SPORTS

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SPORTS

WKD Tuesday Darts League

Results & Standings Oct. 8 (week 22)

Team P W L B/legs Pts.

I-Rovers 22 20 2 15 40

Londoner 22 19 3 16 38

Mee Chew Sports Bar 22 17 5 15 34

Buffalo Jack’s 22 15 7 14 30

Shoot Pool Roxy 22 14 8 14 28

W. Tankies 22 14 8 9 28

Crazy Eddies 22 11 11 12 22

Jantha Coffee House 22 10 12 11 20

Shoot Pool 22 8 14 11 16

Mai’s Bar 22 7 15 10 14

Yates Bar 22 7 15 8 14

Nervous Wreck 22 6 16 10 12

Scandalic 22 3 19 8 6

Cum On Inn 22 3 19 1 6

Results: Cum On Inn (1-0)-(8-1) v Crazy Eddies, Londoner (4-0)-(12-1) v I-Rovers, Mai’s Bar (4-1)-(6-0) v W. Tankies, Mee Chew Sports Bar (7-1)-(6-0) v Buffalo Jack’s, Nervous Wreck (7-0)-(2-1) v Yates Bar, Scandalic (5-1)-(7-0) v Shoot Pool, Shoot Pool Roxy (3-1)-(6-0) v Jantha Coffee House

Crumpton Oaks Dry Cider Wednesday Darts League

Results & Standings Oct. 9 (week 9)

Team P W L Bonus Diff. Pts.

Mee Chew Sports Bar 9 9 0 7 41 18

Legends Sports Bar 8 5 3 4 14 10

Jantha Coffee House 9 5 4 7 11 10

W. Tankies 8 5 3 3 8 10

I-Rovers A 9 5 4 7 5 10

I-Rovers B 9 3 6 5 -19 6

Yates Bar 9 2 7 0 -19 4

Mai’s Bar 9 1 8 2 -41 2

Results: I-Rovers B (1-1)-(8-0) v W. Tankies, Jantha Coffee House (7-1)-(2-0) v Mai’s Bar, Legends Pool & Sports Bar (4-0)-(5-1) v I-Rovers A, Mee Chew Sports Bar (7-1)-(2-0) v Yates Bar

British Bar Snacks Friday Pool League

Results & Standings Oct. 4 (week 7)

Division 1

Team P W L +/- BP Pts

Shoot Pool ‘A’ 6 4 2 18 1 13

Pook’s Bar 6 4 2 5 0 12

Easy R-Con Bar 6 4 2 5 0 12

Mata Bar 7 3 4 2 1 10

Legends Pool 6 3 3 2 1 10

Acorn Pub 7 3 4 -15 1 10

Links Bar 5 3 2 -2 0 9

The Butchers Arms 5 3 2 -2 0 9

Sweethearts Bar 6 0 6 -13 2 2

Results: Mata Bar 8 v 10 Links Bar, Pook’s Bar 10 v 9 Legends Pool, Shoot Pool ‘A’ 10 v 3 Easy R-Con Bar, Sweethearts Bar 9 v 10 Acorn Pub

Division 2

Team P W L +/- BP Pts

Shoot Pool ‘B’ 6 5 1 20 1 16

Smile Bar 6 5 1 15 0 15

Old Thai Angle 6 5 1 12 0 15

FCUK Inn 6 3 3 -6 1 10

Dean’s Bar 6 3 3 5 0 9

Crazy Eddie’s 7 2 5 -10 1 7

Tie’s RUs 6 2 4 -8 0 6

Offshore Bar 7 2 5 -17 0 6

I-Rovers 6 1 5 -11 0 3

Results: Offshore Bar 10 v 7 I-Rovers, Old Thai Angle 10 v 4 FCUK Inn, Shoot Pool ‘B’ 10 v 7 Dean’s Bar, Smile Bar 10 v 2 Crazy Eddie’s

Division 3

Team P W L +/- BP Pts

The Stag’s Head 6 6 0 32 0 18

Buffalo Jacks 7 4 3 9 1 13

The Rest Stop 6 4 2 15 0 12

Mai’s Bar 5 4 1 9 0 12

Rabbi’s Elephant 6 3 3 -2 0 9

Wet Bar 5 2 3 -6 0 6

The Queen Vic 7 2 5 -18 0 6

The Ranch 4 1 3 -6 0 3

Connections 6 0 6 -33 0 0

Results: The Queen Vic 3 v 10 Rabbi’s Elephant, The Stag’s Head 10 v 3 Connections, Wet Bar 4 v 10 Buffalo Jacks

Pattaya Sports Club Bowling League

Results & Standinghs Oct. 11 (week 9)

200 Bowler: Kran Nielsen.

Tea Party moved up from second to first place after winning all four points from Indiana. Aht Johansson was best in this match with a 501 series.
Brother D fell from first to second place after splitting their match with Café Kronborg with each team getting two points. David Shaw bowled a 532 series and Antero Ronkainen had a 516 for Brother D. Kran Nielsen bowled a 202 game and 519 series for Kronborg.
Green Tree took all four points in their match against Bavaria and moved from fifth to third place. Jang Shaw bowled a 521 series, Noodle Russell a 506 and Wade Meyers a 500 for Green Tree. Bavaria dropped from fifth to sixth place.
Dave Dolle bowled a 527 series to lead Canada to a three point win over VFW Post 9876. VFW dropped from third to fifth place.

Results & Standinghs Oct. 11 (week 9)

Pos. Team Score Standings

2 Tea Party 4 - 0 23 – 13

1 Brother D 2-2 21 - 15

5 Green Tree 4 - 0 20 - 16

4 Canada 3-1 20 - 16

3 VFW Post 9876 1-3 19 - 17

6 Bavaria 0 - 4 16 – 20

7 Indiana 0 – 4 12.5 – 23.5

8 Café Kronborg 2 – 2 12.5 – 23.5

Crumpton Oaks Cider Monday Pool League

Results & Standings Oct. 7 (week 9)

Division 1

Team P W L +/- BP Pts.

