PSC Golf from The Outback Golf Bar
Monday, March 7, Burapha – Stableford
A Flight
1st John Fitzgerald (18.7) 42pts
2nd Peter Nixon (11.3) 40pts
3rd Geoff Stimpson (5.5) 21pts
4th Maurice Copan (12) 39pts
B Flight
1st Sugar Ray Handford (21) 49pts
2nd Ronnalyn Carungay (35.1) 43pts
3rd Peter Stonebridge (19.8) 42pts
4th Ivan Plunkett (26.3) 40pts
For the second time in as many months, we had a hole in one at the Outback! This time it was from Sugar Ray Handford, who not only scored an ‘ace’, but also a magnificent 49 points off his playing handicap (47 points on his PSC Handicap Index). Sugar clearly had a round of a lifetime, and that is a scorecard that he will frame, no doubt.
Sugar Ray Handford.
Sugar scored his hole in one on the not so easy 12th hole, playing around 140 yards. He celebrated with the customary bell ring, and also received a nice Outback shirt with compliments from us.
On a sidenote, and for those interested in statistics and handicaps, the chances of a hole in one for a high handicapper are 12,500 to 1, and according to the USGA Exceptional Tournament Score Probability Table (you can Google it), the chances of someone with Sugar’s handicap of 21 getting more than 10 shots under handicap is 37,000 to 1. If Sugar wasn’t a regular here you could be forgiven for thinking he was a sandbagger, but I can certainly vouch for the authenticity of his handicap, which incidentally has now been reduced to 17.4.
There were also numerous other great rounds today here at Burapha, which does indicate that we should maybe move the play back to the blue tees as we did a few months ago. Clearly the course is tame against the onslaught of the Outbackers’ ability and we should give it more of a chance to defend itself.
With Sugar being the clear winner for Div. B, Rona Carungay came in second with a 43 points, Peter Stonebridge was third with 42 and Ivan Plunkett took fourth with 40.
In the A division, Maurice Copan narrowly beat Vince Butler to be fourth with 39 points, Geoff Stimpson came in third with a fantastic 75 gross (39 points), Peter Nixon claimed second spot with 40 points, and John Fitzgerald was first with a fantastic 42.
Wednesday, March 9, The Emerald – Stableford
1st Greg Braemar (28.4) 41pts
2nd Gordon Clegg (30.9) 40pts
3rd George Hensher (27.9) 37pts
4th Nev Jolley (18) 35pts
Starting off with 16 players, our numbers quickly dwindled as the morning calls came in. Seems that there was a bad strain of a stomach bug going around and 4 players dropped out because of this.
(L to R) Sel Wegner with Yurie Murakami, Eddy Beilby, and Andy Makara.
The players reported that the greens were slow and the course was a little scruffy, but hey, we don’t go to play Emerald because its pristine right? We will continue to add Emerald a few times over the low season, so keep a watch out on the schedule.
Scores were good on the day, with Nev Jolly coming in with 35 points for fourth place, George Hensher taking third with 37, Gordon Clegg shooting a 40-pointer for second, and Greg Braemer going one better with 41 to take the win. There were no ‘2’s.
Friday, March 11, Green Valley – Stableford
A Flight
1st Selwyn Wegner (13.6) 42pts
2nd Yurie Murakami (15.7) 40pts
3rd Peter Nixon (11.3) 37pts
B Flight
1st Eddy Beilby (20.1) 46pts
2nd Ronnalyn Carungay (35.1) 41pts
3rd Andrew Makara (23.4) 37pts
With many of our visiting friends returning back home or elsewhere in Thailand, our numbers have dwindled somewhat this week, and we had a more mundane 22 people returning scorecards here on Friday, and Green Valley was a breeze judging by the scores.
For the second time in a week we had a “high pointer” in our midst, this time from the always potent Mr. Eddie Beilby. Scoring a brilliant 23 points on each nine, Eddie recorded 46 points from his playing handicap of 22. Eddie’s probability of shooting 8 under on his handicap index of 20 is 1,138 to 1, so this should be a once in about 5 year score for him. Good going there young man!
Other noteworthy performances of the day were Andy Makara coming third in Div B with 37 points and the lovely young Rona Carunga scoring 41 to finish in second place behind Eddie. In Div A, the ever present Peter Nixon played another steady round to finish third with 37 points, and our friend from Japan, Yurie Murakami, recorded a great 40 points to round off her trip to Thailand in style with a second place. Sel Wegner recorded the lowest gross score on the day and was also the points winner of Div A with a fantastic 42.
The only 2’s to be had all day belonged to none other than Eddie Beilby and Andy Makara.
