The Pattaya Golf Society at The Elephant Bar
In May the PGS lost a very good friend in Jean Morel, so in association with his son Louis the group hosted the inaugural Jean Morel Memorial Tournament on what would have been Jean’s birthday, 26th June.
The event was to be unique in two ways; the format was Pairs Rainbow Best Score, never before used for a “major” in Pattaya and it drew the support of golfers from all of Pattaya’s golf disciplines, IPGC, PSC, standalone groups and so on. Eastern Star was the venue and the course was almost empty which gave a cosy and private feeling to the day.
Jean Morel Memorial winners, Donal McGuigan and Declan Kelly, receive the trophy from Khun Tookta, flanked by David Thomas and Len Jones.
With no experience of winning scores to fall back on no-one knew what to expect but in most cases homework had been done in making the choice of tees to take the best advantage of the individual’s handicap. At the end of the day placings were very tight with a count-back needed to separate third from fifth place, with the Outback team of “Les Bleus”, comprising Tim Knight and Sugar Ray Handford scoring best on the back nine and finishing on 42 points.
Two old friends, Ronnie Ramsay and Tim Lazecki, took second with 43 points but the event was won by the Irish combination of Donal McGuigan and Declan Kelly with an excellent 46 points, Donal contributing nine points on successive holes in the middle of the back nine to seal an outstanding effort.
Near Pins were sponsored by Declan Kelly and Joe McArdle and these were won by Brian Beaupre and Tim Lazecki.
The special guest at the presentation was Khun Tookta, Jean’s long term carer and in keeping with the day a toast was raised to celebrate Jean’s birthday. It had been a unique day and a highly enjoyable one in honour of an old friend, and at Louis’ request a charity “bonus” donation of 15,000 baht will be passed to Fr. Michael Picharn at the Father Ray Foundation as soon as possible. “Magnifique mes amis”.
A long hitter’s delight
The Pattaya Golf Society had a treat in store for its golfers on Monday, 23rd June when Pattana was the chosen venue for a stableford competition on the splendidly presented B and C nines, a grand total of 6706 yards off the white tees on soft fairways which yielded no run!
With only five holes shorter than 350 yards this would be a day for the long hitters to show their form. Or the most accurate, as Larry Slattery was to show with a return of 30 points for third place. In second place was Aussie powerhouse Andrew Purdie with 31 points but way out ahead of the rest of the field was Swedish golfer Tomas Nilsson whose 35 points would have been a dream for most of the field.
There were no birdie ‘2’s and the bar’s consolation beer went to Alan Walker, Friday’s hero but today’s zero.
With an excellent “vfm” ratio the course will continue to be the golfing masochist’s favourite track during low season. Stout-hearted lads, these PGS golfers.
Andrew Purdie continued in the same vein on Wednesday in the group’s monthly medal event at Greenwood where he returned the group’s second best score of the year so far, a net 65 to win by a street. In second place was Tomas Nilsson with net 71, followed by Brian Beaupre in third with net 72.
