Monday, March 16th
Royal Hills Golf Resort and Spa
1st Hubert Stiefenhofer (17) 37 points
2nd Uli Mueller (11) 34 points
3rdDanny Miller (11) 34 points
4th Dave Galvin ( ) 33 points
5th Colin Greig (15) 32 points
Near pins Alan Sullivan, Danny Miller, Les Cobban, & Michael Brett
A mass exodus of seasonal visitors over the weekend with no less than six getting away following recent cancelled and rescheduled flights. Nevertheless there was a strong contingent of twenty-one on hand for our short trip to Royal Hills. The Royal Hills course was in excellent condition and the food at the restaurant was delicious, in particular a large portion of humble pie served to one member who made the bold prediction last Friday night that Scotland’s eleven game wait to beat Ireland in the Six Nations was about to end. I guess after eleven years wait, what’s one more before he realises his fantasy? To rub salt into the wounds the Irish under 20 also beat Scotland by an even bigger margin.
Meanwhile back on the golf course Royal Hills bared its teeth today with many average scores returned on the low side.
Several drove to the resort on Sunday and were fresh and relaxed while those that travelled today were less so.
Under the circumstances a winning score of thirty-seven points from Hubert Stiefenhofer was an excellent result. Three back Uli Mueller took second on countback from Danny Miller. Dave Galvin took fourth with thirty-three points and Colin Greig rounded out the winners circle with thirty-two. Near pins were spread evenly as listed.
The biggest excitement of the day came on the eighteenth when a massive elephant followed the last group of the day down the eighteenth fairway, even the locals were excited, clearly a rare event.
Royal Hills
Day 2.
Two man scramble
1st Paul Smith & Danny Miller (4) 46 points
2nd Jimmy Carr & Robby Watts (9) 40 points
Near pins. Robby Watts, Mike Milland, & Paul Smith
The second day of competition yielded much better scores than the first, probably because people got used to the course and the speed of the greens, some putts were nigh impossible, even more difficult than Pattavia.
The team of Paul Smith and Danny Miller playing off a team handicap of four returned a magnificent score of forty-six points with four birdies and an eagle. A full six back and with a team handicap of nine Jimmy Carr and Robby Watts took second place. Near pins were as listed.
Wednesday, March 18th
Crystal Bay.
1st Michael Brett (17) 37 points
2nd Takeshi Hakozaki (16) 30 points
3rd Kevin LaBar (17) 29 points
Near pins Dave Ashman, Kevin LaBar, & Michael Brett
Because of the large exodus at the weekend and the group that went to Royal Hills suffering golf fatigue we had our lowest number of the year for the game at Crystal Bay. The course is still holding up well and with rain threatening it should be fine from here on. The rain was all around us today but luckily we stayed dry, we did get erain on the drive back to Pattaya and for some reason the traffic was horrendous until we got onto the highway.
The day was hot and humid, luckily there was some breeze which made it more bearable.
Things didn’t look good for today’s winner, but a strong revival on the back took Michael Brett to thirty-seven points and first place. A full seven back Takeshi Hakozaki took second place, with Kevin LaBar one further back. Near pins were as listed with one unclaimed.
Friday, March 20th
Plutaluang
1st Dominique Pujol (26) 40 points
2nd Mike Lloyd (21) 37 points
3rd Danny Miller (11) 34 points
4th Dave Galvin (20) 33 points
Near pins Mike Lloyd, Warren Meeks, Danny Miller, & Michael Brett.
After the poor showing on Wednesday it was back to decent numbers again for the game at Plutaluang where we played the South and East nines. As we saw on our last visit the course is holding up remarkably in the dry season, although one suspects some rain has fallen there recently.
There was some peculiar scoring today with several players having one good nine and one not so good. The consistent one among the group was the winner Dominique Pujol with twenty on both front and back nines to take first place, Dominique generously rang the bell back at the bar.. A surprise visit today by Mike Lloyd who brought his A game to take second place with a tidy thirty-seven points, he also managed to snag a near pin. The everpresent Danny Miller took third, one ahead of Dave Galvin in fourth. The remaining near pins were as listed.
Winner at Royal Hills Hubert Stiefenhofer
Winning team, Paul Smith and Danny Miller.
Star of the show at Royal Hills, a very large elephant on the eighteenth
Winner at Crystal Bay Michael Brett.
Winner at Navy, Dominique Pujol.
