PSC golf from The Outback Golf Bar
Thursday, Oct. 11, Santiburi G.C. – Stableford
This was the 8th Chiang Mai Challenge tour (see page 50) but only the third time we incorporated Chiang Rai as well. Last year we found the greens at Waterford in poor condition and voted to play all three rounds at the fantastic Singha owned Santiburi course.
This time also, for the first time, Chiang Rai would have its own three-day tournament in the slightly different format of 1st round white tees, 2nd round blues and third round a rainbow (6 red, 6 white & 6 blue).
The overall Chiang Rai winner Chris Sloan (centre), with Saturday’s winners, Bob Maloney (left) and Chris Davisson.
The field for Chiang Rai, which is not available without the Chiang Mai section as well, had grown to over the usual limit of 24 players; to 26 plus seven non-playing ladies. Originally, we had intended to fly up on the first Thai Airways flight on Thurs 11th October but a late suggestion meant that more than half the players flew up a day earlier – which gave more time to relax and was generally accepted as a very good idea which will be implemented when we return next year.
Unusually, this section of the tour had attracted more visitors than regular Outbackers, with the divisions being split that way i.e. Outbackers (11) and Guests (15).
So to the first round, teeing off about 12 midday on Thursday 11th, once again as seems to be the case here there were few players on the course leaving us to enjoy millionaires’ golf on this classy course, where you can still buy two beers & a water and get change from 100 baht. The weather was warm and sunny (makes a change from Pattaya) and if there was a criticism to be found, the greens were a bit scruffy and also slow.
Don Lehmer led the way for the Outbackers with a fine 41pts from Bill Hornick (40) and Tim Knight (38) whilst the visitor’s scores were marginally better as Chris Sloan and Anton Rowbottam both scored 40pts (split only on count back) and Al Bryce & Bob Maloney both recorded 38’s.
Outbackers
1st Donald Lehmer (20) 41pts
2nd William Hornick (12) 40pts
Guests
1st Chris Sloan (10) 40pts
2nd Anton Rowbottam (19) 40pts
Friday, Oct. 12, Santiburi G.C. (blue tees) – Stableford
We stayed at the very comfortable Wiang Inn, who provide a very good breakfast and excellent rooms in a mid range price bracket. The hotel is very central and immediately adjacent to the night bazaar/market which is excellent and amazingly large, rather like the ‘tardis’ when you step inside, it’s much bigger than it looks.
The spectacular 18th at Santiburi.
After a good night out and a good night’s rest, we were off at 9am to Santiburi for the second round of our CR tournament; everybody was present with no ‘no-shows’ which is always helpful to the organiser!
Teeing off ahead of schedule at 9.30am, today was the turn of the blue tees, an entirely different entity and the scores were expected to be substantially down on yesterday’s whites. The greens were better, as though they had been cut and the pins had been moved, which was well appreciated and apart from a sharp heavy downpour, lasting some 10mins, it was once again excellent weather for golf, albeit a little humid later on after the shower.
Today, the visitors tore into the heart of the Outback players, scoring considerably better than them, with some 73% of their field scoring 32pts or better against only 27% of the Outback.
The best score of the day came naturally from the visitors, as Tony Pieroni fired an excellent 40pts from Ian Button on 37, with Rod Crosswell, Don Everett & Wayne Waywood all on 36.
Capt’ Steve was left to fly the flag for the local contingent on 38pts with the rest of the podium trailing in his wake with Tim Knight on 33 and Jim Brackett on 32.
Outbackers
1st Steve Mann (9) 38pts
2nd Timothy Knight (17) 33pts
Guests
1st Tony Pieroni (17) 40pts
2nd Ian Button (17) 37pts
Saturday, Oct. 13, Santiburi G.C. – Rainbow comp.
Back here for the last time on a Saturday morning, well you wouldn’t have known it was the weekend, there was still nobody on the course! Today was the turn of the ‘rainbow’ format; some had meticulously studied the card and mapped out their game plan, others just worked it out they went along and some just went through the colours in strict rotation. However they played, it was a fun format generally well accepted and the scores were absolutely brilliant with Bob Maloney getting the day’s top score of 45pts and winning his division. Amazingly, by not that much though as Ron De Groot also recorded a great score of 44, followed in by Chris Sloan with 43.
Not surprisingly they were all visitors; the best the rest could do was Chris Davisson’s 42 to win from Bill Hornick on 41.
Outbackers
1st Chris Davisson (11) 42pts
2nd William Hornick (12) 41pts
3rd Timothy Knight (17) 38pts
Guests
1st Bob Maloney (13) 45pts
2nd Ron De Groot (14) 44pts
3rd Chris Sloan (10) 43pts
The overall went to Chris Sloan with a 3-day total of 117 from Bob Maloney on 116 with Bill Hornick and Capt’ Steve sharing third place, both with 112.
With presentation taking a little longer than expected, it was not until about four o’clock before we left on our journey to Chiang Mai, scheduled to take around 3½ hours. A well stocked iced beer supply eased the pain and needless to say there was plenty of banter and stories to be told culminating in a few of the guys grabbing the mike to tell a few jokes.
Sure to be back next year, watch out for the dates on the website and book early if you fancy coming along on what is fast becoming, a very popular trip.
Tuesday, Oct. 16, Pattaya C.C. – Stableford
Just eight players today, the ground is slowly drying out. The back nine is looking better now they have filled up the bunkers. No ‘2’s so we go to three places
1st Nigel Cannon (20) 38pts
2nd Campbell Potts (16) 32pts
3rd Dave Earthrowl (20) 29pts
St. Andrews Fri 19th Oct
We had a full sign-up sheet of 39 players for our Friday competition, which had been switched to St. Andrews due to a tournament at Green Valley.
Day 2 winners, Tony Pieroni (left) with Capt’ Steve.
There were many new faces to be seen and welcome to them, namely; Dave Garrod, Neville & Jeff Meyers & Dave Ash as well as a young scratch player, Ben Rasmussen, Pat Robinson and Dave Wood. Welcome back also to Chris Playforth, Chris Thompson and Clint Pingree.
The course was likely to be very wet in places, so we called for ‘preferred lies thru the green’ to make life a little more bearable for everybody but what was unbearable, was the unacceptable speed of the round, nearing around 5 hours – probably the un-booked Koreans who were slipped in just before us certainly would not have helped.
Nevertheless there were some very good scores, the best of the day from Jeff Ryves (local knowledge?) with a 39 to win Div B from Chris Playforth with 36. Div A went to a newbie from Perth, Dave Garrod with 37pts beating Mark McDonald’s excellent two over par gross 76, for his 36pts and Div C was won by Dave Edwards also with 36pts from the Sugarman with 33.
There were two ‘2’s from The Sugarman & Jeff Ryves.
Div A (0-12)
1st Dave Garrod (10) 37pts
2nd Mark McDonald (2) 36pts
3rd Paul Greenaway (7) 36pts
4th Paul Bourke (10) 35pts
Div B (13-16)
1st Jeff Ryves (13) 39pts
2nd Chris Playforth (13) 36pts
3rd Michael Leighton (15) 34pts
4th Tony Pieroni (16) 34pts
Div C (17+)
1st Dave Edwards (17) 36pts
2nd Sugar Ray Handford (18) 33pts
3rd David Day (18) 31pts
4th Kathy Doody (17) 30pts
Note: The Outback Golf Bar is situated about 6km from Sukhumvit Road along Soi Siam Country. Call Jack on 087 941 2474.
