavia Century on Friday 19th December to play a stableford competition. Still fresh in many minds were the slickness of Pattavia’s closely-shaven greens when last we were here – nine days previously. Whilst still a challenge, sufficient watering meant the greens had returned to their more manageable state. These improved putting surfaces, along with superbly presented bunkers and good fairways, places Pattavia near the top in our value-for-money index of Pattaya’s golf courses.
The cut separating today’s two flights was 14 and under. A Flight had two ‘2’s, both on the short 13th, recorded by Erik Anttonen and Iain Wilson. Three players made the podium with Rick Schramm very surprised that his modest score of 31 placed him third. Iain Wilson’s gross 76 gave him a respectable 35 points, and the flight’s winner, Tony Molan went one better with a net-par round of 36.
Scores in B Flight were better. Whilst Mike King’s 33 point haul gave him third place, both the winner and runner-up scored better than par. Dorsey Richardson returned a very creditable 37, but the standout performance of the day was the score of 39 points recorded by Masashi Iizumi. On this day this represented a very good score indeed!
Back at the Elephant Bar, we said farewell to John Mason who was returning to the UK. The lucky beer draw was won by David Thomas, whose 9–17 point-split was close to winning the booby bevy, but didn’t quite make it. In fact no one did on this occasion.
The large numbers attending the presentation were told of our colleague, Andrew Purdie, being hospitalised due to a bacterial infection. We wish Andrew a speedy recovery.
