PSC Golf from the Café Kronborg
Monday, March 19, Bangpakong – Stableford
It was time for our much awaited monthly visit to Bangpakong Riverside Country Club and after a cancellation due to sickness the afternoon before we had a nice tidy field of 28 golfers ready for the longer than normal journey.
We assembled at Café Kronborg and welcomes were handed out to Dave Neal & Ron Folks from the UK, Dave’s lady Tienthong and Frank Donnelly returning after a couple of months in Australia. Sadly we were saying farewell to our good friend Monte Sykes who is shortly returning to the States after a 7 week break here in Pattaya.
Henry Wong, The Admiral & Peter Blackburn
Everyone fronted up early so we departed the Kronny 5 minutes ahead of our scheduled 0815hrs and in just 65 minutes we were at the course which did not appear to be too busy, which was somewhat surprising as it was a Sports Day with 800 baht green fee. Sure enough we were invited to tee off as soon as we were ready and our first four-ball got away 15 minutes early at 0945hrs. The weather was great with just a slight cloud cover at times and as usual this lovely course was in terrific shape with lush fairways and greens that were very close to perfection.
It wasn’t long before Stu (Heineken) Rifkin was officially declared “on Safari” by The Admiral but to his credit he managed to straighten up most of his shots eventually but alas, much good work was spoilt by some errant putting. The Admiral was also having some woes with a case of the dreaded sha..s but Hunter Gosden & myself plodded on and managed to inject some respectability into the group.
As mentioned earlier the course was fairly quiet and with no-one ahead of us we scorched through the front nine in a couple of minutes over two hours. Slowing down slightly on the back nine as it was getting rather hot we stopped for a lengthy drinks break before the 12th tee and continuing our good pace we completed the full round in the very good time of four hours & ten minutes. Another excellent day was had by all at this classy venue and several people appreciated it very much as there were some very good scores handed in.
Mike Winfield.
Your writer had a welcome return to form and took out the A Flight with 42 points, 2 points ahead of Leif Kirkgaard in second place with Ulf Larsson 1 point further back in third spot. A count back on 37 points for fourth & fifth places saw Dr Paul Cardwell (18 point back nine, 12 points on the last 6 holes) just ahead of the departing Monte Sykes (18 point back nine, 11 points on the last 6 holes).
B Flight was easily won by Henry Wong with a magnificent 45 points and Dave Neal came second with a fine 42 points. Mike Winfield was third on 39 points with Jan Lovgreen fourth on 38 points and in fifth place was Kenny Chung with 34 points.
A Flight (0-19)
1st Peter Blackburn (12) 42pts
2nd Leif Kirkgaard (19) 40pts
3rd Ulf Larsson (16) 39pts
4th Paul Cardwell (17) 37pts
5th Monte Sykes (7) 37pts
B Flight (20+)
1st Henry Wong (24) 45pts
2nd Dave Neal (22) 42pts
3rd Mike Winfield (22) 39pts
4th Jan Lovgreen (21) 38pts
5th Kenny Chung (23) 34pts
Near Pins: 4th – Neil Skilton; 7th – Martin Todd; 13th – Marco Beer; 16th – Liselotte Boskov
Long Putts: 9th – Stu Rifkin; 18th – Leif Kirkgaard
The Compass Cap was won by new returnee Ron Folks who accepted the honor in great spirit and Hunter paraded Deefa the Dog who once more collected many donations to charity from the Kronny Crew.
Wednesday, March 21, Pleasant Valley – Stableford
We were originally booked to play at Green Valley but after a dispute over green fees it was decided that we play at Pleasant Valley instead. There were 20 golfers signed up and after meeting at the Kronny we welcomed Jesper Rasmussen (the 2nd) and Henrik Buch from Denmark. It was also time to farewell Dave “The Admiral” Richardson who will shortly be departing for his S.A.T. (Songkran Avoidance Trip) to the U.S.A.
Departing Café Kronborg a bit later than normal at 0830hrs we arrived at the course 44 minutes later to find the car park rather sparse and an early tee off looked likely. Normally on this course we play off the white tees but today we experimented by playing off the blue tees which results in the course being some 521 yards longer. Playing from the white tees previously has almost always resulted in very high scores so it was hoped that today most people would find it a little bit tougher. This indeed turned out to be the case as unusually there was only one score over 40 points.
Sure enough we were able to get our first four-ball away 15 minutes earlier than scheduled at 0945hrs and in perfect golfing weather it wasn’t long before Stu (Leo) Rifkin was back on safari but once more straightened his shots up after a couple of holes although once more he was having trouble with the short stick. The course once again was in great shape with the greens true but a little slower than normal and we continued at a fairly good pace despite a Thai five-ball in front of us who stopped at every drink stop. We had a couple of enforced stops for drinks and managed to complete our full round in the respectable time of four hours & thirty minutes.
Yours truly continued his good form and made it two wins in a row by taking out the A Flight with 37 points despite “clipping” himself 1 shot after Monday’s effort. In second place came Arne Max Pedersen with 36 points and with two golfers on 35 points a count back saw Mike Allidi (20 point back nine) take third spot from Martin Todd (16 point back nine).
A fine score of 41 points saw Mike Winfield win B Flight from Bo Cardwell in with 38 points in second place and Thientong Charoenrung finished third with 37 points. After the golf Stu Rifkin went around and asked everyone their thoughts on playing off the blue tees and 18 golfers gave it the heads up whilst one did not care either way and one more did not like it. Overall it was a successful move and we will probably do this next time we play this course.
A Flight (0-15)
1st Peter Blackburn (11) 37pts
2nd Arne Max Pedersen (15) 36pts
3rd Mike Allidi (2) 35pts
B Flight (16+)
1st Mike Winfield (22) 41pts
2nd Bo Cardwell (29) 38pts
3rd Thientong Charoenrung (20) 37pts
Near Pins: 5th – Martin Todd; 8th – Doug Maiko; 13th – Doug Maiko; 17th – Stu Rifkin
Long Putts: 9th – Martin Todd; 18th – Henrik Buch
