IPGC Pattaya Golf Society at Rabbi’s Elephant Bar
The Pattaya Golf Society travelled to Emerald on Monday, August 8, to play a Stableford qualifying round for the Society’s “Player of the Month” award and found the course in a state of repair with a heavily cored and sanded set of greens on the front nine. Scores were destined to be poor to start as putting was a lottery and many golfers finished with a better back nine set of returns than on the front.
Sharing third place with 34 points were Masanori Takano, making his final appearance this trip, and Rob Lamond who shot the day’s best gross score of 80.
In second was lady golfer Wan Meeraka whose improvement continued with a fine 37 point score, one behind partner Evan Millar who produced a sound display after a run of less impressive scores.
The only birdie two of the day was recorded by Wichai Tananusorn on the fifteenth and the Booby Bevy went to Paul Bartlett for his split scores which defied the logic of the day and were better on the lottery which was the front nine. It may be some time before the course at Emerald is back up to standard but when it is, a good golf day is always in store in Ban Chang.
Debut win for Hansen
On Wednesday, August 10, the Pattaya Golf Society made the trip to Greenwood to play a Stableford competition on the B and C nines and found the course empty and in excellent condition. As usual in low season the white tees were well back and the heavy atmosphere and continued threat of a storm meant the course would play long. The greens were as good as any the group have played recently.
Starting on the easier B nine the group made good progress and at the turn the pre-round favourite Peter Masters found himself at the back of the pack with some fairly miserable putting. This would change as he progressed from 11 points to a more credible return with a gross back nine of only 38 shots, only twelve of which were putts! The result was to place him in third with 32 points.
In second place, making a welcome return to the group, was Tony Thorne on 36 points and he just failed to usurp the eventual winner Benny Hansen, chalking up his debut win with the PGS. Benny’s round of 37 points found no real problems as he recorded the day’s only sub-par round.
There were no birdie twos and the Booby Bevy followed the well-worn track to Mr Len after a promising start was again wasted with some ineffective iron play.
Pattaya golfers still harbour some misgivings about Greenwood but a 50 minute drive to an empty course in fine condition cannot be overlooked in the schedules.
New swing works for Larry
On Friday, August 12, the Pattaya Golf Society visited Rayong CC to play a Stableford competition. The course had offered a very attractive rate for the day and three other Pattaya golf groups were also in attendance. However, the Starter managed his job efficiently and PGS got away on time and completed the round with no delays.
Old stalwart Tony Thorne had rejoined the group for the day and his game showed some improvement with 33 points giving him third place, only one behind the second placed man Nile Sheehan.
The winner was American golfer Larry Bland who earlier had threatened “eighty or a hundred” with the untried improvements to his swing occupying his thoughts. His projection was correct as he posted gross eighty for an excellent forty point return on the tough track.
As a bonus he also recorded a birdie two on the sixteenth and joined Paul Bartlett in a share of the twos pot, the latter having set the target with an excellent effort on number seven.
The day brought to an end another golf week at Rabbi’s Elephant Bar in Soi Buakaow.
