Travellers Rest Golf Group
Any history buff will tell you that the St Valentine’s Day Massacre took place in Chicago on the 14th February 1929 when a number of Irish-American gentlemen belonging to the North Side gang met their demise at the hands of some Italian-American gentlemen, who happened to belong to the South Side gang run by a certain Al Capone.
On Valentine’s Day 2015 a second massacre took place at Greenwood Golf Course in the final of the TRGG Match Play Competition, and once again it was the Irish who suffered. Big Liam Horgan had one of those days he would probably wish to forget when he came up against another North American, well Canadian actually, named Tristan Gilbert. If it had been an arm wrestling match the big Irishman would have won hands down, or indeed if he had sat on top of Tristan for five minutes there was only one winner, but after eighteen holes of golf (or in this case thirteen holes of golf) Tristan ran out the winner 6 and 5, which is a pretty large margin in anybody’s book. Well done Tristan and better luck next time to Liam.
Monday, Feb. 9, Pattaya C.C. – Stableford
On Monday the TRGG headed over to Pattaya Country Club to do battle in front of the impressive new club house. It has been a long time since our last visit so there was a good deal of interest and two divisions were required.
Tristan Gilbert, Alan Thomas & Martin Cooper.
In Division 1, that remarkably consistent golfer Alan Thomas showed he is up to any new challenge by taking first place, but only just as it took a count back before Alan found out he had finished just ahead of Ito Akitoshi. Mike Rushant was only a point behind in third place.
In Division 2, Bill Reid shot the best score of the day and finished with an impressive 40 points. He was followed home by Neil Easthaugh in second and Tim Dalton in third.
Div.1 (0-15)
1st Alan Thomas (5) 34pts
2nd Ito Akitoshi (9) 34pts
3rd Mike Rushant (10) 33pts
Div.2 (16+)
1st Bill Reid (16) 40pts
2nd Neil Easthaugh (36) 38pts
3rd Tim Dalton 17) 37pts
Tuesday, Feb. 10, Bangpakong – Stableford
It was off to Bangpakong on Tuesday and the best locker room and best kept course most of us have seen in Thailand. It was a very close finish in Division 1 and once again it required a count back to separate first and second. Andy Halsey won the battle over Ryan Thomas and one point behind came Nick Thomas.
In Division 2 Joe Nagle saw off the opposition with an impressive 38 points while Reg Glass took second and Mike Lam made it into third.
Div.1 (0-13)
1st Andy Halsey (9) 38pts
2nd Ryan Thomas (0) 38pts
3rd Nick Thomas (12) 37pts
Div.2 (14+)
1st Joe Nagle (19) 38pts
2nd Reg Glass (17) 35pts
3rd Mike Lam (21) 34pts
Thursday, Feb. 12, St. Andrews – Stableford
On Thursday a brave few took on St. Andrews whilst the majority took on the neighbouring course, Green Valley. At St Andrews, Alan Murray tore the course apart with a storming 43 points. Some way behind came Fergus Brennan with another impressive score of 38 and Jack Watkins took third spot.
1st Alan Murray (13) 43pts
2nd Fergus Brennan (13) 38pts
3rd Jack Watkins (9) 35pts
At Green Valley two divisions were necessary and it was 2014 Golfer of the Year Neil Bramley who won Division 1 from Matchplay champion Tristan Gilbert, with Ladies champion Tewin ‘Poopay’ Lamthong finishing third.
In Division 2 there were no titled people winning but nice guy Ted Senior took top spot on count back, with equally nice guys Joe Nagle and Bill Reid taking second and third respectively.
Div.1 (0-14)
1st Neil Bramley (8) 35pts
2nd Tristan Gilbert (11) 34pts
3rd Tewin Lamthong (11) 33pts
Div.2 (15+)
1st Ted Senior (15) 37pts
2nd Joe Nagle (18) 37pts
3rd Bill Reid (15) 36pts
Saturday, Feb. 14, Greenwood – Stableford
The Matchplay final, as already stated, took place at Greenwood (C and A courses) on Saturday and whilst Tristan Gilbert was duffing up Liam Horgan the rest of the field fought out the stableford competition over two divisions.
In Division 1, Martin Cooper, on his second visit to Thailand this high season, took time off from driving a bus through Surrey in England to driving a bus through the opposition; the passengers behind included Tristan Gilbert in second and Andy Halsey in third.
In Division 2, Gary Ralph just got the better of Frank Courtney and Billy Allan, who all finished on 32 points and another count back was necessary to sort it all out.
Div.1 (0-12)
1st Martin Cooper (3) 37pts
2nd Tristan Gilbert (11) 35pts
3rd Andy Halsey (9) 34pts
Div.2 (13+)
1st Gary Ralph (16) 32pts
2nd Frank Courtney (15) 32pts
3rd Billy Allan (16) 32pts
Good luck to all you golfers for the coming week and if you would like to play a round of golf with the TRGG, please phone Fergus Brennan on 086 056 7019 or pop into the Ned Kelly Bar in Soi Lengkee and add your name to the weekly lists which are posted on the notice board.
