IPGC Golf from The Haven
Monday, Oct. 10, Greenwood A & B – Stableford
CSS 74
1st Benny Hansen (27) 38pts
2nd John Teague (22) 33pts
3rd Cho Babryoung (12) 33pts
4th Phil Cass (16) 33pts
5th Markku Tynell (21) 29pts
6th Larry Gibb (19) 28pts
A very tough week of golf lay ahead of the hopefuls from The Haven even though the three courses set out on the schedule were among the best that the group play, the recent continuing heavy rainfalls in the area had left them very sodden and playing extremely long. To add to the player’s woes the organiser must have had some other things on his mind as he completely missed the opportunities to make the events “lift and place” under a local rules stipulation.
The end of the three outings saw the all three CSS increase, two by 2 and one by 1 underling the difficulties faced by all levels of handicaps.
Monday’s test would also have benefited with having been played from the yellow tees as the 6,600 yards from the whites was a green too far for most, but Benny Hansen took full advantage of the many double shot holes whilst shooting his best round for almost four years and claimed the top step of the podium by a clear five shots.
John Teague also had a solid round that took off on through the inward nine, as he won a count back for second place with an excellent 22 points, even after taking just one point from the last two holes as the tiredness got to him.
Cho Babryoung took third place after he had scored 18 in the count back to beat Phil Cass into fourth as the latter could garner just 16 following a steady start to his day
Markku Tynell and Larry Gibb rounded out the podium in fifth and sixth respectively four and five behind but well ahead of some others.
There were no 2s in the first division but Markku Tynell slotted one in to sweep the second division pool.
Wednesday, Oct. 12, Khao Kheow A & C (yellow tees) – Stableford
CSS 74
1st Cho Babryoung (12) 34pts
2nd Larry Gibb (19) 32pts
3rd John Tallett (24) 32pts
4th Peter Brown (24) 32pts
5th John Teague (22) 31pts
6th Richard Bannister (13) 24pts
Another tough day when the course played its full length of 6,350 yards and then some, with almost zero run in the fairways and rough that was almost impossible to escape from with any distance gained.
Apart from the winner and sixth placed players all the podium places were taken by players with a few double shot holes from which they managed to score well. Cho Babryoung showed he would be a force to be reckoned with as he returned a solid two over handicap card to win by two and it could have been so much better as it included just the one six among many fives, but five 3-pointers.
Larry Gibb won a three way count back to take a well earnt second place with a better 12 to 10 on the last six after he and John Tallett, in third, had tied the nine on 17 apiece. Peter Brown took fourth after scoring just 16 in that count back.
John Teague took his second podium place in the week in fifth another point back, with “Banjo” Bannister rounding out the prizewinners a long way back if sixth but still ahead of many other hopefuls.
Once again there were no 2s in the first division but Markku Tynell scored yet again in the second division and shared the pot with Ian Lederhose as they both birdied the 132 yard fifth hole on the A course.
Friday, Oct. 14, Phoenix Gold (Lakes & Ocean) – Stableford
CSS 73
1st Cho Babryoung (12) 41pts
2nd Dave Edwards (13) 34pts
3rd Andrew Purdie (7) 33pts
4th Paul Hubbard (10) 32pts
5th Bill Park (15) 31pts
6th Ian Lederhose (17) 30pts
The last outing of the week saw the group at a much improved Phoenix Gold where the greens-keepers had done a great job since the last visit two weeks earlier, to get the course into much better condition with the greens especially showing a big improvement. But once again the length on the card, at just a little over 6,100 yards, belied the true distance that it played on the day with almost zero run in the fairways.
Cho Babryoung bore out the prediction that there was a lot better to come from him following his previous round as he won easily, by seven clear, on this occasion chipping and putting immaculately after hitting very few greens in regulation but carding fourteen pars and stunning his playing partners along the way to his first win.
The next four places on the podium were taken by the members of the same four ball group with Dave Edwards getting the best of the rest by a single point even after finishing with just two points from the last three holes and but for them may well have pushed for the top spot.
Andrew Purdie spent all day crashing his drives into the far distance but just failed to catch Dave through the closing holes and so had to settle for a good third place, just one ahead of Paul Hubbard in fourth as Paul struggled through the last five holes with a bit of jet lag following his trip out from the UK the day previous.
Bill Park, also very recently arrived with a little of the same jet lag found the back nine a lot harder than the front and took fifth place, with Ian Lederhose filling out the last step in sixth.
For the third time in the week even with a good number and quality of players there were no 2s in the first division again but Phil Cass did the job in the second division to take the pool.