The Butchers Arms 9 8 1 28 0 24

Shoot Pool 7 6 1 14 0 18

I-Rovers 8 4 4 8 1 13

Smile Bar 7 4 3 3 1 13

Links Bar 9 4 5 -2 1 13

Legends Pool 7 4 3 3 0 12

Sweethearts Bar 7 2 5 -10 3 9

Nicky’s Bar 7 3 4 -18 0 9

Acorn Pub 7 1 6 -12 2 5

Pook’s Bar 6 1 5 -14 0 3

Results: I-Rovers 6 v 10 Acorn Pub, Shoot Pool 10 v 6 Pook’s Bar, Smile Bar 8 v 10 Nicky’s Bar, Sweethearts Bar 9 v 10 Links Bar, The Butchers Arms 10 v 6 Legends Pool

Division 2

Team P W L +/- BP Pts.

Easy R-Con Bar 8 7 1 36 0 21

Shoot Pool ‘B’ 8 7 1 29 0 21

Offshore Bar 8 6 2 19 1 19

Cheers Bar 8 5 3 7 0 15

The Caddyshack 7 4 3 11 2 14

Mai’s Bar 8 3 5 -4 0 9

Dean’s Bar 9 3 6 -12 0 9

Rabbi’s Elephant 8 3 5 -21 0 9

Wet Bar 7 1 6 -24 0 3

Wombat Bar 9 1 8 -41 0 3

Results: Offshore Bar 10 v 5 Mai’s Bar, Rabbi’s Elephant 1 v 10 Easy R-Con Bar, The Caddyshack 10 v 8 Dean’s Bar, Wet Bar 1 v 10 Cheers Bar, Wombat Bar 1 v 10 Shoot Pool ‘B’

Legends Wednesday 9-Ball Pool League

Results & Standings Oct. 9 (week 16)

Team P W D L +/- Pts.

Easy R-Con Bar 14 11 0 3 40 33

Mata Bar 14 10 2 2 70 32

Shoot Pool 14 9 3 2 56 30

Links Bar 14 9 3 2 48 30

Pook’s Bar 16 9 2 5 36 29

Legends Pool 14 9 1 4 30 28

George & Dragon 15 4 2 9 -40 14

FCUK Inn 15 3 3 9 -40 12

Legends All-Stars 12 3 3 6 -42 12

Buffalo Jacks 14 1 6 7 -34 9

Queen Vic 14 2 2 10 -48 8

Wet Bar 16 1 3 12 -76 6

Results: FCUK Inn 11 v 9 Pook’s Bar, George & Dragon 10 v 10 Buffalo Jacks, Legends Pool 15 v 5 Queen Vic, Links Bar 12 v 8 Shoot Pool, Mata Bar 15 v 5 Legends All-Stars, Wet Bar 6 v 14 Easy R-Con Bar

Beware the wounded golfer

PSC golf from The Growling Swan

Dick Braimbridge, Niall Stuart & Peter Blackburn.

Peter Blackburn
Monday, Oct. 7, Mountain Shadow – Stableford
It had been raining constantly all weekend and as I arrived at The Growling Swan it was still bucketing it down so things were not looking good. It wasn’t long before the phone calls started coming and the day’s golf came very close to being cancelled, but the determination & resolve of the 9 “true” golfers that had braved the rain to assemble at the bar prompted me to take a vote and it was unanimous – “let’s go to Mountain Shadow and check it out”.
I personally was especially keen to play as I had been out for 2 weeks with a “crook” leg so we sent 1 of the 2 mini vans home and proceeded up No. 7 in fairly steady rain, which abated when we were about half way there. It was a slower than normal journey because of the wet roads and heavy traffic but we arrived at the course 50 minutes later and as we arrived there were several caddies jumping up and down, obviously delighted at the prospect of earning some money because we were soon to find out that at that point we were the only ones there to play golf.
There were 10 of us (9 in the mini van & Ebrahim who drove there) so it was 2 three-balls followed by 1 four-ball and as our first group hit off at 9.55 am we were surprised to see that the course appeared to have stood up to the rain extremely well. The golf course was indeed in very good “nick” considering the huge recent rainfall and we found it wet in parts but perfectly playable with the greens in immaculate condition.

John Anderson & Peter Blackburn.

