PSC golf from the Cafe Kronborg
Monday, August 15, Plutaluang E & S – Stableford
There had been an early morning thunderstorm which maybe prompted one regular “fair weather” golfer to SMS his cancellation but thanks to a few late inclusions we had a field of 11 “all weather” players ready to tackle the Plutaluang East & West nines. There should have been 12 of us but one “sick” golfer had maybe forgotten how to use his mobile phone to inform us of his non-participation.
Departing Cafe Kronborg just prior to our scheduled 0815 hrs we travelled to the course through drizzle and cloudy skies and it was good to see Mike Winfield back with us after a month in New York. We arrived at the Navy course 43 minutes later and although there were a few other groups ready to tee off our first foursome was able to tee off 35 minutes ahead of schedule at 0925 hrs on the East nine.
Walter Baechli & The Admiral.
To be honest, the weather was not looking too promising with low dark clouds and thunder rumbling in the distance and there were a few showers during the first nine but not enough to cause too many problems. The course was looking in fine shape and the greens, although a lot slower than we had been used to for several weeks, were well maintained and true.
After two hours and fifteen minutes we commenced our second nine (South) and it wasn’t too long before the rain was coming down constantly. But although there was a constant requirement for the use of brollies there was no necessity to cease play at any stage. We completed our round in four hours and thirty-five minutes and the course held up extremely well in the wet conditions.
We had just the one flight with the small field and there were five place getters.
The winner was spotted having lessons on the weekend and they obviously paid off for our good friend Walter Baechli who won with a creditable 36 points, 2 points clear of Aussie Martin Todd in second place. There was a three-way count back for the next three places with Mike Winfield in third place finishing ahead of Andrew Krawiec in fourth place and your writer in fifth – all with a modest 30 points.
1st Walter Baechli (18) 36pts
2nd Martin Todd (7) 34pts
3rd Mike Winfield (23) 30pts
4th Andrew Krawiec (19) 30pts
5th Peter Blackburn (11) 30pts
The Compass Cap was very well won by Mike Gosden who then proceeded to get his revenge by parading Deefa the Dog who collected numerous donations to charity from all present.
Thursday, August 18, Pattaya Country Club – Monthly Mug/Stroke
The weather was looking good for a change and we had twenty golfers signed up and prepared for our monthly round of stroke to compete for the Cafe Kronborg August Monthly Mug.
Dave Richardson receives his Mug from Bjarne Neilson at the Cafe Kronborg.
Unfortunately, we had a late cancellation as we were informed that Wayne Koch had suffered a badly injured shoulder in a motorbike accident the previous day and we wish Wayne all the best and hope he has a speedy recovery.
We welcomed back Mike Allidi from his trip to Australia and Frenchman Jean-Claude Coulon and Chop Daprakhon. It was also great to have the company of 83 year old Arthur Bailey once again for a game on his home course.
We left Cafe Kronborg spot on our scheduled departure time of 0815 hrs and just twenty-five minutes later arrived at the course. Our booked tee time was 1006 hrs but as usual we were able to tee off early after a brief delay and after re-organising the groups due to someone’s inability to inform us of his non-appearance.
Our first group, a threesome, got away at 0915 hrs in perfect golfing weather. As usual the course was in very good shape and the greens were excellent. I must mention that we enjoyed a reduced fee of 800 baht for green fee plus caddy and an even better deal for those wishing to use a cart, shared or otherwise.
The groups in front of us were not wasting any time and we “flew” through the front nine in just one hour and forty-five minutes. All three of us were playing quite well and I had a feeling that one of us was going to feature prominently at the end of the day.
A welcome drinks break at the half way mark refreshed us for the second nine and the three of us kept our heads down resulting in some good golf. The round was completed in the excellent time of three hours and forty-five minutes and a good time was had by all.
We had 2 flights, A Flight for 0 to 17 and B Flight for handicaps of 18 and over plus the Monthly Mug winner and there were rewards for longest first putts on the ninth & eighteenth, kindly donated by Martin Todd.
Former three time Mug winner Kenny Bernek was confident of adding another one to his collection but unfortunately “crashed & burned” to finish well off the pace.
The winner of the Cafe Kronborg August Monthly Mug was none other than Dave “The Admiral” Richardson with a very fine score of net 68.
In the A Flight the other two members of our opening threesome, Martin Todd and yours truly had to be separated by a count back with Martin victorious, both of us with a net 70. Mike Gosden completed an Aussie A Flight 1, 2, 3 by finishing third with a fine net 72 and Chop Daprakhon edged out Stu (BUPA) Rifkin and finished fourth on a count back with net 73.
B Flight was well won by the colorful Walter Baechli with net 71 and Andrew Krawiec finished second with a net 77. Mike Winfield was very surprised to have a place on the podium with his third place net 79 but not as surprised as Jean-Claude Coulon who finished fourth with net 88 (not a misprint!).
Many thanks once again to Bjarne and his family & staff at Cafe Kronborg for their continued support of this monthly event.
Monthly Mug
1st Dave Richardson (24) Net 68
A Flight
1st Martin Todd (7) Net 70
2nd Peter Blackburn (11) Net 70
3rd Mike Gosden (11) Net 72
4th Chop Daprakhon (11) Net 73
B Flight
1st Walter Baechli (18) Net 71
2nd Andrew Krawiec (19) Net 77
3rd Mike Winfield (23) Net 79
4th Jean-Claude Coulon (31) Net 88
Longest First Putts: 9th – Dave Richardson; 18th – Mike Gosden
Hugh O’Donnell continued his up and down form by winning again, this time the Compass Cap and Mike took Deefa the Dog for another walk and collected more donations to charity from the ever generous Kronny crew.
