PSC golf from The Outback Golf Bar
Monday, Feb. 20, Khao Kheow – Stableford
A & B have always been the favorite nines at Khao Kheow and for the 33 players here today, the course was truly at its resplendent best with the No 1 hole on A just inviting us all to come and have a hit, as it lay empty with no players to be seen on the whole loop.
We teed off on time with regrettably a five-ball at the back as three guys failed to show, with the Sugar Shack group hot on our heels. The weather was superb and the greens were as good as it gets, as fast and true as they have been for some time.
Paul Bourke.
The leading group could be seen leaving their seventeenth hole, B8 the par 3 island green, as our last group completed another par 3 across the lake, B3 with the rest of the groups strung out in between and maybe a couple of them taking a little longer than they should have, but all in all in was a reasonable pace of around 4 hours 15 minutes.
Owen Walkley in a serious match with his good friend Jeff Warner, not only cleaned him out but also took the honours in Div A with 38pts from Raji (36). Div B’s scoring was ordinary to say the least as Steve Plant’s 34pts was enough to win on count back from Conor Doyle. Sakorn, who hasn’t been on top of the podium for a few months, got it right today for her 38pts to win Div C from Shay Mitchell on 35.
The ample liquid inducements always associated with the welcoming back of John Lawton (21pts), contributed greatly to his playing partners’ demise as well as his own; the General (21pts), Neil Lavery (19pts), Bob Cannon (21pts) and eventually his wife, Suzi; although she did score 18 on the front.
There were four ‘2’s from Steve Plant & Sakorn on A5 and Steve Mann & Dennis Pelly on B8.
Div A (0-13)
1st Owen Walkley (11/Hi10.7) 38pts
2nd Amarjit Banwaitt (7) 36pts
3rd Dennis Pelly (12/Hi11.2) 35pts
Div B (14-18)
1st Steve Plant (15/Hi13.5) 34pts
2nd Conor Doyle (14/Hi12.7) 34pts
3rd John O’Keefe (17/Hi15.6) 32pts
Div C (19+)
1st Sakorn Pramoolchart (24/Hi25.6) 38pts
2nd Shay Mitchell (23/Hi20.7) 35pts
3rd Brian Maddox (22/Hi20.4) 32pts
Monday, Feb. 20, Burapha – Stableford
There were 38 players on the C & D nines and add that to another 33 at Khao Kheow, it was another great day for golf at the Outback.
Only a short report from Burapha today, as our Capt’ was too embarrassed to write about his Div A win. Well actually, he did write about it but the editor, who has the final word on what is and is not published, decided it wasn’t suitable reading material! Too much detail about his wonderful shots and how good his chipping was, which is something that could not be verified and is unlikely to be true given his recent form. Keith Miller took second just one shot back on 37 and Colin Goon headed three on 35, to take third place.
Pete Stonebridge has a liking for this course, making the equal top score of the day, 39pts to win Div B, and he shared the honour with John Urquart, the Div C winner, with that being John’s first ever win at the Outback. Other notables include Barry Ennis (37pts) and Roy Studds with an excellent 37 playing off a handicap cap of two shots (max 36 permitted).
There were four ‘2’s; John Player on C5, Greg Hill & Bob Lindborg on C8 and John H O’Keefe on D8.
Div A (0-16)
1st Bob Philp (11/Hi11.3) 38pts
2nd Keith Miller (16/Hi15.1) 37pts
3rd Colin Goon (3/Hi3.8) 35pts
Div B (17-20)
1st Pete Stonebridge (17/Hi16.5) 39pts
2nd Barry Ennis (17/Hi16.2) 37pts
3rd Stuart McKenzie (19/Hi18.4) 36pts
Div C (21+)
1st John Urquart (32/Hi30) 39pts
2nd Roy Studds (36) 37pts
3rd Ivan Plunkett (21/Hi19.9) 36pts
Tuesday, Feb. 21, Pattaya C.C. – Stableford
On this fine morning, there were 20 Outbackers playing in the regular Tuesday competition at this local course. We welcomed a party of seven Australians, four of whom were all related, here on holiday and we wished goodbye for a while to Wayne Cotterell and his delightful lady, Sunanta.
The course was busy but we were away on time with rounds of about 4½ hours and with 20 players plus we had 2 divisions with three places, plus the ‘2’s comp.
In ‘A’ division it was one our Aussie friends Geoff Bracegirdle (17) who came in top with 34 points, whilst Noy Kamsantia (20) – the PCC caddy – and Nigel Cannon (today’s organiser) playing off 21, both came in with 31pts with Noy getting the nod on count back.
The ladies took all three places in ‘B’ division – leading was Sunanta Duangwaw (36) with 41 points, leaving her best round until last and she asked any winnings should be given to a local charity – Thanks Sunanta!
In second place was the regular ex-caddy at PCC, Laong Gatepratum (25) with 39 points and she had the only ‘2’ of the day on the challenging 16th hole, which was worth a massive 5pts. Seesa Phompinmon (30) took third spot with 36 points.
We were delighted to see the regular Tuesday organiser our ‘Chad’ Barry Chadbourn at the course having a ride round and a chat following his recent surgery.
Just to follow up on further developments regarding the up-coming closure of the front nine holes here at PCC, the word is that the front nine will be closed on 16th March for course improvements and re-open again at the start of the high season (around 1st Nov). We are then advised the course will remain as 18 holes throughout the high season until this time next year, when it will close again to do the back nine in the same kind of time frame. We have not been told yet, what the green fees will be or what will happen to the memberships.
