The Outback Bar Golf Society
Monday, Jan. 2, Burapha – Stableford
After a day or two from golf, clearly a lot of chaps where eager to get out and have a round after the New Year celebrations and we had 8 groups teeing off today playing the C and D course, which is always a welcome difference from the easier A and B nines.
In the B division Waldo (Stephen Blazsanyik) came in 3rd place with 38 points, one behind Jon Kittleson with a great 39-pointer in second. Ecco (David Atkinson), the funniest man in town (judging by how the ladies always seem to laugh when he’s around), scored a great 40 points off his 19 handicap, which will hopefully be cut severely after today.
In the A division, Svenn Lund’s 34 points was enough to get him into 3rd slot, with Peter Nixon doing great with 35 points for second. The round of the day belonged to David Buchanan, scoring a brilliant 70 gross with 5 birdies and an eagle for 39 points off his 1 handicap. David’s comment after the game was that he thought it was a mediocre round because he had 5 bogies as well. Nuff said from a great golfer and a humble man!
There were two 2’s today, from Per Lövgren on hole 3 and KB Lee on hole 8.
Wednesday, Jan. 4, Pattana – Stableford
Starting off on the intimidating B course at Pattana is never easy, especially after the group in front of us were a couple of young Korean golfers on their training program and all bombing drives from the back tee’s straight down the middle. Speaking of which, Pattana is extremely busy this high season with us having had difficulty booking tees as far ahead as March.
This course is in great condition and it seems to be a favorite amongst young Asian pro’s (or semi pro’s) coming to Thailand for the winter training season. So there you have it – it is the “in course” in Pattaya at the moment!
With our four groups, things generally were a lot tougher than for the rest of the clientele at Pattana, and Graham Baker’s 36 points from his 17 handicap gave him 3rd place. Steve Mann, who doesn’t seem to like the course a lot but always plays well here, scored a great 37 points for 2nd. Man of the match and working hard to get his handicap down again was Stephen Watkins who scored an incredible 42 points to win the day hands down.
There were several ‘2’s today, with Steve Plant, KB Lee, and Fidge Button each taking a share of the pot.
Friday, Jan. 6, Green Valley – 2-Ball Scramble
1st Andrew Makara/Keith Allen – 63.1 net
2nd Robert Newell/Simon Philbrook – 66.7 net
3rd William Peach/Pat Regan – 67.7 net
T4th Furges Branden/Poppy – 67.8 net
T4th Chaten Patel/Joseph Shuer – 67.8 net
6th Steve Mann/Murray Hart – 68.3 net
7th David Atkinson/Peter Nixon – 68.9 net
Sponsored by two Outback favorites, friends and long standing supporters, today was a happy but also somewhat sad day as we celebrated Steve Mann’s birthday but also said goodbye to Muzza (Murray Hart) who is relocating his family back to Australia. So the thing we do best, whether happy or sad (or both), is to have a great game of golf and a party to round things off.
With a 2-ball scramble, near pins sponsored by Steve Mann and Bob St Aubin, a bit of food and a generous bell ring by Muzza, the tone was set for another enjoyable day by close to 50 players.
Andrew Makara and Keith Allen had the round of the day with an amazing 72 gross, giving them 63.1 net after handicap allowance. Not bad for two fellows who are 18 plus handicappers so the win was well deserved.
With such large field with plenty of competition, our competition list extended all the way down to 7th place.
The near pins were won by: Hole 5 – Greg Larkin and Graham Woolett; Hole 8 – Lindsay Dominique and Andy Wong; Hole 12 – Chaten Patel and Joseph Shuer; and Hole 16 – Andrew Makara and Keith Allen.
