PSC Golf from The Outback Golf Bar
Monday, July 25, Burapha – Stableford
Twenty Outbackers travelled to Burapha for our normal Monday outing. The weather was overcast with some light rain to start but it cleared up as the round progressed and was hot and humid by the time we had finished. Five groups teed off starting at 9:45 and all groups had completed their 18 holes by 1:45, great pace even though we were spread over a few holes.
The course was reasonably dry and both nines had been prepared the same and all greens, fairways and rough had been cut and the course looked a picture.
Welcome to Steve Durey and Andy Brady for their first game with the Outback and welcome back to Paul Sharples and Owen Walkley from overseas.
Roger Koehler (left) with Suzi Lawton and Friday’s overall winner, Randy Hurwitz.
We played the B and C nines off the white markers which made for some good scoring with a rating of 71 and a slope of 120. The winner of Division A (0-16) was Bobby Driggs with 38 points off his 12 handicap, from Colin Goon with 37 points and John O’Keefe in third with 36 points on a count-back from Paul Sharples.
The division B (17+) winner was Andy Makara with 38 points from Steve Giles in second, who enjoyed his first ever podium finish with 37 points, with the consistent Bob Lindborg third on 36.
There were two ‘2’s to Paul Sharples and Colin Goon.
Div A (0-16)
1st Bobby Driggs (12/Hi12.1) 38pts
2nd Colin Goon (3/Hi3.6) 37pts
3rd John O’Keefe (16) 36pts
4th Paul Sharples (12/Hi11.8) 36pts
Div B (17+)
1st Andy Makara (26/Hi25.4) 38pts
2nd Steve Giles (25/Hi24.4) 37pts
3rd Bob Lindborg (18/Hi17.9) 36pts
4th Steve Durey (19/Hi19.1) 34pts
Tuesday, July 27, Pattaya C.C. – Stableford
An earlier than usual start here at Pattaya C.C., as the Outback have brought their regular Tuesday booking here forward to 9am, instead of 9.30. This was brought about mainly by the fact that most of the time we teed off early anyway, it even happened today as all 13 Outbackers were away by 9am.
The course was fine as was the weather, and even though the greens had been scarified they ran OK and the work on the banks of the bunkers is coming on.
Geoff Moodie dropped his hands at the finish; he wiped the last hole seemingly knowing that he had just done enough with his 38 points, which he had, to win by one from Raji with 37. Chad, who is very consistent round this course, had to settle for third as he squandered a few shots on the back nine having accrued 20 at the turn.
There were just two ‘2’s one from Raji on hole 5 and the other from Orn on hole 7.
1st Geoff Moodie (24/Hi23.2) 38pts
2nd Amarjit Banwaitt (6/Hi6.5) 37pts
3rd Barry Chadbourn (16/Hi16.6) 36pts
4th John Cogan (15/Hi15.6) 35pts
5th Orn Kanasaengsri (18/Hi16.7) 35pts
Wednesday, July 27, St. Andrews – Stableford
The Outback boys and girls travelled to St. Andrews for the second time this month and were lucky enough to play millionaire’s golf as the course was deserted. Unfortunately St. Andrews wasn’t presented as a millionaire’s golf course as the greens which were scarified last time we played on the 1st July haven’t fully recovered and were being sanded as we played, so it made for inconsistent greens. Many of the bunkers had very little sand in them but at least the fairways and rough were presented well.
Welcome to two new players in Joe Armit and Darren Cook and goodbye for now to Barry McIntosh who returns home to Melbourne.
As we only had 17 players there was only one division with five places and we played off the white markers at 6,300 yards. There were three tied at the top all on 35 points with the win going to Darren Cook on count-back from Amarjit Banwaitt (Raji) and Andy Brady; fourth was Mark McDonald with 34 points also on count-back from Bob Lindborg.
There were four ‘2’s with two to Raji on the 5th and 10th holes and one each to Suzi Lawton on the tough 17th and Sugar Ray also on the 5th.
