Travellers Rest Golf Group
Twas the week before Christmas and the golfing fraternity at the TRGG came out in force, forsaking their Christmas shopping, leaving their loved ones at home and heading off to where the grass is always greener, the golf course. Such were the turnouts this past week it required two divisions on all four days of competition and the prizes only went to those who were on top of their game – or in some cases those with the dodgiest handicaps.
Monday, Dec. 15, Greenwood – Stableford
The week got underway on Monday with a trip over to Greenwood (A and B courses). The first tree at Greenwood was not the holly but that sturdy Scottish oak Neil Bramley, who maintained his challenge to become the TRGG Golfer of the Year by winning Division 1 with an excellent 37 points. Close behind came Ian Smith, who took second place, and the ever-improving Jon Dean in third.
Alan Thomas.
In Division 2, Joe Stranks took the honours with another 37 points followed home by Richard Kawagoye and Paul Stanton respectively.
Div. 1 (0-11)
1st Neil Bramley (7) 37pts
2nd Ian Smith (10) 36pts
3rd Jon Dean (11) 35pts
Div.2 (12+)
1st Joe Stranks (12) 37pts
2nd Richard Kawagoye (12) 35pts
3rd Paul Stanton (12) 34pts
Tuesday, Dec. 16, Pattavia – Stableford
On Tuesday it was a journey through the pineapple fields and over to Pattavia Century and those ice rink greens. Things hadn’t changed much since our last visit so we all donned our ice skates and set off trying our best not to end up looking like Bambi. Needless to say, most of us ended up on our backsides and good scores from the judges were hard to come by.
In Division 1, Joe Stranks continued where he left off on Monday by winning again with a commendable 36 points. In fact it was a case of déjà vu because as on Monday Joe finished just ahead of Richard Kawagoye, with the Magic Roundabout Mr. Rusty (Rusty Barfield) in third place.
In Division 2, Ged Blairs took the judge’s eye with an almost faultless round and amassed a quite unbelievable 40 points. A long way behind was Jim Cooper who made it into second place, and always light on his feet Seamus Farrell was third. I never thought I would ever write the words “light on his feet” and “Seamus Farrell” in the same sentence, but it is Christmas.
Div. 1 (0-12)
1st Joe Stranks (12) 36pts
2nd Richard Kawagoye (12) 35pts
3rd Rusty Barfield (4) 34pts
Div. 2 (13+)
1st Ged Blairs (30) 40 pts
2nd Jim Cooper (15) 33 pts
3rd Seamus Farrell (30) 32pts
Thursday, Dec. 18, Green Valley – Stableford
On Thursday it was a case of “How Green was my Valley” (break out the Welsh choir). Unfortunately on this day the Welsh didn’t make it onto the leaderboard and it was the guys from the colonies who ruled the roost.
Norman Cheetham.
In Division 1, Alan Thomas, which sounds very Welsh to me but is in fact from the Americas, took first place on the podium, pushing Jon Dean into second and Nick Thomas (also not Welsh) into third.
In Division 2 it was a welcome back to Aussie Norman Cheetham a.k.a. ‘El Bandido’. He swept into town wearing his Ned Kelly mask and a few hours later, after swooping up the prize money, he swept off back to his lair in the Badlands of Pattaya. Dorsey Richardson couldn’t quite catch ‘Big’ Norm and had to settle for second, with ‘Father’ Ted Senior in third.
Div. 1 (0-13)
1st Alan Thomas (5) 38pts
2nd Jon Dean (11) 37pts
3rd Nick Thomas (11) 35pts
Div. 2 (14+)
1st Norman Cheetham (15) 40pts
2nd Dorsey Richardson (17) 38pts
3rd Ted Senior (16) 37pts
Saturday, Dec. 20, Mt. Shadow – Stableford
It was back to our fortnightly venue at Mountain Shadow on Saturday. On a beautiful day for golf it is hard to explain why the scoring was so low – perhaps the Christmas Spirit got the better of everybody?
The first Noel went not to certain poor shepherds but to Ian Smith who just managed to pip Barry Wood to first place in Division 1, but only after a count back. Kazu Mochidome took third place three points behind.
In Division 2, Paul Sharples finished on top of the Christmas tree (no I don’t mean he is a fairy) with the best score of the day, 35 points. Tomo Taniguchi took the runner’s up spot and the ‘Great Seducer’, Gerry Fernadez, finished third.
Div.1 (0-12)
1st Ian Smith (10) 34pts
2nd Barry Wood (11) 34pts
3rd Kazu Mochidome (10) 31pts
Div.2 (13+)
1st Paul Sharples (13) 35pts
2nd Tomo Taniguchi (15) 32pts
3rd Gerry Fernandez (13) 31pts
A very happy Christmas to you all and good luck to all you golfers for the coming week. If you would like to play a round of golf with the TRGG, please phone Fergus Brennan on 086 056 7019 or pop into the Ned Kelly Bar in Soi Lengkee and add your name to the weekly lists which are posted on the notice board.
