PSC golf from The Outback Golf Bar
Monday, March 21, Burapha – Stableford
Is the Capt’ going soft in the head, letting the guys play the Burapha C & D loops off the whites? Judging by the scores brought about by the excellent conditions, one would guess – Yes! If you didn’t get upwards in the late 30’s you got nothing and plenty of it.
There was an Aussie-Kiwi challenge just for fun and the Kiwis (Capt’ & Lloyd) had a hell of a day with Lloyd Shuttleworth for the Kiwis shooting one under on the back nine (gross) for 22 points to soundly kick the derriere’s of the Aussies. I might add he got no help from his playing partner who should remain nameless due to his dodgy handicap of 11.
Wednesday winner, Norm Cheetham.
The top scores came from the cream of the crop division A, with Owen Walkely in the top spot with his 42 points, ahead of newcomer Peter (41), and Lloyd (39), with the Capt’ just missing out. Rosco took Div B with 36 points and Hec Copper returned to form after a poor showing in Chiang Mai the previous week, to amass 40 points and win Div C, together with Bruce McAdam (37) in third, who showed he could still play the game!
All in all a great day out and you will see by the winning scores that the course was benign as there was no wind and just a little humidity.
Welcome to Peter Larsson from Sweden who was playing his first game with the Outback and also a welcome to Paul Sirban and all the boys from Broome and other parts of Western Australia.
There was a ‘jackpot 2’, which was a travesty of justice really, when you see who got it, only joking Steve.
Div A (0-11)
1st Owen Walkley (11) 42pts
2nd Peter Larsson (10) 41pts
3rd Lloyd Shuttleworth (5) 39pts
Div B (12-15)
1st Rosco Langoulant (15) 36pts
2nd Gary Ralph (14) 35pts
3rd Norm Cheetham (15) 34pts
Div C (16+)
1st Hec Cooper (23) 40pts
2nd Shane Brown (17) 38pts
3rd Bruce McAdam (22) 37pts
Tuesday, March 22, Pattaya C.C. – Stableford
An excellent attendance here at Pattaya C.C. with 30 players competing in two divisions. The course was reported to be in the best condition seen here for some time, particularly the front nine.
Course specialist Mike Allidi’s gross 71 was not enough for him to win Div A, which stretched right down to the 20 handicapper, as he was beaten by one of the Capt’s good mates here on holiday, Gary Ralph with 41. He had already been cut from previous form and has now had his handicap reduced to 11.
Welcome today to Chop, playing with the Outback for the first time and taking third place with 38 points and in turn beating Dopp, who had 36. Div B was won by Frenchman, Jean Claude on 36, just a point ahead of Tuesday regular, Terry Marney.
There were three ‘2’s from Norm Cheetham, Chris Dopp and Mile Allidi.
Div A (0-20)
1st Gary Ralph (13) 41pts
2nd Mike Allidi (2) 39pts
3rd Chop Daprakhon (12) 38pts
4th Chris Dopp (11) 36pts
Div B (21+)
1st Jean-Claude Coulon (31) 36pts
2nd Terry Marney (27) 35pts
3rd Sid Ottaway (23) 35pts
4th Doug Chalkley (21) 32pts
Wednesday, March 23, Greenwood – Stableford
It was the worst of times – it was the best of times. The worst for Pattaya as it coped with high winds, heavy rainfall and flash flooding as dawn broke on Wednesday morning. The worst for the Outbackers who made the trek to Greenwood in the heavy rain and of course the worst for our Aussie friends who were flying back home and heading to the airport directly from the course.
But of course, every cloud has a silver lining and today it turned out to be a golden lining for Norm Cheetham who was today’s winner with 37 points and an incredible 23 putts over a well manicured, wet, but extremely playable B and C tracks at Greenwood.
It also turned out to be the best of times for the remainder of the shortened field, the true 14 Outbackers, the real men and woman who teed off and endured rain for 6 holes before the rain stopped and the day became ideal for golf on a course that they had to share with no one.
And last, but not least, the best for the golfers who came back to the Outback for the presentation and enjoyed a drink on Capt’ Bob who rang the bell.
Rounding off the top four were Shane Brown, five back with 32, Tony McDonough (31) and the Sugarman, also with 31. There were no ‘2’s today so the pot was added to the prize money.
1st Norm Cheetham (15) 37pts
2nd Shane Brown (17) 32pts
3rd Tony McDonough (14) 31pts
4th Sugar Ray Handford (16) 31pts
Friday, March 25, Khao Kheow – Stableford
There is only one story here, and that is how did a pleasant day out on a golf course nearly turn into nothing more than an abusive brawl for two or three; thereby completely spoiling the round for innocent bystanders?
Was Khao Kheow partly to blame for asking the Outbackers to tee-off 30 minutes ahead of their allotted tee time, thus catching many players unprepared, or was the Outback to blame for not turning round and saying, “not all our players are here yet, you’ll have to wait”, rather than rush everybody to the tee and send them out on a first come first served basis, out of their predetermined groups.
Whatever the reason, the question of slow play raised its ugly head with harsh exchanges of words and club threatening behaviour, neither of which have any place on a golf course. It was reported that the pace of play was not slow, around four hours, which for Thailand cannot be considered slow by any means so why did this stupid and senseless incident occur? It is easy sometimes to perceive that something is not what it seems; in this case one of the first groups had shot round in double quick time, opening up a gap of some four holes to the next group, thus making them appear slow. Slower they were indeed but not unacceptably so. Golf is not a race.
The Outback does not condone the behaviour of a few today and we do not support slow play. By all means ask politely for your fellow players to speed up if they are unreasonably slow but we will never tolerate violent threats with clubs or words.
For the record, 25 played today in two divisions on the A & C nines and there was one ‘2’ from Chris Dopp.
Div A (0-15)
1st Steve Milne (13) 33pts
2nd Chris Dopp (11) 32pts
3rd Steve Plant (14) 32pts
4th Bob Philp (11) 31pts
Div B (16+)
1st Barry McIntosh (18) 36pts
2nd Andrew Makara (29) 34pts
3rd Sugar Ray Handford (16) 33pts
4th Raleigh Gosney (18) 31pts
Note: The Outback Golf Bar is situated about 6km from Sukhumvit Road along Soi Siam Country. All are welcome to come and join us for a beer and a hit. Just call in and put your name down on the list or give Bob a call on 087 941 2474.