We did get a bit of rain during our round of three hours & forty five minutes but were very thankful that we had made the decision to make the trip as we love our golf and once more the “Growling Swan Rain Gods” had shone down on us! Many thanks to all who showed up and I’m please that they were rewarded with an uninterrupted round of golf.
Due to the low numbers we had just the one grade with 4 places. There were also rewards for nearest the pins on the par-three 5th and the par-three 17th and longest first putt on the18th green.
Your writer, Peter “Blacky” Blackburn was ecstatic at finding a bit of form after a two week layoff and managed to win the day with a score of 37 points, 2 points ahead of Brad “Bad” Todd in second spot. A count back was required to determine third & fourth with 2 players on 32 points and it was Ebrahim (15 point back nine & 10 points on the last 6 holes) who took third from Mike “Hunter” Gosden (15 point back nine & 8 points on the last 6 holes) in fourth place.
1st Peter Blackburn (11) 37pts
2nd Brad Todd (19) 35pts
3rd Ebrahim (17) 32pts
4th Mike Gosden (13) 32pts
Near Pins: 5th – John Anderson
Long Putts: 18th – Peter Blackburn
The Growling Swan NAGA Award, (awarded to the golfer who has the worst score on the day and discreetly their score is not made public) was won by newcomer John Anderson and he accepted the award in very good spirit. Max then kindly paraded Deefa the Dog and of course collected many donations for the needy in Pattaya from our generous Growling Swan golfers.
Thursday, Oct. 10, Pleasant Valley – Stableford
The rain had ceased and it was a fine & sunny Pattaya Thursday morning as we made our way to The Growling Swan to prepare for our journey to the picturesque Pleasant Valley Golf Course. Three late inclusions boosted our numbers to 22 and we welcomed Ernie Picken from Melbourne and Ed Wyckoff, formerly from Texas, USA but now residing in Pattaya.
Everyone showed up early so we were able to leave the GS in 2 mini vans five minutes ahead of our scheduled 8.30 am departure time and we arrived at the golf course just 41 minutes later. It was fairly quiet but as the green keeping staff were doing work on hole number 2 we were asked to tee off at hole number 10 which whilst not my favorite way of commencing a round of golf at least we were able to send our first four-ball away 20 minutes early at 9.40 am.
No carts were allowed on the fairways so preferred lies were in place and understandably the course was very wet in parts but no big deal – it was just great to be out playing golf! The greens were fairly ordinary I must say with many of them not having a lot of grass but of course we learn to live with this and it’s the same for everyone.
The weather was fine and at times quite hot and humid with dark clouds overhead and thunder being heard when we only had 2 holes to play but as usual it was a false alarm and the rain stayed away. The round was a fairly quick one, four hours & ten minutes and the excellent company made it a very enjoyable day.
We had 2 Divisions – Division A for handicaps 0 to 18 and Division B for handicaps 19 & over with 4 places in each Division. There were also rewards for nearest the pins on the four par threes and longest first putts on the 9th & 18th greens.
In Division A there were 3 golfers with 34 points so a count back was required which saw your writer, Peter “Blacky” Blackburn (18 point back nine) make it two in a row from Mike Allidi (17 point back nine) in second place and Takeshi Hakozaki (16 point back nine) finished third. Alain “Inspector Clouseau” Taddei was fourth with 33 points.
Dick “Reverend” Braimbridge (21 point back nine) took out the Division B first prize with 35 points on a count back from John Davis (16 point back nine) in second place. Brad “Bad” Todd took out third place with 32 points and in another count back with 2 people on 30 points it was Sandy “Cindy Lauper” Leiper (21 point back nine) who claimed fourth spot from Fred Dineley (16 point back nine) who just missed out.
Div. A (0-18)
1st Peter Blackburn (11) 34pts
2nd Mike Allidi (2) 34pts
3rd Takeshi Hakozaki (11) 34pts
4th Alain Taddei (16) 33pts
Div. B (19+)
1st Dick Braimbridge (36) 35pts
2nd John Davis (22) 35pts
3rd Brad Todd (19) 32pts
4th Sandy Leiper (35) 30pts
Near Pins: 5th – Takeshi Hakozaki, 8th – Takeshi Hakozaki, 13th – Takeshi Hakozaki, 17th - Mike Allidi
Long Putts: 9th – Mark West, 18th – Mike Allidi
The Growling Swan NAGA Award was once again won by Niall Stuart and he accepted the award in good spirit.
Note: Growling Swan Golf welcomes golfers of any persuasion – low & high handicappers alike, female golfers and beginners. We generally play Mondays & Thursdays, meeting at The Growling Swan (formerly The Bunker Bar) in Soi Chaiyapoon at 8.00 am with transport departing at 8.30 am. For bookings or more information please contact Peter on 0806 351 386 or email to [email protected].
We also play bowls out of the Growling Swan every Wednesday and Sunday. Sunday is Lawn Bowls and Wednesday is Indoor Bowls. All are welcome and for anyone that is interested the transport leaves The Growling Swan at 10.00am on each of those mornings. For more information please contact Paul Rennison on 0843 454 005.

John Kepplers Cider Pool League

Results & Standings Oct. 10

Team Pts. For Against Diff.

Brasshouse 69 234 169 65

Panitas 63 225 178 47

Ice Bar 57 206 197 9

Barking Frog 48 217 186 31

Smarty’s 45 194 209 -15

Siam Country Res 42 203 200 3

Pats Bar 36 200 203 -3

Lucky Bar 33 171 232 -61

Sweet Dream 30 174 229 -55

Happy Day 6 60 109 -49

Results: Panitas 8 v 5 Smarty’s, Ice Bar 7 v 6 Pats Bar, Siam Country Res 6 v 7 Brasshouse, Sweet Dream 7 v 6 Happy Day, Barking Frog 8 v 5 Lucky Bar.

Pattaya 8-Ball Monday Pool League

Results & Standings Oct. 7 (week 5)

Team Played Won Lost For Agst Diff. Pts.

Phimai Geordie 5 5 0 50 25 25 15

Crazy Eddie’s 5 4 1 45 30 15 13

Shoot Pool 5 4 1 44 31 13 13

San Snack Bar 5 3 2 46 29 17 11

Mata Bar 5 3 2 44 31 13 11

The Rest Stop 5 3 2 44 31 13 11

Buffalo Jack’s 5 3 2 37 38 -1 11

Cum On Inn 5 2 3 32 43 -11 9

Rising Sun 5 1 4 31 44 -13 7

Mee Chew 5 1 4 28 47 -19 7

Connections 4 0 4 18 42 -24 4

Parrot Inn 4 0 4 16 44 -28 4

Results: Rising Sun 5 v 10 Crazy Eddie’s, San Snack Bar 7 v 8 Phimai Geordie, Connections 5 v 10 Cum On Inn, Shoot Pool 10 v 5 Parrot Inn, Buffalo Jack’s 8 v 7 The Rest Stop, Mata Bar 11 v 4 Mee Chew

Rain stops play

PSC golf Bunker Boys @ The Ranch

Monday, Oct. 7, Eastern Star – Stableford
The week long downpour in Pattaya continued as a small group of die hard golfers assembled at The Ranch for the scheduled visit to Ban Chang. The prospects for a decent game looked almost zero as we made the trip down the Sukhumvit Road, through two torrential downpours, and it was still raining heavily when we arrived at the course.

