PSC Golf from The Billabong Golf Bar
Monday, August 24, Waterside G.C. – Stableford
Waterside – what a beautiful course and what a pleasure to play!
With 5 groups teeing off we got away about 20 minutes earlier than our booked time in grand conditions, just a slight breeze and good cloud cover to keep the heat away.
It seems there is quite a disparity in the difficulty in the two nines here and we had scores like 23 on the front and 11 on the back, or 16 on the front and 6 on the back from some of our players today. Maybe the wind got up, I’m not sure but whatever it was it did make a difference.
Eng (center) poses with other podium finishers and Brian Chapman after winning the Monthly Medal at Green Valley.
The scores from some of the group were very good however with a count back for third place on 35 points being won by Aaron Smith over Phil Waite in fourth. Second place was claimed by Scotty Qua on 36 points, and the top spot went to Lumpy Russell with a magic 40 points off his 14 handicap.
There were five ‘2’s, coming from Scotty Qua, Wayne Cotterell, Tom Hand, Aaron Smith and Lumpy Russell.
Wednesday, August 26, Green Valley – Medal
A cloudy start to the day was accompanied by a cooling breeze and made it a perfect day for golf. That is how it started but our delight was short lived for the breeze gave up after an hour or so and the humidity descended upon us like a hot blanket.
29 golfers from the Billabong took up the challenge set by Brian Chapman, our friendly financial advisor, who graciously sponsors the monthly medal on behalf of Globaleye. The hot weather seemed to suite a number of the Billabong regulars as many of the scores were quite remarkable, with 10 golfers playing to their handicap or better.
Friday’s scramble winners: Don, Rick, Mike and Ed.
Our sponsor, Brian Chapman, finished with a net 71 which was not particularly remarkable except that his card included a 10 on a par 5. Miss On and Colin Goon, soon to leave Thailand, came in with net 69s, with Colin, obviously not a gentleman, edging the count back on the back nine. Sel Wegner had one of those days when the pins were always in the right place, ending with a 66, good enough to win on any other day and his confidence was sky high when he had completed his round. Oh dear, not to be.
Miss Eng had a day never to be forgotten, a day for the scrap book. Playing off a genuine 18 handicap she had 3 birdies, 7 pars, 2 double and 6 single bogies to score a gross 79 and a net 61. It came as no surprise that she was the Globaleye champion for August.
There were four ‘2’s, going to Tom Hand, Auke Engelkes, Miss Si and Brian Chapman.
Friday, August 28, Plutaluang – Stableford
Playing our monthly scramble at the Navy course with 13 groups it was a hectic start but we all got away by 10am and were finished in a little over four hours. The course was in great condition as usual but once again the putts need to drop if you are going to win in this event. We played the North and West loops, which in the scribe’s eyes are the harder of the nines here at Plutaluang.
We had one group playing off a handicap 9.9, and on the first tee their first player put his tee-shot in the car park, the second guy did the same, the third player put his shot into the trees on the left, leaving it down to their captain, Greig Ritchie, to see if he could put one on the grass. He did, but admitted later he was as nervous as a long tail cat in a room full on rocking chairs.
We had a NAGA award today for the first time ever and that was won by the aforementioned quartet of Greig Ritchie, Steve Croy, Steve Erdelyi and Chris Dodd with a net score of 67. Taking third spot was one on stalwart teams consisting of Wayne Cotterell, his lovely wife Eng, John Player and Kevin Waycott with a net score of 59.1, narrowly beating the boys from the Players Lounge by 0.1 of a shot.
In second place was the team of Auke Engelkes, Gentry Harrington, Robert Marsh and Alan Bartlett with a score of 58.7 and taking the top spot were the boys from the Valley Hackers, who by the way have played in this event from day one and had never won it before. So it’s well done to Don Hachey, Ed Horricks, Mike Pledger and Rick Hiat who posted a fine score of net 57.3. Great shooting guys!
