PSC Golf from the Phantom Golf Society
Wednesday, March 2, Royal Lakeside – Medal & Stableford
Well, this was always going to be a big day, being another Phantom Golf Cup plus the very popular Phil Davies’s Birthday Bash and sure enough we set a new record of 91 golfers in the field after a couple of additions on the morning of the game. They came from everywhere – Tropical Golf, Growling Swan, Colin’s Golf Bar, The Links plus many more, including many friends of Phil who flew out from Wales to be with him on this special day.
We had a reasonably early first tee time of 9.30am and the earlier groups arrived in plenty of time, which enabled us to send Group 1 away 15 minutes ahead of schedule with no-one in front of them. It wasn’t long however before they caught up with a Thai all-walking 5-ball, so a quick word with the management prompted one of their Marshalls to give them the “hurry up, which resulted in the pace quickening up once more.
Low Gross winner Patrick Kelly (left) celebrates with Paul Smith.
The remaining 22 groups followed with excellent regularity and by the time the last group teed off they were only 6 minutes behind schedule, which was a great effort with such a large field and thanks to all the players for their punctuality.
The weather was perfect with a bit of wind to make things somewhat tricky at times and the golf course was in terrific shape, with the greens being of a high standard which enabled some fairly good scores in all flights. This course is one of the best around and everyone commented on this afterwards, with many playing it for the first time. The Royal Lakeside staff were very helpful so a big thanks to them.
In addition to the low gross prize we had 3 flights with A Flight for handicaps 0 to 9 playing stroke off the white tees, B Flight for golfers with handicaps of 10 to 19 playing stableford off the white tees and C Flight for golfers with handicaps of 20 and upwards playing stableford off the white tees and there were three places in each flight. As usual there were Technical Prizes for the 3 flights on all holes – 6 for A Flight, 6 for B Flight & 6 for C Flight.
Patrick Kelly, playing off scratch, showed his class by shooting one under par on his first visit to this golf course and took out the low gross prize. In A Flight, it was Barry Wellings who was the winner with a fine net 69 and with 2 golfers on net 72 the count back resulted in Paul Smith (net 36 last nine) finishing second from his old adversary Bob Watson (net 39 last nine) who took out third spot. I must mention that Bob is returning to Australia at the weekend after many years in Pattaya so bon voyage to him and many thanks for the excellent golf he has shown us over the years.
In B Flight it was Patrick’s father Peter Kelly who finished on top with 41 points and another count back was needed to decide second & third; PSC Golf Chairman and President Maurice Roberts (20 point last nine) snatching second from birthday boy Phil Davies (19 point last nine) in third place.
Birthday boy Phil Davies (left) with Maurice Roberts.
It was last month’s hole-in-one man Patrick Poussier who won C Flight with a fine 40 points, with Colin “Donkey” Davis finishing second. Yet another count back was necessary to determine third place with 2 golfers on 38 points and that went to John Tallett (17 point last nine) from the unlucky Satita “New St” Cheoychao (12 point last nine – yes that was 26 first nine & 12 points last nine).
Low Gross
1st Patrick Kelly (0) – 71 gross
A Flight (0-9)
1st Barry Wellings (4) net 69
2nd Paul Smith (2) net 72
3rd Bob Watson (5) net 72
B Flight (10-19)
1st Peter Kelly (13) 41pts
2nd Maurice Roberts (13) 40pts
3rd Phil Davis (15) 40pts
C Flight (20+)
1st Patrick Poussier (27) 40pts
2nd Colin Davis (20) 39pts
3rd John Tallett (25) 38pts
There was a huge crowd back at the Phantom Bar where we had a terrific buffet meal provided by Colin Davis and Jesper and also many thanks to Christian Boysen and Neil Smith of the Phantom Bar for co-sponsoring the event. There was also Karaoke on the night which had many singing and dancing for hours. We would also wish to thank Ali Baba Restaurant, Colin’s Golf Bar and Hotel Dania for helping us with sponsorship.
Last but not least, a huge thank you to Phil Davies for providing the wonderful food and many generous prizes and I’m sure he enjoyed the day & evening as much as the rest of us did.
Next month’s tournament will be held at another classy venue, Bangpakong Riverside Golf Course on Tuesday, April 5, so put that one in your diary.
