The Pattaya Golf Society (IPGC) at Rabbi’s Elephant Bar
The Pattaya Golf Society returned to Pleasant Valley on Monday, 6th January to play a stableford event from the white tees as the fairways are invariably wet from early morning irrigation. They were, and the greens were slow and bumpy again.
Starting from the tenth tee the “newbies” to the course found the “front” nine difficult with its longer carries and limited landing areas and there was little to separate the contenders in both flights. After the turn however things began to move and in the second flight both Henry Mah and Murray Edwards performed creditably to return 36 points each for a share of second place. The winner was Irishman Dave Lehane and his 39 points represented his best return this trip.
In the top flight Wichai Tananusorn and Alan Flynn shared third place with 34 points each whilst Scot Iain Wilson went one better to second place with 35 points and the best gross figures of the day, 76 shots. The winner was Canadian golfer Marc Jensen and his 40 points will help him realise his ambition of becoming again a single handicap golfer after a bad health scare last year.
Marc also took a share of the ‘2’s pot with Mikael Lindberg, Dave Lehane and Brent Nastiuk, while Dave Plaiter took the boozer’s double as both Rabbi’s non-winners’ beer and the Booby Bevy found its way to his table back in Soi Buakhao, the latter coming after he teed off from outside the teeing area on the sixteenth as he mistook his caddies sand bag for a tee marker. Silly boy! Hmmm…or was he?
But there were no mistakes for Marc Jensen as he set the standard for the group on only the second day of the new golfing year for the PGS.
Canada Day
On Wednesday, 8th January the Pattaya Golf Society renewed its acquaintance with the former Century Chonburi, now renamed Pattavia, to play a stableford event in two flights with the cut set at sixteen and under.
The course was a revelation to older hands and the changes have turned an already splendid design into a testing course which more than befits Pattaya golfers. Fairways are lush and well irrigated, bunkers are “proper” bunkers at last and the greens posed a real threat, being very quick. Well done Chang!
With a lot of “newbies” with no experience of the old course ideas were fresh and scores were realistic. In the top flight Andrew Purdie used his power to record 35 points, sharing second place with Chris Smith, the latter again setting the best gross figures for the day, 74 shots. The flight winner was Marc Jensen, winning his second successive event, this time with 37 points.
In the second flight John Chelo and Masashi Iizumi shared third place with 31 points, a few behind Canadian Kevin McConnell on 35. The winner was fellow canuck Henry Mah and his 40 points brought back memories of his exploits on his previous trip when his improved game drew the plaudits from his peers.
The ‘2’s pot was shared by Dave Edwards, Andrew Purdie, John Chelo and Dave Wilkinson and the Booby Bevy went to Larry Ang for some cavalier driving on Highway 7. Rabbi’s consolation beer went to Paul Sturgeon.
The re acquaintance with Pattavia had gone smoothly with praise all round and the PGS Canadian contingent certainly made its mark with representatives occupying all three places in the second flight and the winner in the top group. It’s probably down to the sun on their backs!
Jensen makes it three
On Friday, 10th January the Pattaya Golf Society visited Greenwood to play a stableford competition on the C and B nines which were in good condition throughout.
The cut was at seventeen and under and in the second flight four golfers shared the third place spoils with 32 points, namely Henry Mah, Jim Ferris, Dave Plaiter and the returning Yvonne Earley. One point ahead of them was Pat Murphy with 33 points but the flight was blown away by Murray Edwards who managed his best ever score with the group, forty points.
In the top flight Peter Wilson and Rick Schramm shared second place with 37 points but Marc Jensen pulled out a plum again with 41 points for the win, his second forty plus score in four rounds. ESR will certainly be applied to realise his ambition of returning to single figures. He also shared the ‘2’s pot with Dave Cadwallader and Paul Edgar and the Booby Bevy went to Jesper Hansen after his nine-seventeen split figures.
The week had ended on a high note at Rabbi’s with the return of many old friends and some very exhilarating golf.
