PSC golf from The Outback Golf Bar
Monday, Feb. 13, Khao Kheow – Stableford
Thirty-eight Outbackers travelled to Khao Kheow Golf Club including Pat Regan and his Irish mates led by Vinny Connellan to play the C and B nines on a sunny, hot and humid day. The golf course was presented in reasonable condition with flat greens, though a little slower than normal and fairways that had plenty of grass on them and looked like they had been cut a couple of days or so ago.
C nine was played first and the first five groups were all under two hours but unfortunately had a thirty minute wait to start the B nine and then it took another two and a half hours to finish the nine, all caused by one five-ball out in front of the field who couldn’t have cared less.
Rick Forrest.
Considering how tough the course is, the scores for the day were very good although only one player had better than par for the day. With the size of the field we had three divisions with four places in each.
The winner of Div C was Irishman Pat Culloty, having his first game with the Outback, (but not one of Vinny’s raiders) with 35 points from Sakorn on 33 points, with Tony Tolan (Vinny’s Irish group) on 32 points winning on count back from Greg LeBlanc.
Div C went to another Irishman also having his first game with us, Conor Doyle with a good round of 37 points, from Steve (stomach cramps) Plant on 35 points and Sugar Ray (33) and his good mate, Phil Waite with 32.
Div A made the Irish day and a clean sweep with Frank O’Hara (Vinny’s group) taking the honours on 36 points from Jeff Warner on 35 beating Peter Ennis (Vinny’s group) on count back.
Welcome back to Mo Sidiq, Roy Barrell and Amphun North and to another first timer with the Outback, Darragh McCormack
There was one ‘2’ (hole 17, B8) and yes, you guessed it – from Irishman Conor Doyle, well done.
Thanks to the Irish contingent for their generosity and support of the Outback Charity and safe trip home and we will look forward to your next visit.
Div A (0-13)
1st Frank O’Hara (13/Hi12.1) 36pts
2nd Peter Ennis (13/Hi12) 35pts
3rd Jeff Warner (13/Hi12.6) 35pts
Div B (14 -21)
1st Conor Doyle (14/Hi12.9) 37pts
2nd Steve Plant (14/Hi13.5) 35pts
3rd Sugar Ray Handford (19/Hi17.9) 33pts
Div C (22+)
1st Pat Culloty (23/Hi21.8) 35pts
2nd Sakorn Pramoolchart (24/Hi25.6) 33pts
3rd Greg LeBlanc (28/Hi26.2) 32pts
Monday, Feb. 13, Burapha – Stableford
So a record day for the Outback with nearly 90 players out today across the board at Khao Kheow (38) and here at Burapha (49 and some) playing what seems to becoming the easy A & B nines from the blues. Incredibly, in Div B, out of 14, there was only one player under 30pts as Ken Williams won it on 39 from Rosco on 38.
Paul Bourke.
John Cunningham is a machine on this course and just keeps on crunching out great score with the equal best score of the day, 40pts, from John Mac and the Capt’ both back on 36. The other day’s best came from ‘you either love him or you hate him’, Arab ‘moonboot’ Russell and we are still awaiting pictures of the Burapha staff tending to ‘moonboot cleaning duty’. Well done Arab!
Finally Div C was won by Rick Forrest on 39 from resident and not to be outdone by the Khao Kheow crowd, Irishman Ivan Plunkett with 38, which is pretty good as he says he cannot reach the fairway from the blue tees on some of the holes. Well done Ivan!
There were only four ‘2’s; two on hole A3 from John Cunningham & Capt’ Bob; Damon Glocker holed his second shot on A4 for an eagle and Chris Dopp had one on A6.
Div A (0-14)
1st John Cunningham (9/Hi6.4) 40pts
2nd John McDonald (13/Hi10.1) 36pts
3rd Bob Philp (14/Hi11.2) 36pts
Div B (15-20)
1st Ken Williams (15/Hi12) 39pts
2nd Langoulant Rosco (15/Hi11.6) 38pts
3rd Chris Dopp (17/Hi13.6) 38pts
Div C (21-25)
1st Rick Forrest (21/Hi17.1) 39pts
2nd Ivan Plunkett (25/Hi20.7) 38pts
3rd Stewie McKeown (21/Hi17) 37pts
Div D (26+)
1st Arab Russell (28/Hi23.1) 40pts
2nd Mark Rendell (26/Hi21.2) 38pts
3rd Steve Giles (26/Hi21.5) 37pts
Tuesday, Feb. 14, Pattaya C.C. – Stableford
On this fine Valentine’s Tuesday morning, 18 Outbackers made the short trip to the ever-welcoming Pattaya Country Club where hearts and roses were around the regular Tuesday caddies. We welcomed Dave and Liz Collier and also Yvonne and John Dance from the UK’s West Country to their first Tuesday at PCC.
The course was in a satisfactory state other than some of the bunkers, and not too busy so four hours was the norm. The weather was hot and humid.
In ‘A’ flight, once again organiser of the day Nigel Cannon (22) led the way with 37 points, with one of his playing partners Liz Collier (22) a point behind with 36. Third place went to the caddy from PCC, Noy Kamsantia (20) with 35 and fourth went to good friend of the Outback, Geoff Doody (19) with 34.
In ‘B’ Flight, showing that he just managed to beat the Mrs., was Dave Collier (27) with the best of the day 39 points, followed by a surprised Paul Squibb (27) some 9 points lower on 30, on count back from Geoff Moodie (25) also with 30. Final spot went to Eddie O’Neill (31) with 27 points picking up his first podium place.