Gordon Melia.

Only four other golfers had signed in on the course before us, and we decided to wait in the clubhouse over a cup of coffee, to see if the rain would stop. Eventually, an hour after our scheduled tee time, no other players had ventured on to the course, but we decided to take the plunge (literally!) and teed off in steady drizzle.
The fairways were totally saturated, but amazingly the greens were draining superbly, and were actually in better condition than on our last visit in dry weather! After nine extremely soggy holes we decided that enough was enough, and played the tenth and eighteenth holes before returning to the clubhouse for a very welcome warm shower.
This is the first time in more than ten year’s history of the Bunker Boy’s society, that we’ve been forced to cancel two consecutive competitions, and we could only hope that the weather conditions would improve in the next couple of days.
Wednesday, Oct. 9, Pleasant Valley – Stableford
There was a mood of optimism over breakfast at The Ranch today, when after days of heavy rain, causing the cancellation of our last two competitions, the morning was bright and sunny. It’s fair to say that Pleasant Valley isn’t the most popular course on our schedule, but today everyone was keen to get back on a golf course, wherever it might be, and even long term critic Gordon Melia put aside his disapproval of the course and turned out for a rare visit.
We teed off on schedule, but it was obvious from the first hole that the course had suffered from the recent deluges, and the fairways were still soggy, although playable. The greens had also suffered from the constant rain and indeed the damage looks serious, but hopefully they will recover when the dry weather returns.
All in all conditions were far from ideal, particularly when the ball strayed into the uncut rough, but at least the sun was shining and even when we had a ten minute shower of rain as the leading group reached the fourteenth hole, it didn’t detract from the pleasure of being back out on a golf course again.
Scores were never going to be good, but Tony Robbins managed to hold his game together, and came home one point clear of Neil Hurst, with newcomer Andy Brady a further point back taking third place.
Near pins went to Andy Brady, Geoff Parker, Steve Durey and Reg Smart.
1st Tony Robbins (14) 33pts
2nd Neil Hurst (12) 32pts
3rd Andy Brady (18) 31pts
Friday, Oct. 11, Greenwood C & A – Stableford
Fourteen golfers assembled at The Ranch for our trip to Greenwood on another bright and sunny morning. When we arrived at the course, the clubhouse was quiet, and we were able to tee off at our leisure with no groups in sight ahead of us.
The course was in fine condition and had dried out surprisingly well from the recent downpours, the only problem being some patches on the fairways were an overeager mower had left deep tyre treads in the damp areas.
Andy Brady was playing only his third game with the Bunker Boys, but was the only player to play to his handicap on the day, to take the winner’s prize. Duncan Lee (20 points on the back nine) took second place on a count back ahead of Peter Habgood.
There are two long par threes on this combination of courses and no one managed to hit the green on either, with Gordon Melia taking the only near pin prize and thereby scooping the pot on the 6th hole of the C course, narrowly beating Geoff Parker by a couple of inches (or maybe a tad more!). Gordon generously shared his good fortune by providing liquid refreshments for his fellow golfers following the presentation back at The Ranch.
1st Andy Brady (18) 36pts
2nd Duncan Lee (14) 35pts
3rd Peter Habgood (18) 35pts
Note: The Bunker Boys play out of The Ranch bar on Pattaya 3rd Road (in front of the fire station, and almost opposite the Buffalo Bar). We play three times per week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so if you enjoy a fun day out, and a friendly but competitive golf competition why not come and join us.
We meet at The Ranch at 9 a.m. for breakfast and transportation, and new players are always welcome. Contact “Buff” on 086 046 5091 or 080 605 5663 for all enquiries. You can find all the news, schedules and results on our website at www. bunkersociety.com.
The 8th Annual John Preddy Memorial Charity Golf Tournament will be held on the 22nd November 2013 at Crystal Bay Golf Club. Full details to follow in the coming weeks, players and sponsors may contact Buff on the numbers above.

Owen way out in front (again)

PSC golf from Siam Country Resort

Owen Walkley & Willem Lasonder.

Tuesday, Oct. 8, Bangpra - Stableford
First to Tuesday when we again accepted the generosity of Tropical Bert’s to share their monthly booking at Bangpra, the last for this year’s Low Season. Conditions were not great, to say the least, with the course close to sodden, but the rain held off and we sloshed our way round under clear skies.
Playing ‘lift, clean & place’ did not fully compensate for the conditions, with good scores thin on the ground. Joop (H/cap 32) led the way home with 32 points, ahead of Martin Hayes (13) with 29 hard earned points. Near pins went to Martin, Jeff & Hidde with 2.
Thursday, Oct. 10, Greenwood - Stableford
As the headline suggests Owen Walkley (H/cap 14) was again out on his own, 7 points clear of the next best at Greenwood, where we played the C & A combination from the white tees.
After a couple of rain free days, Greenwood was in markedly better condition, dampness wise, than Tuesday’s venue. ‘Lift, clean & place’ was still the order of the day, with the occasional casual water drop required, but another week or so of no rain and we should be back to playing the ball as it lies.
In second spot today with a more realistic score of 36 points was Willem Lasonder (21) and he played well to compile that score ahead of several players in the mid 30s.
Near pins were spread around between Jeff, Hidde, Owen & Neil.
Note: Siam Country Resort, Restaurant & Bar is located just off Siam Country Club Rd, after going under the arch past the 7/11, turn right after 50 metres, with the venue on the left another 200 metres along. Golf from here is generally played on Tuesday & Thursday, with the Resort hosting prompt presentations on both days. As a PSC affiliated venue we welcome ALL golfers, including ladies & seniors who have opted for the “Silver” tee option. Call 089 094 1841 for scheduling or enquiries. Hope to see you there, cheers & good golfing!

