IPGC golf from The Haven
Sunday, November 13, Green Valley – Stableford
CSS 72
1st Alec Hoare (17) 37pts
2nd Jon Batty (9) 36pts
3rd Peter Masters (9) 36pts
4th Russell Exley (7) 35pts
Alec Hoare returned his best result for over six months when he won the weekly Sunday outing at Green Valley where the course is slowly getting back to normal following the recent extremely wet weather. But the win was by the narrowest of margins over a very strong field with three single figure handicappers having to settle for no better than second best on the day, which underlined what a great effort it was to just get it round under handicap.
Jon Batty had to go a step further on the back nine to take second place by taking the count back with a better 20 to 18 over, the now solid single figure player, Peter Masters with Russell Exley slipping into fourth spot a further shot behind them.
The late Roy Thornton MBE.
There were no 2’s dropped by anyone on a day when all the par 3’s played fairly long and none of the pin placings were easy to get at.
Monday, November 14, Century Chonburi – Stableford
CSS 75 NC
1st Alan Pilkington (9) 33pts
2nd Yasuo Suzuki (10) 31pts
3rd Takeshi Hakozaki (12) 31pts
4th Russell Exley (7) 31pts
5th Al Keith (5) 30pts
6th Alan Griffiths (12) 30pts
There can be no better value golf course in the world surely when the total cost of a day’s golf including green fee, caddy fee and share of a cart is just 500 baht (approximately $16. 50 or 10 pounds sterling), which is almost an unbelievable price even under the current economic situation. But that is the all up cost at Century Chonburi and it would be churlish to complain too loudly about the state of the bunkers when a sensible local rule can overcome almost any difficulty a player is likely to encounter, especially when the rest of the course is certainly as good as some courses that are charging four times more and this place having greens that are as quick and as flat as most.
The low scores were by no means a product of the course’s condition but more a reflection of the difficulty, with the pin placements making the positioning of the approach shot critical to the end result for the hole.
Alan Pilkington started well but faded over the last four holes but still did just enough to take the top spot on the podium by two clear ahead of a group of three who needed to be separated by a count back. These three were led by Yasuo Suzuki who won the back nine with 18 after a very slow start, with third place being taken by Takeshi Hakozaki with 17 on the back. They were followed in by Russell Exley who improved to 16 points over the inward half but which was not quite good enough.
Al Keith and Alan Griffiths took fifth and sixth respectively after Al Keith won a count back by 17 to 16.
Danny Greer scored the lone 2 in the second division and Peter Skinner and Nigel Jenkinson shared the roll over pool in the first division.
Before presenting the prizes The Doc welcomed back Danny Greer, Takeshi Hakozaki and Tony Barritt.
The day was tempered with the extremely sad news that Roy Thornton MBE passed away on Sunday 13th of November after suffering a cardiac arrest at his home and efforts to revive him at the local hospital were unfortunately in vain. Known almost universally as Major Roy, he will be remembered here in Pattaya for all the charitable work that he performed raising money for local organisations involved in assisting children, especially for the Baan Jing Jai Foundation and he was instrumental in starting the Santa Scramble to raise money so that local orphans and previously neglected children would have the pleasure of opening a special present at Christmas time.
Roy was also previously heavily engaged in charitable works and received the award of the MBE for his work in Germany, while he was based there with the British Army, organising leagues of football for local youngsters and providing sporting opportunities for literally thousands of young people in Germany while he was stationed there.
He will be sorely missed here in Thailand by his wife Wanita, scores, if not hundreds, of children and his many friends.
Wednesday, November 16, Rayong C.C. – Stableford
CSS 75 NC
1st Frijof Kayser (27) 38pts
2nd Rodney Nabbe (10) 32pts
3rd Stephen Beard (22) 32pts
4th Shuichi Kodaka (16) 31pts
5th Wayne Waywood (15) 31pts
Another hard day at the scorecard as for the second time in the week the day’s competition became a non counting one for handicaps to go up, only down, as the CSS climbed to 75 with absolutely none of the players counting towards assessing that figure could manage to play within two of their handicaps.
Frijof Kayser, being the sole competitor to better his handicap and indeed finished six points clear of his nearest challengers, won the day and his first ever competition out of The Haven.
Once again it was not the condition of the course that determined the end result as apart from a few bumpy greens still rewarded good putting, the course was in fairly good shape apart from being a bit untidy around the edges of the fairways and the deep rough was extremely rough in places.
Rodney Nabbe claimed second place with a better 17 on the back nine and Stephen Beard took third as he could total only 14 after a very good front eight holes that saw him amass 18 points before excitement and lethargy in equal measure overtook him.
Shuichi Kodaka slipped into fourth spot with a better back half of 15 to consign Wayne Waywood, with 14, down to fifth.
In keeping with the difficulty of the course there were no 2’s in either division.
Friday 18th November saw all the available players lined up in the PGS Annual Charity Scramble at Pattaya Country Club a report of which can be found on other pages of this issue of the Pattaya Mail.
Note: The Haven group now departs Soi 13 at the earlier time of 9 a.m. until further notice. If you would like to play with the group you can contact mobile 082 219 0965 or call in to the hotel at 185 Soi 13 between Beach Road and 2nd Road. All transportation to the course is arranged and you do not need to sign up prior to the day, but you should be there by 8.30 on Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays and 9.00am on Sundays on the days you wish to play. A schedule of courses to be played can be found on our web site at www.thehaven-hotel.com.