Div A (0-21)
1st Geoff Bracegirdle (17/Hi18.2) 34pts
2nd Noy Kamsantia (20/Hi19.8) 31pts
3rd Nigel Cannon (21/Hi22.4) 31pts
Div B (22+)
1st Sunanta Duangwaw (36) 41pts
2nd Laong Gatepratum (25/Hi24.3) 39pts
3rd Phompinmon Seesa (30/Hi28.5) 36pts
Wednesday, Feb. 22, Treasure Hill – Stableford
After talking to the manager here we were informed that we couldn’t have more than 30 players as they didn’t have enough caddies, so after a few desperate phone-calls we sent three groups to Greenwood.
Twenty-nine ended up teeing off here, going out in five-balls a little earlier than usual at 9.30, as Capt’ Bob, who was on his way to the course giving his friends bike a little run, managed to take a wrong turn and arrived embarrassingly late, much to the amusement of Pottsy.
Talking of Pottsy, he had a great day out, scoring a fantastic 40pts round here, which is no mean feat even off the yellows, to win Div B by a country mile from three, all tied on 34, headed by Pete Stonebridge followed in by Mr & Mrs Collier.
Fred Land took Div A with a fine 37, ahead of two guys who have been waging a series of matches over the past couple of weeks, Owen Walkley (35) and Jeff Warner (34).
There were two ‘2’s from Bob St. Aubin on the 6th and Ivan Plunkett on the 17th.
Div A (0-16)
1st Fred Land (16/Hi14.9) 37pts
2nd Owen Walkley (11/Hi10.3) 35pts
3rd Jeff Warner (13/Hi12.7) 34pts
Div B (17+)
1st Campbell Potts (18/Hi17.3) 40pts
2nd Pete Stonebridge (17/Hi15.6) 34pts
3rd Liz Collier (25/Hi21.1) 34pts
Wednesday, Feb. 22, Greenwood – Stableford
Twelve Outbackers travelled to Greenwood for the day as the overflow from Treasure Hill as they didn’t have enough timeslots and were short of caddies.
We played the C and A courses off the white tees which at 6,500yrds is one of the longer courses that we play. The course itself was in good condition with well manicured tees and fairways. The greens looked a little patchy but were fast and true, a great putting surface.
The day belonged to Steve Plant, who has been threatening to have a good score but just never seems to quite finish the round off, but today he had 43 points (gross 81) off his 16 handicap, a great score on a tough golf course. Second was Stephen Mann with 38 points from Andy Todd with 37 and coming in fourth place was Irishman, Shay Mitchell.
There were three ‘2’s, all on the same hole (A6) from Steve Plant, Steve Mann & Mark Rendell.
1st Steve Plant (16/Hi13.5) 43pts
2nd Steve Mann (13/Hi10.7) 38pts
3rd Andy Todd (15/Hi11.9) 37pts
Friday, Feb. 24, Green Valley – Stableford
Fifty-one Outbackers travelled to Green Valley on a hot and very humid day for our normal 10am tee-off. It was good to see plenty of caddies there to greet us and as the starter had had some cancellations we were able to tee-off 25 minutes early with most groups completing the course in just over 4 hours.
The course was well presented with good grassy fairways, well tended tees & bunkers and greens that were true but very slow.
Just a little warning to all those who might see Dennis Pelly and get a ride with him to the golf course; check after the game to see if he remembers that he gave you a ride otherwise you could be left behind just like he did to his great mate, Sugar Ray.
We had four divisions with four places in each division plus the ‘2’s. There were some excellent scores in all four divisions with the standout being Paul Bourke, who has a great couple of months continuing to play good consistent golf.
Winner of Div D was Dave Collier (27) with a fine score of 40 points, from Bill Trainer (28) on 36 and Andy Makara in third on 35, and these three were some way ahead of the fourth placed man, Darragh McCormack, who beat Barry Lewis on count back, both on 28.
Bob Cannon (21) just about doubled his points haul at Khao Kheow on Monday, where he scored a miserable 21pts with an amazing bounce back and 41pts to win Div C on count back from Pat Culloty (21), both sharing the best score of the day, and both of them (Bob and Pat) will be playing off two strokes less on their next outing. Third was Ed Horrocks with 32 points, after his best round ever here last week.
A three way count back for first, second and third decided the Div B result, with Rick Forrest taking the honours from Barry Ennis and Tony McDonough, all with 37 points, whilst, as mentioned briefly before, Paul Bourke repeated his win here from last week, when he scored 39pts off 8 with another win this week, this time 38pts off 7. Dennis Pelly took second from Steve Mann, both on 35, with Peter LeNoury in fourth.
Finally, welcome to a couple of newbies to the Outback, Jim Williams, Lynne Parry and Gareth Hearn.
There were three ‘2’s from Gareth Hearn (hole 12) and Steve Reece & Jim Brackett on hole 16.
Div A (0-11)
1st Paul Bourke (7/Hi8.1) 38pts
2nd Dennis Pelly (10/Hi11.2) 35pts
3rd Steve Mann (9/Hi10.3) 35pts
Div B (12-16)
1st Rick Forrest (15/Hi15.2) 37pts
2nd Barry Ennis (16/Hi15.9) 37pts
3rd Tony McDonough (13/Hi13.9) 37pts
Div C (17-24)
1st Bob Cannon (21/Hi21.1) 41pts
2nd Pat Culloty (21/Hi21.1) 41pts
3rd Ed Horrocks (18/Hi17.8) 32pts
Div D (25+)
1st Dave Collier (27/Hi26) 40pts
2nd Bill Trainer (28/Hi27.2) 36pts
3rd Andy Makara (29/HI28.1) 35pts
