PSC Bunker Boys Golf
Monday, February 17th Pattavia Stableford
1st Craig Dows (8) 38 points
2nd Jimmy Carr (17) 37 points
3rd Robby Watts (9) 36 points
4th Roland Davison (15) 32 points
5th Tony Robbins (19) 32 points
Near pins Kevin LeBar, Robby Watts, Barry Murnin, & Tamura.
Monday signaled the onset of very hot weather. In recent days the temperature has been creeping higher, on Monday it was oppressively hot. It was not a good day for drinks stations to be without ice, unfortunately, some were.
The course was bone dry, brown and hard, only the tee boxes and greens had any green in them. Some very inconsistent bunkers, some with fluffy sand whilst others were hard-packed, one even had wet sand. A strong breeze blew occasionally which was nice while it was blowing. When it died down the temperature went up markedly and so did fatigue levels. A very good roll-up of twenty-three which included a few new faces from Japan, friends of Rocky, and a surprise late entry by Barry Murnin.
In his second-last game of this tour, Craig Dows took the honours with an excellent thirty-eight points, a score that had the potential to be much better but for a few lapses. Craig initially struggled to come to grips with golf in Thailand, it’s fair to say he no longer has that problem. Jimmy Carr, as he regularly does, threw in a very good round and took second a stroke back with Robby Watts (mister consistency) in third on thirty-six. A gap to fourth and fifth where Roland Davison and Tony Robbins were separated on countback.
A particularly fine shot from Kevin LeBar on the seventeenth saw him inches from the hole for a near pin with the others going to Tamura, Robby Watts, and Barry Murnin.
Wednesday, February 19th Parichat Rainbow
1st Peter Botswell (18) 38 points
2nd Ken Elmore (18) 38 points
3rd Craig Dows (8) 37 points
Near pins Barry Murnin, Tony Berry, Keith Norman, Craig Dows.
Our monthly Rainbow round was again played at the Parichat course where we had some people not familiar with the course and others not familiar with the format. As always, tee selection played a part in the results as well as assistance or otherwise from the caddies. Overall most managed both the course and the format well with some solid scores returned. Amongst those that didn’t figure on the leaderboard, there were still some good scores.
In their last games before flying south the Aussies again dominated with two in the top three. Peter Botswell playing with borrowed clubs excelled with an excellent thirty-eight points, edging out Ken Elmore into second place on countback, with the second Aussie Craig Dows in third a stroke back. The third Aussie who didn’t figure on the winner’s list, Robby Watts was just a stroke further back.
Near pins went to Barry Murnin, Tony Berry, Keith Norman, & Craig Dows.
The course was still in reasonable shape despite no rain although it too is starting to show the effects of the drought. It should now appear monthly on our playing schedule until some other courses recover, bring on the rain. A suggestion was made that has some merit, that we play each month Stableford instead of rainbow off the blue tees with the exception of the ninth which has a particularly long carry, in which case we play off the red, food for thought.
Friday, February 21st Bangpra Stableford
1st Alan Harris (9) 36 points
2nd Keith Norman (15) 36 points
3rd Tony Robbins (19) 36 points
4th Tony Berry (14) 35 points
5th Roland Davison (15) 34 points
Near pins, Paul Smith, Keith Norman, & Roland Davison X 2.
Twenty-one Bunker Boys made it to Bangpra for the last game of the week. As usual, we had to wait for the appointed hour before checking in, a frustration that never seems to go away. What the logic behind it is escapes me as we could have hit off at least half an hour earlier since nobody was waiting on the first tee. As it turned out by the time we did tee off we had a five ball ahead of us.
Despite being very dry the course played ok. Even without any rain since our last visit the course seemed somehow greener. All but one or two water catchments are now totally dry. A very stiff breeze once again made scoring difficult but did keep the temperature moderate. The greens were rated at 9.5, any faster on downhill putts would have been close to impossible.
A very even contest with three players locked together on thirty-six points. Alan Harris took first followed by Keith Norman and Tony Robbins in that order. Tony Berry took fourth with Roland Davison rounding out the scoring on thirty-four. Roland got two near pins, with Paul Smith and Keith Norman the other two.
Next Wednesday we have our inaugural “Iron Man” competition organised by Daryl Vernon with golf at King Naga followed by killer pool and dominoes at Woody’s. We expect a good roll up for this fun event.
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