Monday, May 4th
Plutaluang N & W.
1st Michael Brett (15) 35 points
2nd Les Cobban (10) 34 points
3rd Mick McMahon (8) 31 points
Near pins Alan Sullivan, Rob Folland, Les Cobban, & Micheal Brett
Today was a holiday in Thailand so just about all courses put their fees up except Plutaluang. As it turned out most golfers had the same idea as us avoiding increased fees with the result that the Navy course was very busy. We chose to play North and West nines which was a mistake as they seemed much busier than the South and East nines.
After completing the first hole our lead group jumped ahead to the fifth to escape a very slow five ball plus a walking group, as it turned out this was a good move as we could play at a more respectable pace. A peculiarity of today’s round was how greens varied in speed, the lighthouse hole was particularly slippery while some others were very slow.
Scoring was again modest with only three players breaching thirty points as listed. Near pins were spread among four players.
It feels like we were lucky today with the weather, on the way back from the course a fierce storm hit Pattaya with some frightening lightning, clearly we are now almost in the rainy season. Many courses will benefit greatly from some soaking rain.
Wednesday, May 6th
Pattavia.
1st Michael Brett (15) 40 points
2nd les Humphrey (34) 35 points
3rd Kevin LaBar (16) 32) points
Near pins. Jon Dean & Michael Brett
A sweltering hot day with humidity in the extreme without a breath of wind made for tough conditions at Pattavia today. The course was in surprisingly good condition for this time of year although the greens which had been heavily watered and not mowed were surprisingly slow.
The course was virtually empty, we could not see anybody else on most holes so a nice quick round was had.
In rare form with the putter Michael Brett took first place with forty points, probably his best score at this course ever. Les Humphrey took second with thirty-five points, a big improvement on his Monday score, while Kevin LaBar on what is virtually his home course took third with thirty-two. Disappointingly, only two near pins were taken going to Jon Dean and Michael Brett. There was a real scramble for the first on hole four with four people within realistic birdie distance, it was uncanny to watch with each player getting slightly closer than the previous player.
Rain threatened all day but we managed to get in before it hit the course when we were on our way back to Pattaya.
Friday, May 8th
Pattana A & C
1st Michael Brett (15) 36 points
2nd Jon Dean (17) 35 points
3rd Les Cobban (10) 35 points.
Near pins Kevin LaBar, Jon Dean, Rob Folland, & Mick McMahon.
The weather gods smiled upon us today at Pattana, within minutes of finishing our round and going into the clubhouse the sky went black, the wind started howling, and torrential rain swept across the course, as they say “lucks a fortune”.We began our round on the A nine and very quickly thought that we should be using pick, clean, and place, fortunately the remaining holes were much drier so in the end it was the right decision. Prior to the rain the temperature was again high with high humidity.
In a rare run of good form Michael Brett made it three in a row today with a bit of a scratchy thirty-six points. Jon Dean edged out Les Cobban from second on countback, both had eighteen and seventeen per nine, fortunately for Jon he got them in the right order. The near pins were shared around as listed.
Today a slim svelte Frank Dartford graced us with his presence , a first time this year, perhaps now we will see more of him now that there is less of him to see.
Three time winner this week Michael Brett.
