IPGC golf from The Links
Sunday, April 8, Green Valley – Stableford
A small turnout today, due to the start of the usual Songkran exodus, meant only one division, a trend that was to continue for the rest of the week. The course is still in excellent condition, but hot and humid conditions, coupled with a heavy storm midway through the round, meant points were again hard to come by.
Seil Revels led the way with 32 points, beating Jon Batty into second place, with Paul Magowan back in third.
Seil also registered the only ‘2’ of the day.
1st Seil Revels (5) 32pts
2nd Jon Batty (8) 32pts
3rd Paul Magowan (25) 27pts
Tuesday, April 10, Plutaluang – Stableford
This was my first ever visit to the Navy course, and was a late change of venue after we were priced out of Laem Chabang, and after having received good reports of the course the previous week, we decided to give it a go. We were allocated the North and West 9’s, which playing off the white tees, measure a healthy 6,700 yards.
I was quite impressed with the layout of the course, which features some very interesting holes, and the notoriously slow greens ran very true and were surprisingly good to play on. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the course “through the green” as some of the golfers struggled to differentiate between the fairway and rough on many of the holes – perhaps they need to invest in a new lawnmower?
Russell Exley paid his first visit to the winners enclosure this month, scoring a creditable 34 points in tough conditions, beating Richard Hurley 16 to 15 on count back. Bryan Dore completed the placings a further point behind.
Alec Milbourne was the sole beneficiary of the ‘2’s comp.
1st Russell Exley (7) 34pts
2nd Richard Hurley (8) 34pts
3rd Bryan Dore (5) 33pts
Thursday, April 12, Pattana – Stableford
On Thursday we travelled up the 331 to Pattana to tackle the tough B&C courses off the white tees. The greens here, as with many courses at the moment, had been hollow tined and dressed fairly recently, and as such were much slower than usual, but the course on the whole is in fantastic condition and represents a true test of golf, and I believe it is a venue that we should visit a lot more regularly than we do.
Conditions were again hot and humid, and the energy sapping back 9 proved too much for most, with only one player getting anywhere near to matching their front 9 scores.
Jon Batty continued his recent run of placings, limping home to victory with a 15 point back 9 after scoring a solid 18 on the front, with Jens Gunnarson and big hitting Irishman Bryan Dore finishing 2 points behind – Jens taking second place by virtue of a 16 to 15 point back 9.
Phil Groves and Jens Gunnarson shared the ‘2’s pot, both holing out at the short 3rd on the B9.
1st Jon Batty (8) 33pts
2nd Jens Gunnarson (15) 31pts
3rd Bryan Dore (5) 31pts
Note: The Links depart from the hotel on Soi Buakhao at 9.30am on Tuesdays and Thursdays and for Rayong Green Valley every Sunday. Sign up at the hotel or contact Jon on 080 021 1034. A full schedule of courses can be found on the IPGC website www.ipgc.org
