PSC golf from Tropical Bert’s
Tuesday, Feb. 25, Mountain Shadow – Stableford
This was a day out that was over-subscribed from the minute it was put on the board. Later withdrawals brought the number of players down to a manageable number, but it is indicative of the numbers of golfers in Pattaya at the moment. All information I have is that other groups are having the same situation, so it seems that regardless of the demonstrations in Bangkok, Pattaya remains a haven from the rest of the world.
This course has those who love it and those who hate it. I used to be in the latter camp as I thought it was too difficult, but as Father Time catches up, and the handicap flies out and I have time to smell the roses, I have started to fall into the earlier category, except for the fact that the ceiling is missing above the showers and you never know what is on the hunt.
Dick Warberg (right) presents the MBMG Group Golfer of the Month award to Mashi Kaneta.
It was really windy on this particular day and this does make the course so much more difficult. If you hit into the trees you really do have a lot of trouble facing you. We also decided to play from the blue tees, which on a windy day such as this is a real test.
As anticipated it proved a really trying day and no one seemed to be having a good round, indeed most were struggling. The fairways were very hard and the greens were quite fast despite the fact that some were sanded. Still, all in all a good day out despite the conditions and you only have to play good enough to win.
Today we had to determine the recipient of the MBMG Golfer of the Month award, although that mantle had seemingly been decided much earlier in the month when Henry Wong won twice in two weeks. I even noticed that he had had his hair cut, probably for the photo. Surely he could not lose!
In fact the only person who had a slight chance to beat Henry was Mashi Kaneta as he had two second place finishes, but he would need to win on this day and Henry come nowhere. I played with Mashi and he only had 35 points so I was pretty confident Henry would walk it.
Back at Bert’s it was soon time for the results and in the B Flight, 20 up, the winner with 32 points was James Ferris ahead of Dick Warberg in second on 31. We then had a count back on 29 points that saw Jack Robertson third, Don Carmody fourth and Mike O’Brien and Carole Kubicki just losing out.
In the A Flight, 0 to 19, the miracle was completed as nobody could beat Mashi’s card of 35 points, although Steve Hamstad managed to match it but he lost out on count back. In third place was John Hackett with 34 points and in fourth was Mark West with 33.
So, in the final reckoning Mashi won the MBMG Group Golfer of the Month award by one point from Henry ‘The Haircut’ Wong. Well played Mashi and hard luck Henry. T.T.F.N.
Near Pin: Walter Baechli, Richard Kubicki, Paul Brooks, Brian Gabe
Long Putt: Tom Cotton, Giampaolo De Grandis
