The Tropical Golf Group
Tuesday, Dec. 26, Royal Lakeside – Stableford
It is not supposed to be wet, cold and nasty at this time of the year, but on this Tuesday morning it was all three. The question also was should we go to the course, and the answer of course was yes, so off we went, all 8 groups.
With many of the payers donning jumpers or jackets at the first tee we set off into a strong, cold wind and with the threat of rain. The course was wet but not too bad as carts were allowed on the fairways, but there was not much run. The greens however were firm and true and the mist over the course lifted as midday came and a weak sun shone through.
Back at BJ’s in Pattaya we got into the results, and what results they were. In the A Flight, 0 to 19, the winner with 41 points was Gerd Riedler, with Bob Britton in second place on 40 and Mashi Kaneta taking third with 39 on count-back over Steve Truelove in fourth. In fifth place was Geoff Bracegirdle with 38 points.
In the B Flight, 20 up, the players seemed to have gone berserk and produced scores that were certainly the best I can remember. The winner was Gordon Clegg with 49 points, incredible, with Torsten Bischoff second on 46, a score that would normally be good enough to win any competition. And how about Karen Brown in third place with 45 points, another good round. Don Carmody was fourth with 43 and Dave Cooper placed fifth with 42. Imagine having 41 points and not being in the top 5!
As usual we had best front and back nine prizes for non winners and these were won by Tom Harrington with 22 points (front) and Andre Van Dyk with 20 points (back).
It was also time for the golfer of the month to be announced and the winner by a clear margin was Tom Harrington ahead of Bob Britton and Dave Cooper.
Friday, Dec. 29,
Silky Oak – Stableford
Tropical Golf finished up a stellar week and year with a trip to Silky Oak. To give it a bit of fun and suspense we played blind partner, and you didn’t know whose Stableford score you would be combined with until after the round. The course was in excellent condition, especially the fairways.
Tommy Marshall / SK Kwok were the victors on the day with a combined score of 80 points, one point behind in second came Bob Watson and Brian Parish while third place on 77 points went to Rob Brown and Ronnie Ratte. Taking fourth on 68 points were Graham Buckingham and Henry Wong while the duo of Derek Brook and Andy Murphy with 64 points just managed to edge a count-back for fifth place over Maurice Roberts and Barry Elphick.
Near Pins went to Rob Brown (2), Derek Brook (2) and Bob Watson.
At the presentation we were pleased to announce that Brian Parish had won the golfer of the year award. During the previous 12 months his handicap went steadily down from 14 to brushing single digits with a current 9.9. How did he do it? Brian isn’t saying, but he has an eye condition now from all the flash photography he’s been through lately.