Finally, there is a 2 man scramble coming up on March 6th, kindly and very generously sponsored by Johnny Cogan, who will be returning to Ireland to live in April to take care of his children’s education. There are certain qualifying rules for the competition which is limited to 30 teams at Pattaya C.C., where John was a member and played most of his golf.
Also for those of you that haven’t already heard, Pattaya C.C. is closing nine holes (we think the front nine) on Fri 16th March as the course is to undergo some serious upgrading. We are told for about six months and as yet no details have been released as to the arrangements or costs for playing just nine holes or 18 by repeating the same nine. We will release that info as soon as we know.
Div A (0-23)
1st Nigel Cannon (22/Hi22.8) 37pts
2nd Liz Collier (22/Hi21.1) 36pts
3rd Noy Kamsantia (20/Hi19.8) 35pts
4th Geoff Doody (19/Hi20.4) 34pts
Div B (24+)
1st Dave Collier (27/Hi27.5) 39pts
2nd Paul Squibb (27/Hi27.3) 30pts
3rd Geoff Moodie (25/Hi25.4) 30pts
4th Eddie O’Neill (31/Hi31.4) 27pts
Wednesday, Feb. 15, Pattana A & B – Stableford
With a full team of 36 players it was off to a good start right on time and there was no delay in paying green fees as was the problem before.
Even playing A and B in that order from the more forward yellow tees, it turned out to be a tough day at the office. There was only one player who got better than his handicap and the rest of the scores were very ordinary to say the least.
The greens on the front nine had just been cored and sanded and were quite slow, even the downhill putts, which normally on this course are lightning fast, struggled to reach the hole. On the turn it was straight on to B and thinking the same greens as the last nine, not so; they were almost back to their usual quick pace.
The shot of the day came from a visiting player from London even though he is of the Northern Brit variety; playing B1, he blocked his ball off the tee, hit the cart path on the right hand side and took off towards the water; which fortunately had been drained out of the lake and there is some sort of road going out into where the water once was. Yes, you’ve guessed it – the ball was sitting right in the middle of the dirt. I’m not sure what club was used but it was the right one as he stiffed the ball to about 6 feet and lipped out for a birdie, great shot Angus!
He (Angus) took the win in Div A with 36pts from Steve Mann (35); Div B had two sharing 35pts, Sausage (Bernie Stafford) getting the nod on count back from new boy to the Outback, Billy Britton. Greg LeBlanc had another day out to score an excellent 40pts, which has seen him cut another 1.6 shots.
All in all it was a good day out the course was a little wet in places but very playable. You couldn’t get too drunk upstairs unless you had a very big wallet, 111 baht for a beer is a bit over the top but the food was excellent.
There was only one ‘2’ from Paul Greenaway on the 12th.
Div A (0-12)
1st Angus Neilson (7/Hi7.3) 36pts
2nd Steve Mann (11/Hi10.6) 34pts
3rd Paul Bourke (8/Hi8.6) 33pts
Div B (13-17)
1st Bernie Stafford (13/Hi12.9) 35pts
2nd Billy Britton (16/Hi15.2) 35pts
3rd Steve Plant (14/Hi13.5) 33pts
Div C (18+)
1st Greg LeBlanc (30/Hi26.2) 40pts
2nd Pat Culloty (24/Hi21.8) 38pts
3rd Sunanta Duangwaw (45/Hi36) 35pts
Thursday, Feb. 16, Mt. Shadow – Stableford
Nearly all of the 17 Outbackers here were visitors, not many of the regulars were willing to give this tricky course a go; and as can be seen from the low scoring, is easy to see why.
Shay Mitchell continued to fly the flag for the Irish as his 34pts won the day from Jeff Warner (31pts) who has been steady all week and Aussie visitor, Kim Stokes, also with 31.
We had an entire family of Bracegirdles, four of them to be precise and welcome to them playing with the Outback for the first time and similarly to Tim Jackson & Campbell Johnson.
It came as no real surprise that there were no ‘2’s.
1st Shay Mitchell (21/Hi21.1) 34pts
2nd Jeff Warner (12/Hi12.6) 31pts
3rd Kim Stokes (14) 31pts
Friday, Feb. 17, Green Valley – Stableford
With thirteen groups playing, it was off to an early start – 15mins ahead of our 10 o’clock tee off and we were all gone by 11 o’clock; the course was in great condition as you will see by some of the scores. Unlike the ladies tournament at Siam Old Course we dodged the rain; it did threaten but did not eventuate until we were on the way home.
Ed Horrocks had the day of his life and actually took a photo of his card as it was his best round ever, a massive 43pts, which earned him the Div C title and a 2.7 shot handicap reduction. Rick Forrest took Div B with another good score, 40pts and he was two ahead of course member, Sugar Ray. Paul Bourke showed everybody in Div A once again how to play this game with 39pts off 8; but newbie Mark Taversham-Hamm played well with 37 off 5 and a special mention also to Tubz (Mark McDonald) for his one over gross, 36pts.
There were six ‘2’s; two on the 4th; from Mark McDonald & Jim Brackett; another one from Mark & one from John Player on the 9th; then two more on the 12th; from Andy Makara & Charlie Ward.
Div A (0-11)
1st Paul Bourke (8/Hi8.7) 39pts
2nd Mark Taversham-Hamm (5/Hi6) 37pts
3rd Angus Neilson (6/Hi7.3) 37pts
Div B (12-19)
1st Rick Forrest (16/Hi16.3) 40pts
2nd Sugar Ray Handford (18/Hi17.9) 38pts
3rd Phil Waite (13/Hi13.3) 35pts
Div C (20+)
1st Ed Horrocks (21/Hi20.5) 43pts
2nd Andy Makara (30/Hi28.7) 38pts
3rd Ray Verrall (23/Hi22.7) 33pts
