PSC golf Bunker Boys @ The Ranch
Monday, April 22, Crystal Bay A & B – Rainbow Stableford
A few regulars have started to return to Pattaya after the Songkran madness, but only 10 players turned out today for our monthly Rainbow competition. The course and greens were in reasonable shape, but the bunkers continue to deteriorate, and now look as though they haven’t been tended for six months.
The blue tees were set well back today, so the choice of tee was really important, and Mark Stanley obviously made the right choices, romping home with 41 points. There was a four-way tie for second place on 37 points, which went down to the last six holes and was eventually awarded to John Graham (13 points on the last 6) beating Neil Griffin into third place (12 points on the last six) with Peter Habgood and Jerry Waselenkof being the unlucky players to miss out.
Mark Stanley.
We said goodbye to Jerry Waselenkof today, who’s played 35 games in the first 3 months of this year (second only to Colin Greig) – see you again in the fall Jerry!
1st Mark Stanley (11) 41pts
2nd John Graham (11) 37pts
3rd Neil Griffin (25) 37pts
Near Pins: Mark Stanley, John Graham, Tony Robbins and Jerry Waselenkof.
Wednesday, April 14, Bangprakong – Stableford
Another small group today for our visit to the normally popular Bangprakong Riverside course. The course is almost always in good shape, but today was not one of it’s better days, the greens having been recently sanded and there were noticeable dead patches on the fairways.
It was another hot day and there were menacing looking clouds all around, which eventually caught up with us on the ninth hole, resulting in a 15 minute delay, but after that the weather remained fine.
We welcomed back Ken Davidson, and Mashi brought along his friend Toshi (hcp.3), who elected not to play in the stableford competition and promptly shot a gross score of 74.
It was another day of very close scoring with five players in a position to win when they reached the 17th tee. Tony Robbins eventually scraped home by a single point ahead of a three-way tie on 36 points. The count back saw Mark Stanley taking second place (21 points on the back nine) ahead of Mashi (19 points) with Ken Davidson being the unlucky one to lose out on his first game back.
1st Tony Robbins (11) 37pts
2nd Mark Stanley (11) 36pts
3rd Mashi Kaneta (15) 36pts
Near Pins: Ken Davidson, Tony Robbins, Mark Stanley and Toshi Kamikura
Friday, April 19, Emerald – Stableford
It was a fine, but at times very hot day for our visit to Bang Chang. The course was in reasonable shape, but the greens had obviously not been cut recently and were much slower than usual. Even the normally treacherous 17th green, where putts from the top level are normally difficult to keep on the putting surface, was benign today and putts were stopping close to the hole.
Ken Davidson had a great front nine (21 points) but the wheels nearly came off on the back nine, when he failed to score on the final two holes. Peter Habgood almost caught Ken, after scoring an impressive 23 points on the back nine, but in the end came up short by a single point. Tony Robbins fluked a chip on the 18th green to take 3rd place on a count back ahead of Neil Griffin.
Mark Stanley was playing his final game before heading back to the U.K. for a work break, and elected to play off the blue tees, which anyone who’s tried it will tell you that it probably cost him the chance of a final win.
1st Ken Davidson (24) 38pts
2nd Peter Habgood (21) 37pts
3rd Tony Robbins (12) 32pts
Near Pins: Geoff Hart, Mark Stanley and Gerry Cooney (2).
Even though Colin Greig has gone back to the U.K., and missed the last four games of the month, his earlier consistent play had established a healthy lead in the Golfer of the Month competition. The only three contenders who could have taken the title, Mark Stanley, Tony Robbins and John Graham, have all fallen a couple of points short, and even with one game still remaining, Colin cannot be caught. Congratulations Colin and your trophy will be waiting for you on your return.
Note: The Bunker Boys play out of The Ranch bar on Pattaya 3rd Road (in front of the fire station, and almost opposite the Buffalo Bar). We play Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, meeting at The Ranch at 9 a.m. for breakfast and transportation, and new players are always welcome. Contact “Buff” on 086 046 5091 or 080 605 5663 for all enquiries. You can find all the news, schedules and results on our website at www. bunkersociety.com.
