Monday March 2nd
Bangpra
1st Walter Baechli (22) 36 points
2nd Danny Miller (12) 35 points
3rd Les Cobban (11) 34 points
4th Pat Ryan (16) 34 points
5th Hubert Stiefenhofer (19) 34 points
6th Phil Mashiter (6) 32 points
Near pins Neil Carter, Dave Ashman, Les Cobban, & Colin Greig.
We begin a new week of golf where the first order of business is to correct an error in last week’s report where we incorrectly nominated Keith Norman as the February golfer of the month. Distracted by the magnificent run to the finish line by Dave Galvin we ignored the dark horse in the race Jimmy Carr who charged up the blindside to finish equal on points with Keith on two hundred and twenty-six points, however on countback Jimmy had the better seventh score of thirty-five points, as such Jimmy is now the February golfer of the month. By returning to the UK with two games to go Keith was not on hand to defend his lead, perhaps next year he will stay the extra few days and nail it down.
Bangpra was as busy as our previous visits with golf bags everywhere and no caddies as we arrived at the course. Nevertheless we were able to get away on time from the tenth tee. The round was painfully slow, taking almost six hours to complete.. Numbers at the Bunker are surprisingly high, given that we are into March already and we had twenty-eight players, amongst them Neil Carter making a surprise visit from Canada where it’s currently minus twenty degrees, what a change to Pattaya.
Our lead group was out behind a six-ball with the expected result. Slow golf is tiresome for most golfers and could have caused the average low scores returned today. The most colourful man in Pattaya golf, Walter Baechli was top of the heap today with thirty-six points, closely followed by Danny Miller with thirty-five. Three golfers were locked on thirty-four points separated on countback, and the final spot on the leaderboard went to Phil Mashiter with thirty-two points. All the near pins were taken as listed. Fresh from his triumph in golfer of the month Jimmy Carr had a very average day today, nothing like his previous couple of rounds, he even managed to lose two sixes which probably hurt most.
Wednesday, March 4th
Pattavia
1st Bil Richardson (21) 42 points
2nd Harvey Williams (26) 39 points
3rd Michael Brett (18) 37 points
4th Mab Jiwa (22) 37 points
5th Danny Miller (12) 36 points
Near pins Colin Greig, Bil Richardson, Derek Salmon & Michael Brett.
Imagine our surprise when we arrived at Pattavia to find no caddies available, apparently many took the day off to celebrate yesterday’s ‘ Big Buddha Day’ or was it too much celebration yesterday? An even bigger surprise awaited on the course where we found water in many areas we haven’t seen water in for years, clearly good rain fell in the area and the course benefited with it being in much better shape than expected.
The day was stinking hot and with very little wind and high humidity it was very uncomfortable for much of the day
High scores are becoming the norm at the Bunker lately as was the case again today. Bil Richardson has been doing some secret practice up country and it paid off today with a winning score of forty-two points. A very creditable effort from Harvey Williams who was ill and still managed to stay focused and take second place with thirty-nine points. A countback to decide third and fourth with Michael Brett edging out Mab Jiwa. Danny Miller took the final spot in the winners circle. Near pins were as listed.
Shot of the day went to Derek Salmon who chipped in from about one hundred yards out for a birdie on index two sixteenth. He followed that with a near pin on the seventeenth which he also birdied, what a way to finish a round, a bogey on the last felt like a let down, nevertheless twenty-one on the back was a pretty decent return.
Friday March 5th
Khao Kheow B & A.
1st Tom McMurray (24) 36 points
2nd Mab Jiwa (21) 36 points
3rd Michael Brett (18) 35 points
4th Alan Sullivan (18) 33 points
Near pins, Danny Miller, Seamus O’Connor, & Peter McDonald X 2.
It feels like we are getting the rough end of the pineapple lately with local courses, today Khao Kheow totally forgot our booking so we had to wait till after twelve o’clock before we teed off. They had us booked in for Monday when we have a booking at Mountain Shadow, who knows what will happen there? We were allocated B & C nines only for that to change to B & A mid round, still no problem.
We had more players than expected as a number of people leaving had flights cancelled so they decided to play.
One of those who had his flight cancelled was today’s winner Tom McMurray who outpointed Mab Jiwa on countback, Mab is also due to leave over the weekend. Third place went to Michael Brett with Alan Sullivan taking the final spot with thirty-three points. All scores were a little on the low side for this course.
Peter McDonald dominated the near pins taking two, Danny Miller and Seamus O’Connor took the other two
In a rare act of generosity for a Scotsman Tom rang the bell after the presentation, was he sending a message to some of his fellow countrymen?
Winner at Bangpra, Walter Baechli.
Winner at Pattavia Bil Richardson.
Winner at Khao Kheow Tom McMurray