Wayne wins bragging rights in Chiang Rai

PSC golf from The Outback Golf Bar

(From the left): Muzza, Tim, Wayne and Rosco.

Monday, Oct. 7, Burapha - Stableford
Today was supposed to be Andy Butterworth’s B’day Bash but the weather continued to have other ideas about any of us enjoying golf for the time-being, with another serious overnight deluge which continued well into the morning. So the majority of players decided to withdraw (and nobody could really blame them for that) but eleven intrepid golfers decided to give it a whirl, playing the A and B nines from the whites. As it happened the rain turned to light intermittent rain and on a couple of holes, the sun even tried to come out but with lift clean and place through the greens, the lies were still very difficult.
Under the conditions, John Stafford had a great score of 37pts to win from Gordon Clegg (36pts) with Greg Hill back in third on 33. Andy kindly left the four nearest pins in place; two were won by Greg Hill with Craig Meiklejohn and John Stafford getting the other two. Greg Hill topped a great day by having the only ‘2’.
1st John Stafford (15) 37pts
2nd Gordon Clegg (28) 36pts
3rd Greg Hill (20) 33pts
Wednesday, Oct. 9, The Emerald – Stableford
19 Outbackers returned to Emerald today, after a couple of month’s absence; one to see if the condition of the course had improved and two, to try to get away from this persistent rain.

Rod Crosswell.

The first group got away at 9:20 with a very black sky overhead and it didn’t take long after a few gentle spots for the heavens to open yet again. The five groups had all teed off by this time and the last group had nearly completed the first hole when we all decided to return to the clubhouse to wait the rain out.
After an hour we ventured out again to a very wet course but after a few holes the course started to drain just fine and the game was on. There were still few bits of GUR but those areas should be gone in about 4 weeks time, when we shall return.
Welcome back to Ian Ashenden who joined us today to win Div A playing off scratch with a very fine 70 gross (38pts), from John Greenhalgh on 37.
Div B didn’t score quite so well as Gordon Clegg (28) took the win with 35pts from Tony Louch in second with 30.
Div. 1
1st Ian Ashenden (0) 38pts
2nd John Greenhalgh (14) 37pts
Div. 2
1st Gordon Clegg (28) 35pts
2nd Tony Louch (21) 30pts
Friday, Oct. 11, Green Valley – Stableford
Considering that there a good many absentees due to the Chiang Rai/Mai tour, an excellent turnout of 31 Outbackers played today at Green Valley with blue skies making a change from the last couple weeks of heavy down pours.
Today’s competition was kindly sponsored by Andy Butterworth, whose birthday was the previous Monday when the comp was cancelled due to rain.
The course was a bit soggy underfoot in certain parts and some of the greens were a bit scabby, largely due to the bad weather we have had; but all in all the course played well.

John O’Connor.

