On Saturday, March 4 a group of 29 golf enthusiasts met at Burapha Golf Course to attend the second annual “Chrusi’s Golfing Lounge Charity Trophy”, organized by Pattaya’s long-time resident Christoph “Chrusi” Balzli, owner of Sintotex.
The weather was perfect, the golf course in top shape and the players in a great mood. After all, they knew that they were playing for a good cause: to support Jesters Care for Kids.
The field was split into two main flights (A & B) plus a separate ladies flight. Uwe Wegner rolled in first in the A flight, with 37 points off his 11.5 course handicap. Two points behind in second place was Gerry Widmer (10.6) and completing the podium in third was Paul Imoff (11.2) with 34 points.
The scores were not quite as high in B flight and tournament organizer Christoph Balzli (23) claimed first place with 35 points, two ahead of Andreas Grenacher (22) in second while Michel Beat (27) took third on 31 points.
Alice Balzli (16.7) topped the ladies’ flight with 33 points while Larissa Balzli (18.4) took second place on a count back over Regina Maeder (27.5), both with 30 points each.
In addition to the proceeds from the tournament, money was raised with penalties for playing into bunkers, water, and requiring more than three putts. This raised a total of 62,100 baht during the day.
After sunset, the group met for a spectacular dinner at Ristorante Da Marco on the Darkside. They celebrated the winners and enjoyed talking about golf and life in Pattaya until late into the night. There was also an auction and several members donated additional funds to Jesters Care for Kids, bringing the total money raised to 83,500 baht, slightly missing the target of 100,000 baht.
All participants agreed: playing golf in Thailand is fun and doing it with like-minded friends is even better, but it pales in comparison to doing it for a good cause.
