PSC Golf from The Outback Golf Bar
Twenty Outback golfers and three non-golfers embarked on the traditional Chiang Rai tour on Tuesday, October 6.
The first round on Wednesday was at the fabulous Singha owned, Santiburi course and to give us a comfortable start to the three days tourney, we played from the white tees. It was fairly obvious from the condition of the course and the amount of work being done that there had been a fair amount of rain up here but we all had our fingers crossed that it wouldn’t visit us today, but it did.
It started about halfway through the round, persistent to the end but apart from about ten minutes at a convenient drink stop, it was not enough to stop play. I say convenient drink stop, yes very much so; you can still get two Leo’s and a water and change from 100 Baht.
(Seated rear) Andy Butterworth with his lady, (front L-R) Ianthira ‘On’ Phisetrit, Rod Crosswell and Bob Maloney.
Rod Crosswell won Div A with 38pts beating Andy Butterworth on count back, with Tony Pieroni (37) in third and the very steady, Bob Maloney in fourth on 36.
A bit of a surprise in Div B as Jack Moseley, having his first round since injuring his wrist at Springfield on the first day of the August Hua Hin tour, fired 40pts for the day’s top score, with 24 of them coming on the back nine, played in the rain. Tim Knight also scored well, with a fine 39 as did Ianthira Phisetrit, better known as On, a Laem Chabang caddie, who scored 38. Ron DeGroot took fourth with 36.
Presentation was done at the clubhouse, which is still undergoing refurbishment of the roof before heading back to Chiang Rai.
Thursday, we left the hotel at 8.30, to play the Korean owned, Happy City course, as the rain regrettably got heavier the nearer we got to the course. Still the course was in quite good nick and much firmer underfoot than we expected but we did play “winter rules” through the green. We have to report that the massive clubhouse is at last finished but it seems very unlikely that they will ever fill it, nor the five huge condominium blocks also on the 29-hole complex. However, it was great value, as the management threw in the cart for nothing.
Andy Butterworth played well again to score another 38pts to win Div A from Bob Maloney, going one better than Wednesday, on 37. Tony Garnett was third with the same 37pts, losing out on c/b, with Brad in fourth on 35.
Div B went to Tim Knight who also scored 38pts to win from Ed Turner (34). Canberra newcomer, George Scott (33) was third and On took fourth, also with 33.
So to the final round at Santiburi and the usual moans and groans about playing from the blue tees only fell on deaf ears, but the course had dried out a fair bit from the first day and again the weather remained good.
We didn’t expect the scoring to be very high from the longer tees but most of the smart money would have been on the long hitting Andy Butterworth but he never really got it going, scoring only 2pts on the last four holes on the front before rallying a bit on the back with 17. It was almost the exact opposite for our eventual winner, Rod Crosswell, who scored 22pts on the front nine before throwing the anchor out with three to play, scoring only 3pts in the last three holes, to finish on 38 to win Div A.
Laem Chabang caddie, On, who played solidly throughout, recorded another 36pts to win Div B from Sakorn on 33pts, her best score of the tournament. Other notables included Brad Jordison (36), Bob Maloney (33), Anton Rowbottam (32), and two Johns; O’Connor and Lawton who also both finished with 32.
Rod Crosswell moved from 6th place to first overall with a total of 108pts from On (107), Bob Maloney & Andy Butterworth in joint 3rd both with 106; as the final podium place went to Brad Jordison with 103. Tim Knight, the overall leader after two days just missed out finishing in sixth with 102.