The scoring was amazingly good, particularly from the many members who now play here regularly, but it was outsider John Greenhalgh who was the overall winner with an excellent 40pts, to follow up his 37pts (2nd place) on Wednesday at Emerald.
Paul Greenway won Div A with 38pts, beating John O’Keefe on c/b and Bruce Milner won Div B, also with 38. Welcome back to John Dearden, who took second, heading a three way count back on 34.
Thanks to Andy for food provided back at the Outback Bar after the game and for some more near pin vouchers which went to Paul Greenaway (4th & 9th), Sel Wegner (12th) and Keith Allen (16th).
There were four ‘2’s from Paul Bourke & Paul Greenaway (4th) and Paul Bourke & John O’Keefe (12th).
Overall
1st John Greenhalgh (14) 40pts
Div.1
1st Paul Greenaway (9) 38pts
2nd John O’keefe (14) 38pts
3rd Paul Bourke (9) 37pts
4th Dennis Pelly (9) 35pts
Div. 2
1st Bruce Milner (17) 38pts
2nd John Dearden (22) 34pts
3rd Mark Kembrey (18) 34pts
4th Ken Hole (17) 34pts
Thursday, Oct. 10, Santiburi G.C. – Stableford
Leaving the hotel in Chiang Rai at 8.30am, Santiburi is perhaps no more that 25 minutes away and upon our arrival the course looked absolutely stunning as usual, with a quite a heavy dew on the grass and the greens just recently swept clear. Everything looked set for a great day out and as seems to be the norm when we come here, we had the golf course to ourselves, true millionaire’s golf. The most incredible value for money and where else can you can still get two beers, a water and change from 100 baht; please don’t ever change it Mr. Singha! A wonderful course and great hospitality.
The Aussie visitors stole the first day, playing from a short white tee box, as John O’Connor and Wayne Waywood headed the field both with 41pts. Our own Muzza & Rosco matched the same score to take third and fourth place and another visitor, Anton Rowbottam (37pts) took the final podium place, seeing off three other players with the same score, in the process.
There were two ‘2’s from Wayne Waywood and John O’Connor.
1st John O’Connor (17) 41pts
2nd Wayne Waywood (16) 41pts
3rd Murray Hart (14) 41pts
4th Rosco Langoulant (13) 41pts
5th Anton Rowbottam (17) 37pts
Friday, Oct. 11, Happy City Golf Resort – Stableford
Happy City Golf Resort covers an enormous amount of real estate, with a unique 29 holes (the owners claim the only 29-hole course in the world) but it might be a little harsh to say that’s likely to be their only claim to fame.
Built with Korean money, there are basically three nines – two of which (A & B) have 10 holes and at any one time the management will rest a hole to carry out maintenance work. In theory a great idea but a little confusing when it comes to working out stroke index for the each hole; today the toughest hole was omitted, so being the nine with the odd indexes, 3 became 1, and 5 became 3 and so on. Our back nine was the C loop, which has the more conventional nine holes, indexed from 1 to 9, so you just had to double them! Confused - Easy really!
The course is still new and is fairly open and mainly lies on flat ground with an abundance of water hazards which apparently overflowed their banks a couple of months ago and the whole place was underwater. The residual effect is still to be seen where grass hasn’t regrown properly and the rough on the C loop in particular, was very wet.
Work on the resort accommodation which consists of three large condominium blocks, seems to be virtually non-existent and one wonders if the developers have bitten off a little more than they can chew. The Clubhouse isn’t finished either and the building attached to the two tier driving range is being used as the changing rooms, pro-shop and restaurant; all of which were adequate even if the food was slow coming out.
Generally the course was well favoured by the group as Rod Crosswell found himself at the top of the stack with an excellent 38pts, followed home by Tim Knight (37) who appears to be finding his form up here and the ever consistent, Wayne Waywood was third also with 37, losing on c/b. Rosco fought back well after a poor start to take fourth beating our organiser for Chiang Rai, Steve Mann also on c/b both with 34.
There were two more ‘2’s today from Stefan Hoge & General Jack.
1st Rod Crosswell (14) 38pts
2nd Tim Knight (24) 37pts
3rd Wayne Waywood (16) 37pts
4th Rosco Langoulant (13) 34pts
5th Stephen Mann (11) 34pts
Saturday, Oct. 12, Santiburi G.C. – Stableford
Our last day in Chiang Rai we were back on Santiburi, still bathed in sunshine and for a Saturday, just unbelievably virtually empty, which enabled us to tee off early which in turn meant that with any luck, we could arrive in Chiang Mai in daylight. There was a vote taken on Thursday whether to play the white tees again of play the longer blues, the blues got the vote – on the way to the course we had another vote and still the blues won.
Going out in reverse order, Brett, Bob St., Ron & Johannes led the way with the leaders, Muzza, Rosco, Tim and Wayne going out last. The course was appreciably longer but the scoring, although not as high as from the shorter whites, still remained very acceptable with a very surprising name at the top, that of the General with 37pts, beating Anton on count back. It came as a big surprise as Jack rarely plays and certainly not three days in a row and even more so after wiping the first and third hole, after which he said – whose bright idea was it to play from the blues?
Pat Quinlivan had his elbow all strapped up, suffering from gout or was it an illegal aid to help keep his arm straight – whichever it was, he beating travelling companion Tony Pieroni on c/b, both with 36.
Congratulations to Wayne Waywood for winning the overall comp with a total of 112pts with Rosco two points back on 110. Five further back was Tim Knight, who had a good week with Muzza in fourth on 104 and Shane & Jack sharing fifth with 103.
There were four more ‘2’s from Murray Hart, Pat Quinlivan & Bob St. Aubin (12th) and Pat got another on the 17th, bringing the total in Chiang Rai to eight.
1st Jack Moseley (20) 37pts
2nd Anton Rowbottam (17) 37pts
3rd Pat Quinlivan (15) 36pts
4th Tony Pieroni (17) 36pts
5th Rosco Langoulant (13) 35pts
Overall
1st Wayne Waywood 112pts
2nd Rosco Langoulant 110pts
3rd Tim Knight 105pts
4th Murray Hart 104pts
T5th Shane Crane 103pts
T5th Jack Moseley 103pts
Note: The Outback Golf Bar is situated about 6km from Sukhumvit Road along Soi Siam Country. Call Jack on 081 578 1956.

Tough going at Bangpra

PSC golf from Tropical Bert’s

Derek Brook
Tuesday, Oct. 8, Bangpra – Stableford
Just been to England, flew into Manchester, and guess what? It was raining! However, after a day or so it cleared up and was quite good until last Thursday when it really started to throw it down, so the drive to Manchester was in pouring rain, worrying about reports of traffic accidents. No problem, onto the plane, wellies and raincoat off and back to ‘Sunny’ Thailand. Wow, plane landed and back on came the raingear. Felt just like home.

Takeshi Hakozaki with Sunny Khanna.

I feel like I should have webbed feet, and the start of the day at Bert’s just carried on with the rain and cold soaking in, with many players not playing but a fair few misguided ‘Golf Nuts’ turning up. So it was into the transport and off to Bangpra with the hope that the course was playable and it would not rain. Well, the ducks were out when we got there and at times I wished we had their webbed feet.
The course was wet, and as we walked up the first (no carts allowed on the fairways today) it was noticeable the clouds were out and the ground sodden. It was really hard work and I felt this is one of those days to be at work and not on the golf course. Something else out were the monkeys and the first few holes were covered in them, dozens, and I left my caddie by the cart to stop them invading it. They really did not go away all the round, the rain has seemingly brought then all out, and there are some big males amongst them, so be careful.
As said, at times the fairways were very wet indeed, and the walkers got very tired as we went around, those in carts also struggled, especially the right-handers who sliced. However the greens at least were playable and at times if you got above the hole it became as per usual here, very fast.
However a very tired lot of golfers finished and after changing went up to the restaurant. Then it rained, and I mean poured it down. The water off the roof came down in torrents and all the drivers decided to have a break until the rain stopped. But for a long time it did not stop, indeed when we went to the cars the drivers had to take an umbrella in the rain and drive the cars round to the entrance, which was still wet.

Guilan Liu and Barry Oates.

