Monday, 31st March
Eastern Star
1st Rob Folland (14) 34 points
2nd Steve Downes (6) 34 points
3rd Dave Galvin (23) 33 points
4th John Grisley (22) 32 points
Near pins Rob Folland, John Russell, Steve Downes, & Nick Corben
A most unpleasant day for the last game of March at Eastern Star where blustery winds and squally showers particularly on the front nine made life difficult for everybody. By the time the rain stopped at about the ninth hole everything was wet and uncomfortable, grips, gloves, and attire were all sodden. Not that scores at this course are high, today’s conditions certainly didn’t help.
A tie at the top with Rob Folland edging out Steve Downes with a superior last six holes which included a four point birdie. Steady as ever Dave Galvin took third place and is hitting his straps just as he is about to leave us and return to Pakistan, or is it Ireland, hard to tell these days. Last spot on the leaderboard went to John Grisley in his first game at the Bunker Boys. Near pins were evenly spread as listed with Steve Downes as usual taking one.
Going into the last game of the month Steve Downes jumped into the lead by one and increased his lead on the final day to take it by a margin of three points.
Wednesday, April 2nd
Bangpra
1st Steve Downes (6) 37 points
2nd Les Cobban (11) 37 points
3rd Dave Galvin (23) 36 points
4th Michael Brett (15) 33 points
5th Hubert Stiefenhofer (16) 33 points
Near pins Chris Delamare, Uli Muller, Steve Downes, & Michael Brett.
Panic stations on arrival at Bangpra today for our 10.30 tee time only to be told our tee time was 10.00, so a big rush to get out onto the course asap. To speed things up the marshal put half the group out on the first tees and the other half on the back, quite what difference that made remains a mystery. On the back nine for one group they were out behind a rarity in Thailand, a one-ball, who was following a two-ball. Eventually they joined up, one wonders why the marshal didn’t join them up from the get go.
As usual the course was in very fine condition, the greens were scarily fast, and three putts even from the best were common. Having claimed his first golfer of the month on Monday, Steve Downes continued on where he left off last month and made intentions clear that he wants another trophy, having edged out Les Cobban on countback. The only other score of note was from the in form Dave Galvin who had thirty-six points, but strangely no near pin today, the near pins were as listed.
We had a little conundrum to solve after the game with two countbacks to deal with i.e given that half started on the front and half on the back which was the back nine or were there two back nines? it was resolved that the back nine was in fact the back nine for both groups.
Last games today for Uli Muller and Travis Kim, both of whom we expect to see back again later in the year.
Friday, April 4th
Emerald
1st Uwe Jurgensen (29) 35 points
2nd Michael Brett (15) 35 points
3rd Alan Sullivan (16) 35 points
4th Billy Shepley (9) 34 points
Near pins Alan Sullivan, Dave Galvin, & Michael Brett
Following recent reports that The Emerald course was in bad shape we were pleasantly surprised to find that that was not the case, in fact quite the opposite, if there was a complaint it was that the greens were very slow, particularly compared to Bangpra which were the exact opposite on Wednesday. We were able to tee off immediately and with nobody in sight we had expectations of a nice quick round, however after four holes we caught up with another society who were a bit on the slow side.
Despite there being no exceptional scores today it was a tight struggle at the top with three players tied on thirty-five points as listed.. Only three of the four near pins were taken, surprisingly hole seven was the one to miss out, perhaps the easiest of all the par threes.
During a lull in play one group were seen in deep discussion and the phrase “two hard boiled eggs in a handkerchief” was being used, one is left to ponder where that discussion went?
One week to go before the Songkran trip to Kanchanaburi to get away from the madness of the water festival, anybody wishing to partake of this trip should make their intentions known asap, good luck finding a hotel room.
Winner on countback at Eastern Star Rob Folland.
Uwe Jurgensen, winner at The Emerald.