IPGC Golf from The Haven
Monday, May 29, Greenwood – Stableford
CSS 73
1st Mike Dabanovich (12) 39pts
2nd Rod Crosswell (17) 37pts
3rd John Carlin (18) 30pts
4th Mark Cooper (11) 30pts
5th Markku Tynell (23) 30pts
A very tough week of golf when the weather tried its hardest to spoil everyone’s enjoyment started out at Greenwood, where fortunately the two easiest nine were in play for the day. Even so, the CSS for the day, as with the rest of the week’s competitions went up, on this occasion to 73 to underline the difficulty of the conditions, which were very wet.
Interestingly, this course has offered a special insurance scheme where the player pays an extra 50 baht on top of the green fee and is then promised a full refund in the event that rain stops play before the twelfth hole.
Mike Dabanovich saved his best round of his current trip to Pattaya to almost the last, shooting three under his handicap to win by a clear two shots after a day that had included seven three-pointers and no zeros.
Rod Crosswell was that close man in second place after he had started well but then garnered just four points from the last four holes and so had to settle for second best on the day.
John Carlin won a count back for third over Mark Cooper with a better 8 to 14, with Markku Tynell also involved and taking fifth after he took 13 points from the last nine holes.
There were no 2s once again in the second division but Mike Dabanovich added to his day’s haul with the sole one in the first division.
Wednesday, May 31, Khao Kheow A & B (yellow tees) – Stableford
CSS 74
1st Phil Cass (19) 36pts
2nd Jon Batty (5) 32pts
3rd Larry Gibb (21) 32pts
4th Mike Dabanovich (12) 30pts
5th Mark Cooper (11) 30pts
6th Andrew Purdie (7) 29pts
Once again the course was extremely wet but otherwise it was in good condition, even though the greens were understandably slow due to lack of mowing. Once again the CSS for the day went up, on this occasion to 74.
Phil Cass’s even par round was easily the best of the day, leaving Jon Batty and Larry Gibb to fight it out for second through a count back, which Jon won with a better 16 to 13.
There was also a count back for fourth and fifth which Mike Dabanovich won over Mark Cooper with an excellent 20 points to 14. That left Andrew Purdie to take sixth one shot behind them.
Once again there were no 2s in either of the divisions.
Friday, June 2, Phoenix (Mountain & Lakes) – Stableford
CSS 74
1st Markku Tynell (23) 41pts
2nd John O’Sullivan (23) 33pts
3rd Phil Cass (19) 31pts
4th John Carlin (18) 31pts
5th John Tallett (26) 31pts
Phoenix is preparing to host another European Tour event, this time it is the Ladies European PGA and they are already getting the course in shape for this prestigious event and hoping to be much better than the European men’s event of last year. Already the fairways are seen to be as good as they have ever been and as good as the best that the group play in the area, and no doubt the rest of the course will continue to improve. But again on the day the group found the going long, with the rough especially tough but the greens also very good, being flat and true to the break. Once more the CSS moved out to 74 with only the winner playing to handicap or better.
That winner was Markku Tynell who swept aside the rest of the field with an imperious display of golf, returning the second best gross return of the day off the second highest handicap in the field and eventually winning by a huge eight shot margin over the second placed player.
Runner-up John O’Sullivan started very well but faded slightly through the back nine but still did enough to hold on the second place.
Phil Cass then won a count back over John Carlin with a better 10 to 9 over the last six after they had tied the nine on 18 each. That left John Tallett to take the day’s last position in fifth after he had just 12 from the nine in the same count back.
There were no 2s in the first division and even though Shuichi Kodaka had flown in especially to clean out the monster rollover pot to provide his drinking fund for his three week trip to Europe, and Larry Gibb’s midnight oiling burning sessions on his sitting room carpet, bolstered with books on grip and putting together with videos on “How to stand to and address you fourth putt”, there were none either in the second division.
