The Pattaya Links Golf Society
Monday, Oct. 30, Crystal Bay – Stableford
A Flight
1st Peter Wilson (9) 42pts
2nd Anthony Woodman (11) 40pts
3rd Barry Moore (16) 36pts
B Flight
1st Alistair Gall (18) 37pts
2nd Tony Browne (21) 36pts
3rd John Mason (26) 34pts
After making life somewhat harder for some, playing the long tees at Khao Kheow, we decided to give everyone a break and play from the very short yellow tees at Crystal Bay. 18 players gathered at the C1 tee for a start, slightly earlier than scheduled.
Crystal Bay has had some criticism over the past couple of years, and sometimes deservedly, but today was certainly worthy of praise. This course was as good as many of us can remember. Fairways were cut nicely and the greens played well, not as quick as some other courses, but fair for all and running true.
Peter Wilson carried on his good form to return a splendid 42 points to win A Flight while Anthony Woodman’s would often be a winning score, but not on this occasion and he had to settle for second place. Barry Moore, here for holidays, took third spot with 36.
Alistair Gall is usually never far away from the podium and went to the top of B Flight with a very handy 37 points. Tony Browne ran a close second with his 36 and John Mason was surprised at his third placing, which he achieved by beating Larry Slattery on count-back.
The best nines for non-winners came from Alan Smith (19pts) and Steve Potter (19).
Wednesday, Nov. 1, Burapha – Stableford
1st Ron Matthews (12) 37pts
2nd Colin Service (19) 32pts
3rd Petur Petursen (5) 32pts
4th Eyad (11) 32pts
The first day of November represents the start of Pattaya’s golfing “high season” and The Links Golf Society celebrated with a visit to Burapha to play a stableford competition on the C and D courses. The layout was being prepared for a large tournament and posed considerable challenges with heavy and uncut rough but the fairways and greens were in excellent order.
A couple of “no shows” on the day cut the field to one flight and scores were average except for one fine card. Three golfers on 32 points were subjected to a count-back, leaving American visitor Eyad in fourth place, Icelandic golfer Petur Petursen in third and second spot going to Colin Service.
The winner, with the only subpar round of the day, was Western Australian golfer Ron Matthews. An old friend of the group, Ron found his form at last with an excellent 37 points off his twelve-handicap. Accuracy and an early feel for the greens worked well to his advantage and his win was thoroughly deserved.
The minor prizes went to Mike Wilsher’s best front nine total (17 points) and Marcus Earp for his best back nine score of 17.