1st Darren Cook (28/Hi26.3) 35pts
2nd Amarjit Banwaitt (7/Hi6.3) 35pts
3rd Andy Brady (25/Hi24) 35pts
4th Mark McDonald (3/Hi3) 34pts
5th Bob Lindborg (19/Hi17.9) 34pts
Friday, July 29, Khao Kheow A & B – Stableford
We broke away from the regular golfing formats to hold a ‘fun competition’ hosted by birthday girl, Suzi Lawton. 45 Outbackers partook in a “Rainbow”, where a player must play off six red, six white and six blues tees of his choice and the ladies, twelve red and six white tees; as such with the mixture of tees, the scores do not count towards handicap.
The nine on which we started (A) had been closed beforehand, leaving a clear run at the course apart from one Thai group, who our leading group caught up very quickly but they (the Thais) were able to speed up and caused little delay. The weather was set fine with a light breeze which strengthened through the round but no sign of rain; the greens were great but the course is undergoing maintenance on many tee boxes and the broad leaf “cow grass” is very apparent on many holes. Still, it doesn’t take away the challenge of the course and it continues to represent great value for money.
Suzi, playing in the first group out, started strongly with a birdie on the first, chipping in for bogey on the second before setting up both par 3 “near pin” markers on the third and fifth before holing her putt on the fifth, for her second birdie. She turned on 21 points but a series of errors on the back nine put paid to her chances of winning her own tournament.
Div A and Div B both had to be split by count-backs for the first three places; in Div A, the magic score was 40 points with Bob Newell (8) pipping Andy Todd (13) and Jack Spencer (10) recording back nine scores of 22, 21 and 18 respectively. In Div B, you had to make 37 points to be in the shake up as Eddie Beilby (15) edged out Barry Copestake (15) and Brian Wilkinson (16) with back nine returns of 21, 18 and 17.
Div C went clearly to Roger Koehler with 38 points off h’cap 25; he was followed home by one of four ladies in the line-up, Nuan Keddie (19) with 34 points and newcomer to the Outback, Mike Shreve (25) on 33.
Apart from the overall and regular divisional prizes, Suzi sponsored four near pin prizes (500 Baht vouchers at the Outback) which went to Don Lehmer on A3, Nuan Keddie on A5, Roger Koehler on B3 and Andy Todd on B8. There was also a special prize for the best stableford score on the four par 3’s; right up until the end of processing the results, John Player, Bob Lindborg and Eddie Beilby were all tied on 12 points but then along came Roger Koehler, who, not satisfied with his Div C win and “near pin”, ran up an amazing 13 points on the par 3’s, to take the win for that as well. Well done Roger!
Back at the ranch, after presentation, there was an excellent spread of food, all courtesy of Suzi, which included Lasagne, garlic bread, Wienerschnitzel, potato salad and the wonderful Thai dish, Gaeng Kari Kai.
Altogether a great day out and Happy Birthday Suzi and a big thank you from all of us – also a special thanks to Steve Mann for running the competition and sorting the start sheet.
Finally, there were ten ‘2’s from John Player, Suzi, Pat Regan, Jez Lees, Don Lehmer, Roger Koehler and both Bob Newell and Eddie Beilby had two each.
For the record, this was our last Friday at Khao Kheow as it moves to Mondays, starting 8th August and next Friday, 5th August and every Friday thereafter, we will be at Green Valley.
Overall Winner
1st Randy Hurwitz (12) 41pts
Div A (0-14)
1st Bob Newell (8) 40pts
2nd Andy Todd (13) 40pts
3rd Jack Spencer (10) 40pts
4th Tony Musgrave (5) 36pts
Div B (15-18)
1st Eddy Beilby (15) 37pts
2nd Barry Copestake (15) 37pts
3rd Brian Wilkinson (16) 37pts
4th Jez Lees (15) 36pts
Div C (19+)
1st Roger Koehler (25) 38pts
2nd Nuan Keddie (19) 34pts
3rd Michael Shreve (25) 33pts
4th Sid Ottaway (23) 32pts
Note: The Outback Golf Bar is situated about 6km from Sukhumvit Road along Soi Siam Country. All are welcome to come and join us for a beer and a hit. Just call in and put your name down on the list or give Bob a call on 087 941 2474.
