IPGC Golf from The Haven
Monday, Jan. 16, Mt. Shadow (blue tees) – Stableford
CSS 74
Division 1 (0–18)
1st PJ Mitchell (18) 34pts
2nd Mark Williams (8) 33pts
3rd Kevin Townsend (12) 33pts
4th Graham Davis (8) 32pts
5th Bruce Kusyk (13) 31pts
Division 2 (19+)
1st Yukio Kikuchi (19) 35pts
2nd Tony O’Neil (22) 29pts
3rd Pat Murphy (24) 27pts
4th Graham Howard (26) 27pts
5th Dave Paul (25) 27pts
It was a very hard week’s golf when all the courses played were very tough, due mostly to the wet underfoot conditions and all of the CSS’s went out, with Mountain Shadow’s moving two to 74.
P.J. Mitchell returned to lead in the first division with a very solid round that did not include any zeros and closed out the back nine with 19 points for the narrowest of wins.
Mark Williams won a count back for second place with a better 18 to 17 after taking three points from the last hole, to leave Kevin Townsend in third after he had recorded a double bogey for a singleton. Graham Davis slipped into fourth ahead of Bruce Kusyk who had promised much after finishing the front nine in first place in the division.
The second division was taken by Yukio Kikuchi, well ahead of the rest of the group as they all struggled to keep the ball in play around the very tight layout.
Tony O’Neil took second place ahead of a three-way count back which Pat Murphy won with the best 19, with Graham Howard fourth on 13 and Dave Paul missing a great opportunity after collapsing to just nine points through the last nine holes.
There were no 2s in the first division but P.J. Mitchell added to his day’s haul with the sole one in the second division.
Wednesday, Jan. 18, Khao Kheow A & C – Stableford
CSS 74
1st Kevin Townsend (12) 35pts
2nd Brian Libbey (11) 33pts
3rd Stuart Brown (13) 33pts
4th Alan Hanlon (13) 32pts
5th Yukio Kikuchi (19) 32pts
6th Phil Stevenson (26) 32pts
Another day when the course definitely got the better of the field, and one which saw the CSS go out two strokes.
Kevin Townsend made up for his previous disappointment, staying with it right through to the end of the round and scoring ten points from the last four holes to win by two ahead of a count back for second and third that was won by Brian Libbey, with a strong 19 points to push new member Stuart Brown down to third.
Alan Hanlon then won another count back for fourth with a better 17 as Yukio Kikuchi finished fifth with 16 and Phil Stevenson sixth with 15.
Debutant Stuart Brown made a happy start with the group when he cleaned out the first division 2’s pot with his solo effort whilst Brandan Dunne had the only ‘2’ in the second division to clean out their pool.
Friday, Jan. 20, The Emerald – Stableford
CSS 75
1st Graham Davis (8) 34pts
2nd John Tallett (24) 31pts
3rd Markku Tynell (21) 30pts
4th Andrew Purdie (7) 29pts
5th Shuichi Kodaka (17) 29pts
6th John Carlin (18) 29pts
The last outing of the week was the hardest, with the added difficulty of the pin placements that would not have been out of place on a Sunday for one of the Major Championship competitions. In conjunction with very fast greens this made even the most proficient putters look very ordinary, with some even putting off the green on the first attempt.
Graham Davis handled the conditions best, winning the day with a three stroke margin after finishing very strongly and taking eight points from the last three holes to seal his first win of his current visit.
John Tallett ran Graham closest but faded a little after a bright start that promised more and had to settle for a well-earned second place.
Markku Tynell returned to organise the day and did enough to take third place but a very ragged first five holes on the back-nine had spoiled his chances for the day.
Andrew Purdie then won a three-way count back to take fourth place with a best 19 points after a surprising low opening half. That left Shuichi Kodaka in fifth with 13 and John Carlin in sixth with just 11.
Graham Davis carded a stunning ‘2’ on the par four 17th with an eight iron from 110 yards following a laser like 240-yard drive down the middle to claim the first division 2s pot, while Joe Torrick had a hole to remember on the 159-yard 5th hole after his caddy had given him a line that involved putting with his back to the target and then watching it curl 180 degrees into the hole.
