Monday, December 2nd
Emerald
1st Jimmy Carr (22) 37 points
2nd Rob Folland (15) 35 points
3rd Mick McMahon (14) 34 points
4th Tony Robbins (27) 32 points
5th Brendan Harnett (19) 31 points
Near pins.Gerry Cooney, Greg Berry, Keith Norman, & Witt Mann.
The first game of the last month of the year was played at the Emerald course, a last chance for everybody to tune up for the club championship to be played over two days at Pattavia and Greenwood on Wednesday and Friday. One could not wish for a nicer day for golf, clear blue skies, moderate temperature, and a course in decent condition.
A field of twenty four was able to tee off early again, in fact in order to speed up play the third group went directly to the fourth tee so we finished the round in very good time, a nice change from what we believe lies ahead for the rest of the week, we are lead to believe that both Pattavia and Greenwood are heavily booked for the rest of the week.
Jimmy Carr on a rare occasion attended the presentation where he generously donated the first place winnings to the delinquent fund, Jimmy is always jaidee. Having won on last Friday, Rob Folland was again in the frame taking second place, is he setting himself up to take the club championship this month?. Just arrived back from Oz and in fine form Mick McMahon took third place with thirty-four points, is he the dark horse for the club championship? The final placings went to Tony Robbins and Brendan Harnett. Near pins were as listed.
With Jimmy’s generosity and a couple of the near pins absent from the presentation the delinquent fund was healthy so a little free libation was on offer.
Wednesday, December 4th
Club Championship Round 1
Pattavia.
1st John Hughes (25) Net 69
2nd Brendan Harnett (19) Net 69
3rd Jimmy Carr (22) Net 70
4th Alan Sullivan (16) Net 70
5th Steve Downes (7) Net 71
Ner pins Bil Richardson, Mick McMahon, Uwe Jurgensen, & Brendan Harnett.
Another beautiful day in paradise for the opening round of the Bunker Boys club championship at Pattavia. The course was very dry with lots of run, and the greens were very slick, just about as fast as they can be. A strong wind blew all day and constantly changed direction making for difficult conditions. Despite being out after a couple of groups the pace of play was fine, we had a group of thirty in the competition, a smaller than normal group.
Always keen to get his name on the honour board at the bar the wily old fox John Hughes set the pace taking first place with a round of net sixty-nine, beating Brendan Harnett into second place on countback. Jimmy Carr, in good form lately, took third on countback from Alan Sullivan. Steve Downes, a favourite to take it, placed himself nicely in the mix and close enough to challenge on the second day.
Near pins went to Uwe Jurgensen, Bil Richardson, Mick McMahon, and Brendan Harnett.
The most peculiar round of the day went to Mick McMahon who had five on every hole on the back nine, you don’t see that kind of score every day. Hard luck story of the day went to Murray Greig who was playing nicely and well placed, but a disastrous ten on the last hole put paid to his challenge.
Friday, December 6th
Club Championship Round 2
Greenwood A & B
1st Takeshi Hakozaki (16) 36 points
2nd Bil Richardson (21) 35 points
3rd Ross Schiffke (25) 35 points
4th Jimmy Carr (22) 35 points
5th Robby Watts (13) 34 points.
Near Pins Murray Greig, Keith Norman, Mick McMahon, & Alan Sullivan.
Club Champion Jimmy Carr 143 points net.
Club Champion runner up Alan Sullivan 146 points net.
Club Champion 3rd place John Hughes 146 points net
Lowest Gross Steve Downes 161
For a variety of reasons from injury, to holidays, to people not in the frame quitting early we had a reduced number of twenty-four today for the second round of the club championship at Greenwood where once again we were allocated the A & B nines, it feels like we are banned from the C nine. As always the course was in nice condition but once again the wind was up making for more challenging conditions.
An early tee time saw us finish early and back in Pattaya in good time to celebrate the winners.
It’s often said particularly around Pattaya that “age is just a number” , well if we ever needed proof of that we got it in spades today. Octogenarian Jimmy Carr rolled back the years to record his first ever club championship win at the ripe old age of eighty-two and what a popular win it was. He had challengers coming at him from all sides but kept his nerve and his game together to win by three strokes. Unfortunately for Jimmy his celebrations were cut short as he had to rush away to retrieve his car which had been clamped, after Jimmy had been distracted by someone at the other end of the age spectrum.unfortunate timing.
In the daily competition the ever consistent Takeshi Hakozaki took first place with three locked together behind him just a stroke back. Best golfer of the competition was Steve Downes who had the lowest gross score of one hundred and sixty one points, somebody to look out for in the future.
It’s back to regular competition next week with games scheduled for Navy, Crystal Bay, and Pleasant Valley. We are pleased to see that Hermes Golf Club previously known as Parichat will reopen on December 10th having been closed for several months for renovations, we are looking forward to seeing what changes have been made, certainly from the road outside the course it looks in very nice condition
Jimmy Carr, winner at Emerald & Club Champion