The drive back was not nice, but when we arrived in Pattaya we found it had not rained there. Oh joy, the rain was following us.
Time for the results and the winner with 34 points was Takeshi Hakozaki ahead of Sunny Khanna with 32. We then had a count back on 31 points that saw Walter Baechli in third and Brian Parish in fourth.
Near Pins went to Derek Brook, Landis Brooks (2) and Mikita Homma
Friday, Oct. 11, The Emerald – Stableford
It is difficult at the present time to set off to any golf venue and find a rain free day and a course that you do not have to spend time avoiding the soggy ground and in some cases the pools of water. As the golfers met at Bert’s the hope was that this day would turn out fine.
Soon away, the drive down to Emerald was not too bad and we were soon on the first tee. The sky looked promising but who knows these days. As we went around we found the course in quite reasonable condition with only a few fairways that showed signs of soggy areas. Some of the fairways were under repair but were well marked with ‘GUR’. All in all the course presented no major problems due to the rain of late.
The round finished without any rain and at this time that is very good for the golfers, but even so the course presented its normal test with raised narrow greens and fairways you have to be lucky on to get a level lie. Still this is a course most of the golfers feel at home on as they play it quite often.
Soon back at Bert’s and dry, it was time for the results. In the A Flight the winner was Guilan Liu with 38 points and visiting from somewhere hot and sandy. In second was Alan Sullivan with 36 points and in third was Tom Herrington with 35.
In the B Flight Barry Oates took the honours again with 41 points, ahead of Max Bracegirdle with 37 and in third was Walter Baechli with 36 points.
Near pins were claimed by Tom Herrington, Brian Parish, Barry Oates, Barry Elphick.
We thank Bert and Pu for as usual looking after the golfers so well. T.T.F.N.

‘Golden Eagle’ lands the title spot

PSC golf from Café Kronborg

Thursday, Oct. 10, Mountain Shadow – Stableford
A Flight (0-17)
1st Guilan Liu (15) 39pts
2nd Oddur Olafsson (14) 37pts
3rd Ganbaatar (16) 33pts
B Flight (18+)
1st Gordon Clegg (28) 38pts
2nd Jan Lovgreen (20) 32pts
3rd Elias Magnusson (19) 32pts
It was a glorious sunny day for the game today at Mountain Shadow and a quick check-in saw us off the first tee 35 minutes. The course was in fine condition and drying out fast, even giving us some run and roll.
We had a fast round of 4 hours and back in the clubhouse a welcome went out to Ganbaatar, a Mongolian native and an airbus A300 captain for Kuwait Air.
Two flights today with the cut at handicap 17 and our only lady player, Guilan Liu, won the A flight with a great 39 points. Oddur Olafsson took second place with 37 points and Ganbaatar was third with 33.
Gordon Clegg topped the B Flight with a good 38 points to finish ahead of Jan Lovegreen in second and Elias Magnusson third.

‘Golden Eagle’ lands the title spot

PSC Golf from Lewiinski’s Golf Society

Sunday, Oct. 6, Green Valley – Stableford
A Flight
1st Mark Wood (8) 35pts
2nd Thierry Petrement (13) 34pts
3rd Bruce Anderson (9) 34pts
B Flight
1st Eddy Beilby (36) 44pts
2nd David Foulk (19) 35pts
3rd Don Lehmer (20) 35pts
Near Pins: No 4 Nick Shaw, No 9 J P Maffray, No 12 Claude Harder, No 16 Peter Henshaw.

Eddy ‘the Eagle’ Beilby.

The dominance that Eddy ‘the Eagle’ Beilby exhibited at Green Valley today and in keeping with his fine form of late was made clearer with a review of the balance of B Flight which showed David Foulk, Don ‘the ladies man’ Lehmer and Jez ‘the principal’ Lees a non threatening nine shots back in a count back, with the scales tipping in David and Don’s favour and in that order of accent up the podium steps. Jez just kind of disappeared.
Aberdeen’s favourite son Mark Wood upheld the honour of A Flight with a steady 35 points, which placed him one clear of five players; Thierry Petrement, Bruce Anderson, Norman ‘I never’ Cheetham, Bob StAubin and Jimmy ‘A-K-47’ Bell. The resulting count back placed Thierry second and Bruce third, with Norman, Bob and Jim set of to find Jez.
Nick Shaw, Claude Harder, Ed Wyckoff, Eddy Beilby and Tony Pietroni shared the 2’s pot.
Tuesday, Oct. 8, Laem Chabang C & A - Stableford
A Flight
1st John Pierell (10) 37pts
2nd Nick Shaw (15) 35pts
3rd Thierry Petrement (13) 33pts
B Flight
1st Peter Henshaw (17) 34pts
2nd Paul Gilliam (16) 34pts
3rd Pierre Bietry (16) 33pts
John ‘tex’ Pierell, a fine player in his own right, was the only player to better his handicap on the day as he carded a fine 37 points on the immaculate Nicklaus designed Laem Chabang that must be considered one of the finest tests of golf on the Eastern Seaboard.
It was probably one of the least attended presentations on record, as the remaining five pay slots were won with 35 points or less. Nick ‘Elvis’ Shaw’s 35 points edged Monsieur Thierry Petrement by two points to establish the podium order behind John.
Irish eyes were smiling in as Peter ‘the silver surfer’ Henshaw counted back Paul Gilliam in B Flight as both were tied on 34 points. The last B Flight loot was picked up by monsieur Pierre Bietry as he was just a shot adrift.
Man of the match John Pierell was also the only golfer to card a 2.
Wednesday, Oct. 9, Mountain Shadow - Stableford
A Flight
1st Andrew Byrne (9) 40pts
2nd Colin Sansom (10) 39pts
3rd Terry Mangan (15) 37pts
B Flight
1st Eddy Beilby (18) 39pts
2nd Tom Gorey (18) 32pts
3rd Stuart Brown (21) 30pts
It is a well known rule amongst those who are resident in Pattaya that we have to get to our friends, whether they are coming for a long holiday or returning from work, early. Get to them before they acclimatize to the Pattaya night life in the case of the visitor, or before they get the rust out of their swing, in the case of the working lads.
Co. Offaly gang member Andrew Byrne did not run according to form as he opened his Pattaya stay with a brilliant 40 points for the match honours and top spot in A Flight. Colin Sansom shot an excellent 39 points but could only snatch second.
The Irish duo of Terry ‘pork chop’ Mangan and Co. Offaly gang leader Kevin McEntee both returned fine 37 point cards, with Terry squashing any hopes of joining the gang as he relegated Kevin to the presentation crowd.
Sunday’s winner and the man in the bold font, Eddy ‘the Eagle’ Beilby, took charge of B Flight with 33 points while Irishman Tom Gorey was a shot adrift for the silver as Stuart Brown kept his head bent as his 30 points filled the flight. Terry Mangan, Bruce Anderson and Tom Gorey split the 2’s pot
Friday, Oct. 11, Mountain Shadow - Stableford
A Flight
1st Nick Shaw (15) 42pts
2nd Tore Eliassen (15) 39pts
3rd Kevin McEntee (6) 38pts
B Flight
1st Eddy Beilby (18) 39pts
2nd Jorn Finnerup (28) 38pts
3rd Colin Davis (17) 37pts
While a man of the match win plus a B Flight win in the week might garner one the title slot, any doubt was erased by Eddy ‘the Eagle’ Beilby as he added another 39-point B Flight victory to his already impressive tally. Nearest to Eddy was Irishman and pay window regular Jorn Finnerup a stroke adrift. The Donkey, innocuous as ever, slid in for the B Flight third place.
A Flight provided the man of the match in Nick ‘Elvis Shaw’ who played all the right notes to post a faultless 42 points. Nick was a stroke clear of Tore Eliassen and a further stroke clear of the Co. Offaly masked raider Kevin ‘you know who’.
There were a shed full of 2’s.
Note: Lewiinski’s is situated on Pattaya land Soi 1, Beach Rd Soi13/13 near Walking Street. Anyone wishing to play with us just pop in and add your name to the list or call Colin on 089 826 0764. Transport is provided.

