PSC Golf from The Outback Golf Bar
Day 1 – Thursday, Oct. 9, Santiburi
Leaving the heavy rain and storms behind in Pattaya, a group of 32 set off for Chiang Rai in search of sunny weather and fantastic golf on another Outback tour. On arrival we checked into the very comfortable Wiang Inn in the centre of Chiang Rai and were joined by two more golfers and friends who had driven up, bringing the group up to around 40 with 25 of them, reputedly golfers!
After one of the best hotel breakfasts about, we left for the Singha owned, Santiburi course which is less than 25 minutes away, to be warmly greeted as ever, particularly by the caddies. We teed off the whites at our leisure in lovely warm sunshine and blue skies but maybe a little humid for the early part of the round. The course as ever was in great condition but the greens a little slow as they had not fully recovered from recent coring.
Mili Popovic.
The highlight of the round had to be Yui Bietry’s first ever hole-in-one on the tricky 17th, a 9 iron shot for her across water with very little room between the water, front bunker and the pin. She went on to win Div A with 39pts. Second was Thierry Petrement with 38 while in third was Bob Maloney who needed the front nine to get up a head of steam; beating Steve Mann and Keith Etherington on c/b, all with 37.
Anton Rowbottam arrived for the tour and jumped straight in to win Div B with 37pts, beating Tony Aslett on c/b, playing in the same group as Bob Maloney but with opposite fortune on the two nines as Tony ran away with the front nine with 22pts but managed only 15 more on the back! Third was Pierre Bietry on 36 and fourth Brendan Cope with 35.
Presentation was done at the clubhouse as General Jack hastily fed all the scores into the computer but one thing we could say for sure, if you’re going to have a bell ring to celebrate a hole-in-one, what place better to do it than a Singha owned course – still the best value beer on any course I know – well done Yui and thanks from everybody for the drink!
Div A (0-15)
1st Yui Bietry (08) 39pts
2nd Thierry Petrement (13) 38pts
3rd Bob Maloney (13) 37pts
4th Stephen Mann (11) 37pts
Div B (16+)
1st Anton Rowbottam (18) 37pts
2nd Tony Aslett (24) 37pts
3rd Pierre Bietry (16) 36pts
4th Brendan Cope (28) 35pts
Day 2 – Friday, Oct. 10, Happy City A & B
A very different looking, yet still unfinished Happy City Golf & Country Resort awaited our arrival on the second day of our Chiang Rai tour. It was rumoured that the clubhouse was ready but it wasn’t, with much of the internal finishing still to do. From the outside the five massive accommodation blocks looked almost ready but I suspect they are still suffering the same fate.
Keith Etherington with Yui Bietry, Thierry Petrement and Steve Mann.
Nevertheless, the temporary changing rooms in the driving range block are adequate and the hospitality of the staff is second to none; the rate for the day, 1000 baht all up including cart!
The weather remained wonderful and the 29 hole course, this time A & B, less the A5 and B15 holes had improved dramatically from last year and was a pleasure to play, although only one drink stop open, which served both nines, leaves one decidedly thirsty on the back nine.
Anton Rowbottam (left) with “Ace Lady” Yui Bietry.
Winter rules were in place as carts were not allowed on the fairways; the A loop hardly required that ruling and the greens were very hard, but even though B was wetter, the course was extremely OK underfoot.
With the blues up around the 6800 yard mark, we elected the white tees at about 6400 only to get caught out again, as everywhere in Thailand, the tee boxes have been moved around and we often found ourselves playing from the red stones.
With a considerable amount of water, one really had to plot one’s way round this course as the choice of club off the tee often was tricky but even though short, there was some awesome scoring in Div B, trouncing the Div A players by miles.
Brendan Cope, who came in with a big smile, must have thought he’d done the business with his 43pts only to discover he’d been outdone by Tim Knight, who did everything right at last to bag a winning 44. They were way in front of John Lawton off 16, the lowest he’s been for some time, with 38pts and fourth going to Pierre Bietry on 37.
Top score in Div A was 37pts by Chris Davisson, followed by the steady Keith Etherington on 36 and once again Thierry Petrement finished in the frame with 35. Peter LeNoury, who couldn’t hole a putt all day, took fourth, also on 35.
As a result of Yui’s ace on Thursday the ‘2’s fund was restarted as Brad Jordison (A3), Wayne Waywood (A3), Thierry Petrement (B3) and Brendan Cope (B5) all filled their boots.
Div A (0-15)
1st Chris Davisson (14) 37pts
2nd Keith Etherington (06) 36pts
3rd Thierry Petrement (13) 35pts
4th Peter LeNoury (10) 35pts
Div B (16+)
1st Tim Knight (24) 44pts
2nd Brendan Cope (28) 43pts
3rd John Lawton (16) 38pts
4th Pierre Bietry (16) 37pts
Day 3 – Saturday, Oct. 11, Santiburi
After our final night in Chiang Rai, we checked out in the morning and were off back to Santiburi for our final round, this time from the blue tees. Hmmmm, whose idea was that?
Tim Knight and Chris Davisson.
Upon our early arrival, once again we were give the prerogative of teeing-off when we were ready, with as usual the tail-enders going out first. The blues certainly made this course a completely different kettle of fish as on some holes the tee was almost 100 yards further back making it very difficult to reach the fairway for some.
The scoring generally was significantly lower than Thursday’s round from the whites, with the course playing 3 strokes tougher (74) compared with 71 but in the main, most were happy with the longer tee.
Thierry Petrement continued his very steady scoring with an excellent best of the day 37pts to take Div A from Yui Bietry, having the advantage of staying on the red tee, with another fine round here, on 36. Steve Mann, who was only firing on 3½ cylinders, once again found himself in third on 35. Another player who has been knocking on the door was in fourth, Keith Etherington with 34.
The big winners of Day 2 fell away today, whether it was three days golf in a row or just the pressure of playing in the final group, we will never know; as Mili Popovic, who flew over especially for the tournament and playing in the first group out after two dismal rounds, sprang into life to win Div B with 34pts over Mick Beresford on same score. Pierre Bietry (29) was third and Thierry Temime fourth, also on 29.
Thierry Petrement got the only ‘2’ on the 17th.
The presentation was held once again at the clubhouse and with only one ‘2’ today and four from yesterday, just 5 people shared the substantial ‘2’s pot.
Div A (0-15)
1st Thierry Petrement (13) 37pts
2nd Yui Bietry (08) 36pts
3rd Stephen Mann (11) 35pts
4th Keith Etherington (06) 34pts
Div B (16+)
1st Mili Popovic (16) 34pts
2nd Mick Beresford (17) 34pts
3rd Pierre Bietry (16) 29pts
4th Thierry Temime (22) 29pts
3 Day Overall
1st Thierry Petrement 110pts
2nd Keith Etherington 107pts
3rd Stephen Mann 105pts
4th Yui Bietry 104pts
T5th Pierre Bietry 102pts
T5th Tim Knight 102pts
7th Mick Beresford 101pts
Note: The Outback Golf Bar is situated about 6km from Sukhumvit Road along Soi Siam Country. Call Jack on 081 578 1956.
