IPGC Pattaya Golf Society at Rabbi’s Elephant Bar
The Pattaya Golf Society members played their 150th competition of 2010 at Green Valley on Monday, 27th December and the format was the usual monthly medal one. This time the two divisions, cut at eighteen and under, went off from the old tee as a festive concession and some good golf was in store.
In the top flight Jean Morel showed his consistency again as he posted net 71 to share second place with Joe Niisato. The flight winner was Mark Cooper whose net 69 shared the day’s best gross with Martin Grimoldby and ensured for him the flight win.
Scramble winners, Jeremy Masse, Khun Rung, Mikael Andersson (abs. Roy Thornton) with Phennippa & Tam of the Fr. Ray Foundation Outreach Centre.
In the second flight Pat Murphy embarrassingly accepted third place with his score of net 78 whilst Brian Kelly enjoyed his second place finish on net 77. The flight winner was Jim Ferris, again in the frame, and his latest offering of net 68 emphasised the form he has rediscovered over the past few weeks.
The ‘2’s pot was shared by Mikael Andersson and Ray Banks after two fine efforts on the short fourth hole and the Booby Bevy was withheld after a stress-free day for the boss.
Green Valley still disappoints a little as it is not yet up to it usual high season condition but it still offers a great golfing day out.
Maiden win for Gilsenan
The final club outing of the year for the Pattaya Golf Society was at Emerald on Wednesday, 29th December when the group played a stableford competition in one flight. The course was to offer a real insight into conditions the golfers would face the following day in the PGS Annual Scramble with pacey greens and neat fairways.
Off the back of a reasonable round on Monday, Brian Kelly posted 34 points for third place, just one behind the solid display of Paul McNally whose best gross figures of 78 gave him a stableford return of 35 points for runner-up. The winner was Aussie Brendan Gilsenan, still a rookie with the group, and his twenty-four points after nine holes held great promise for the Papua New Guinea based golfer. His previous rounds have never shown his potential but the hiccups on the back nine this time did not prevent him logging his first win with the group as he finished on level par 36 points.
Tony Thorne recorded the only birdie ‘2’ of the day and the Booby Bevy went to low scoring John Chelo making his debut in an IPGC competition.
The day had been a pleasant one at the Ban Chang course and Brendan was soon able to forget the shambles in Melbourne in the other big England – Aussie clash.
Birdie Boys fly high
The Pattaya Golf Society’s annual swansong every year is the group’s Annual Scramble and this year it was held at the Emerald club in Ban Chang on Thursday, 30th December. For weeks prior to the event its existence had been in doubt with the lack of golfers in Pattaya but in the end the PGS members and friends came up trumps and a quality competition was played on the well presented course.
The day remained fine throughout and all the hard work in the run-up paid off in style as a most enjoyable competition played out. As always on these occasions the emphasis is on fun golf with a wonderful friendly atmosphere and all teams contributed their humour and skills in equal measure.
Scores were very good again this year and the team of Russell Exley, Bubbles Davies, Mark Campbell and Mike Dabanovich pushed themselves all day to finish on net 57 in third place. The home team favourites, “Fantastic United”, with Wichai Tananusorn, Jim Ferris, John Chambers and Pat Murphy chased and harried all day, starting off with five straight birdies, and eventually came home with 56.2 points in second place. The winning team was an amended “Birdie Boys” outfit comprising Roy Thornton, Mikael Andersson, Jeremy Masse and caddy Khun Rung and their gross 60 with a split of 31 – 29 was a superhuman effort which could not be matched. They closed in first place on 54 net to set a record for the event, now in its eleventh year.
Near pins were recorded by John Chambers, Jim Ferris and Simon Kendall (two) and the Booby Bevy went to the Anglo/French/Canadian outfit of Simon Kendall, Jean Morel, Jack Robertson and Gordon Everingham.
The main focus of the day was to raise money for the group’s charity, The Fr. Ray Foundation Outreach Centre on Soi Thepprasit, and the Centre’s Administrator Khun Phennippa was in attendance all day with Registration and Recording duties.
The day provided proof, if any were needed, that Pattaya has some wonderfully warm hearts with more than thirty thousand baht being raised through completely voluntary contributions, including Rabbi, the Elephant Bar host, waiving his usual buffet fee, Gordon McComb and friends winning the bidding for the bottle of twenty-one year old Chivas Royal Salute, “Banjo” Bannister donating his Player of the Month prize for November and Ray Banks and all the PGS members contributing to a splendid collection afterwards.
It was a very memorable way in which to end the golfing year with the Pattaya Golf Society, 152 weekly competitions ending with the biggest smiles in Pattaya from those kids in Soi Thepprasit. Well done everyone, heroes all, and here’s to the new golfing year out of Soi Buakhao.