Golfnutter: Putting – You vs the Pros

With the rainy season finally about to end we can expect an increase in green speeds which, unfortunately for some, will probably mean a rise in the number of putts-per-round. Measuring our putts-per-round is fundamental to any plan of improvement, but actually knowing how to go about it may not be quite so straightforward.
First, a look at how the pros’ putting skills are measured:

Up until a few years back, the main stat for putting was putts per round; the aggregate of putts taken over an 18-hole round. The problem with using this measure is that it doesn’t take putting distances into account. Take the golfer who often misses a green and then chips it close; he will take fewer putts than the golfer who consistently hits the green in regulation and two-putts. In this instance, the lesser number of putts would be due to an excellent short-game, not superior putting.
Another commonly used stat is putts per green in regulation (PPGIR). This is also limited as it too fails to account for putting distances. Golfers who top the GIR stats, for example, will tend to be putting from greater distances.
The statistic measuring a golfer’s length of holed putts is also limited as it changes markedly when a one-off long putt is holed, leading to data that can prove deceptive when assessing accuracy of putts over an entire round.
Thus in May 2011 the Tour announced strokes gained – putting, a new stat that measures the number of putts – better or worse – than the field, from a given distance.
This is made possible through the PGA Tour’s ShotLink data collection system, which knows the number of putts taken to hole-out, for all distances, for each hole, for the entire field. In short, it measures the starting position of each holed putt to an accuracy of one inch. In this way strokes gained – putting doesn’t penalise nor reward approach shots that are 60-feet or 2-feet from the hole. Rather, the 60-footer that drops gains more, relative to the field, than would a 6-footer. However, three-putting that 6-footer will lose more to the field (putts gained/lost) than three-putting from 60-feet.
Putts gained or lost on a hole will invariably be a fraction of a stroke. Take an eight-foot putt where the Tour average for number of putts holed is 1.5 strokes. The putts gained (strokes gained – putting) is therefore 0.5, representing a gain of a half-stroke. A two-putt from eight-feet would represent a loss of a half-stroke.
Putts gained, or strokes gained – putting, can throw another slant on putting performance. Take the case of a Tour golfer taking 26 putts for his round – three less than the Tour average of 29. But in this example, he actually had a strokes gained – putting score of negative 2.8 strokes. He lost 2.8 strokes to the field on putting performance. Why? He had two zero-putt greens (chip-ins), missed a 5-footer and a 7-footer and had two three-putts from around 20-feet. Overall, his putts started an average of 9.6 feet from the hole, much closer than the Tour average of 17 feet. Given these initial putt distances, the Tour average is 23.2 putts per round. The three additional putts, or 2.8 more than the Tour average, clearly state he had a bad putting day. These figures are real – Angel Cabrera, Deutsche Bank Championship, 4 September 2010.
If you want to putt like the pros, here is what you need do:

Average number of putts to hole-out for PGA Tour golfers by distance from the hole, for five-year period ending Sept 2013:

Distance Average Putts

2-feet 1.01

4-feet 1.14

6-feet 1.34

8-feet 1.5

10-feet 1.61

15-feet 1.78

20-feet 1.87

30-feet 1.98

40-feet 2.06

50-feet 2.14

60-feet 2.21

90-feet 2.36

Best in the strokes gained – putting category (as of 6 October 2013): 1st Greg Chalmers (average .854), 2nd Steve Stricker (.727), 3rd Stephen Ames (.710), 4th Brandt Snedeker (.692), 5th Aaron Baddeley (.688).
The worst: 176th Boo Weekley (-.684), 177th Will Claxton (-.709), 178th Lucas Glover (-.875), 179th Vijay Singh (-.899), 180th Eric Meierdierks (-.961).
In other words, Greg Chalmers’s putting nets him close to one shot per round on the field average, which equates to 3.416 shots per tournament. Poor old Eric’s putting, however, costs him very close to one shot per round or four shots per tournament.
The golfer whose putting is closest to the average? