Travellers Rest Golf Group
Monday, April 24, St. Andrews 2000 – Stableford
1st Neil Wilkinson (13) 38pts
2nd Derek Thorogood (16) 34pts
3rd Jack Mooney (20) 33pts
On Monday a baking hot St Andrews welcomed the TRGG and with this course becoming increasingly difficult to score well on, any man who was going to shoot his handicap was going to be close to the winner’s prize.
Jack Mooney, playing on one of his favorite courses, shot a very good 33 points to take 3rd spot but he was pipped by Derek Thorogood whose 34 was good enough to take 2nd prize. However, no one came close to the day’s winner, Neil Wilkinson with 38 points.
Neil is so laid back he is horizontal and nothing ever seems to faze him. Even playing on 18 greens that contained more sand than you could find in the Silky Oaks bunkers did not make “cool hand Luke” break sweat. Taking all that the elements could throw at him, Neil deservedly walked away with the day’s top prize.
Tuesday, April 25, Burapha – Stableford
1st Wayne Boyland (12) 38pts
2nd Ted Senior (15) 38pts
3rd Takeoka Norihito (20) 28pts
Tuesday’s visit to Burapha saw the return to the golf society of Australian Wayne Boylan. Playing left handed he never gives the impression of trying to hit the ball that hard, yet the fluent nature of his swing means he never loses any distance. This languid style does appear to be optimized by a lot of left-handers (or footers) in general.
“Stretch” Takeoka would have been delighted his 3rd place from only 28 points if only he had realized this. He has this uncanny ability of walking around the golf course and its club house, giving the impression that he hasn’t really got any idea of where he is or why he is there.
Ted Senior was again shooting another fine round of 38 and on any other day would have expected to walk away with the top position. But the day belonged to the returning Wayne whose stronger back-9 resulted in him snatching away the top winnings from Father Ted.
Wednesday, April 28, Khao Kheow – Stableford
Richard Talbot (17) 32pts
Takoka Norihito (20) 30pts
Craig Jones (18) 28pts
Wednesday’s visit to Khao Kheow coincided with the 4th leg of the Ferdianad Cup. The last Wednesday of each month sees the playing of the cup which is based on stroke play. The winner of each month is then invited to return in January 2018 for finals day. The sponsors of this competition have been really generous both with the monthly prizes and also what is on offer on finals day.
One will never know what happened to the golfers of the TRGG on this particular day, as not even free beer, or a free t shirt, or a free tankard, or even 2500 baht could tempt them over to Khao Kheow. Only 6 golfers were brave enough to tackle the challenges that this fine course offers.
Craig Jones, having his first outing with the society, scored a highly respectable 28 points to take third spot. “Stretch” Takeoka scored 30 points to take second and this was remarkable considering he was convinced he was playing around Bangpra.
But the day belonged to the man who will make the most of any good fortune coming his way. Whilst the others shunned the opportunity of potential rich pickings on offer, the scribe realized that his golf is not good enough to ignore such offerings. His 32 points were good enough to take the lot and he looks forward to January convinced that he is now the bookies favorite.
Thursday, April 27, Silky Oaks – Stableford
1st Jim Cooper (15) 36pts
2nd Roger Cooper (14) 35pts
3rd Dinga Doyle (14) 34pts
On Thursday the TRGG travelled to Silky Oaks. With the summer heat being broken by welcoming showers the golf course offered the players realistic opportunity to shoot to their handicaps. Dinga Doyle continued with his impressive consistent form and scored 34 points, which was enough to secure 3rd spot.
The chairman of the newly formed establishment committee, Roger Wilkinson, scored a fine 35 points to take second spot. However, the day belonged to Jimmy Cooper. It had been 24 rounds of golf since the last time that Jim had entered the winning enclosure but his 36 points were good enough to take the top spot. The tears of relief were almost palpable as Jim headed back down the 36 to celebrate with a hard earned deep fried mars bar.
Friday, April 28, The Emerald – Stableford
1st Toshihiro Aoki (24) 40pts
2nd Alan Rothwell (6) 38pts
3rd Alun Webber (23) 35pts
On Friday the group headed to Emerald golf course as the rain continued to cool the playing conditions. This was certainly reflected with the scores that were recorded and Alun Webbers 35 points were good enough to give him the 3rd prize.
The lowest raw score came from Alan Rothwell, who shot a fine round of 4 over par to give him 38 points and 2nd spot. However, there was no stopping Toshihiro Aoki whose 40 points were more than enough to give him the top prize.
Over half the field scored over 30 points and it just shows what the summer heat can do to a player’s score.
