PSC Golf from The Growling Swan
Thursday, Jan. 2, Crystal Bay, A & B – Stableford
Crystal Bay was the venue for our first game of 2014 and it proved to be a very popular choice as we had 35 golfers signed up to play.
The Growling Swan was a hive of industry as we all assembled there to prepare for our departure and we had many welcomes to hand out including to Vince Romero, Ernie Picken & Alan Ray from Melbourne, Harry Wszola back from Cairns in Queensland, Peter Burke from Broken Hill in New South Wales and Steve Truelove from Sydney.
Frankie Sharratt, Duangjai Tusagad & Sandy Leiper.
Everyone was on time so our 3 mini-vans were able to get away right on schedule at 8.30 a.m. and we headed North up Sukhumvit Road where the traffic was not too bad and arrived at the course 44 minutes later. The course was reasonably busy but we were invited to play A & B nines and told we could tee off on A1 as soon as we were ready.
The weather was glorious, not too hot with a gentle breeze and the course was looking good as our first four-ball got away 10 minutes ahead of our designated tee time of 10.00 am. The groups ahead slowed us down a touch at first but some quickened up and we proceeded at a fairly good pace, completing a very enjoyable round of golf with terrific company in four hours & twenty two minutes.
We had 3 Divisions – Division A for handicaps 0 to 17, Division B for golfers on handicaps of 18 to 25 and Division C for handicaps of 26 and over with four places in each Division. There were also rewards for nearest the pin on the four par 3’s and longest first putts on the A9 & B9 greens.
It was tight at the top in Division A with 2 golfers scoring 40 points and the resultant count back saw Frankie “Goes to Hollywood” Sharratt (21 point back nine) victorious over Sal Brizzi (20 point back nine) in second spot. In third place was Gerd Riedler with 39 points and Ebrahim came fourth with 38 points.
Division B saw Duangjai “Kae” Tusgad winning with 38 points and with 3 players on 36 points it was Mark Stapleton (20 point back nine & 14 points on the last 6 holes) finishing second from John Davis (20 point back nine & 12 points on the last 6 holes) in third place and Roy “Plums” Dayton (18 point back nine) finished fourth.
In C Division the winner was Sandy “Cindy Lauper” Leiper with a very good 41 points, 6 points ahead of Ian Masterson (22 point back nine) in second place and Andrew “Turtle” Allen (20 point back nine) took third after the count back with both on 35 points. Geri Crilly was fourth with 33 points.
Division A (0-17)
1st Frank Sharratt (13) 40pts
2nd Sal Brizzi (6) 40pts
3rd Gerd Riedler (9) 39pts
4th Ebrahim (17) 38pts
Division B (18-25)
1st Duangjai Tusagad (20) 38pts
2nd Mark Stapleton (20) 36pts
3rd John Davis (18) 36pts
4th Roy Dayton (24) 36pts
Division C (26+)
1st Sandy Leiper (34) 41pts
2nd Ian Masterson (36) 35pts
3rd Andrew Allen (34) 35pts
4th Geri Crilly (26) 33pts
Near Pins: A5 – Nolan Wise, A8 – Frankie Sharratt, B4 – Ted Morris, B6 – Mick Wilkes
Long Putts: A9 – Sandy Leiper, B9 – Ebrahim
The Growling Swan NAGA Award, (awarded to the golfer who has the worst score on the day and discreetly their score is not made public) was won by Growling Swan Mine Host Peter (Pizza) Grey who accepted the award like the good sport that he is. Andrew then kindly paraded Deefa the Dog and of course collected many donations for the needy in Pattaya from our generous Growling Swan Golfers.
Note: Growling Swan Golf welcomes golfers of any persuasion – low & high handicappers alike, female golfers and beginners. We generally play Mondays & Thursdays, meeting at The Growling Swan in Soi Chaiyapoon at 8.00 am with transport departing at 8.30 am. For bookings or more information please contact Peter on 0806 351 386 or email to petermalcolmblackburn @gmail.com.
We also play bowls out of the Growling Swan every Wednesday and Sunday. Sunday is Lawn Bowls and Wednesday is Indoor Bowls. All are welcome and for anyone that is interested the transport leaves The Growling Swan at 10.00am on each of those mornings. For more information please contact Paul Rennison on 084 345 4005.
