The Tropical Golf Group
Tuesday, Jan. 3, Pattaya C.C. – Stableford
On the first tee with our 8 groups we actually got away on time, and although the course ahead seemed packed we moved along at a steady pace despite a fair bit of backup. The course is in need of some care with fairways that are hard and arid in many places. The greens were not too bad but still showed signs of use with many marks and brown patches.
In the A Flight, 0 to 24, we had one of the mysteries that show why on the golf course all are equal and have a chance. The winner was Graham Buckingham with 41 points on count-back over Steve Truelove. Graham is off 24-handicap and plays off the silver tees, while Steve is a single handicapper. We also had a count-back for third on 40 points that saw Dave Cooper take the bronze and Rob Brown in fourth. Dave is another 24-handicapper and Rob is a single handicapper who a couple of years ago was the PSC Club Champion. In fifth was Brian Gabe with 37 points.
In the B Flight, 25 up, the winner was Carole Kubicki with 42 points ahead of Don Carmody with 37 in second. We had a count-back on 36 points that saw S.K. Kwok in third and Rita Zoebeli take fourth. In fifth was Daryl Evans with 35 points.
The best front nine for non-winners came from Fred Tam with 22 points and the best back nine from Mick Coghlan with 22.
Friday, Jan. 5, Mt. Shadow – Stableford
After seemingly endless weeks of very high scores by half the players, it was time for the Topical Golfers to eat some humble pie, so we booked a trip to Mountain Shadow. How to describe this course? Other layouts have more holes that elicit fear on the tee while others have more water and higher rough. At the end of the round here it’s hard to say just why you had a bad score, you just did.
In A-Flight (0-16) the best net score of the day went – again – to Rob Brown (c/h 10) with 34 points. Next came Paul Sharples (15) with 33 points and rounding out the flight was the returning Landis Brooks (9) who quickly reminded everyone there is more than one gunslinger back in town, taking the final bow with 31 points.
B-Flight (17-22) saw Tom Herrington (c/h 17) continuing to play steady golf and his 34 points was enough to lead his pack. Mashi Kaneta (17) came back with 32 points for the silver and Brian Gabe (20) took final flight honors with 29.
Joerg Weichelbaumer (c/h 25) took advantage of his corrected handicap with the best finish of the day to win C-Flight (23+) with 35 points. Next was Torsten Bischoff (27) who played well to get 33 points, and finally Carole Kubicki took a curtsy with her fine 32.
Best nines (non winner) came from John Davis and Richard Kubicki.
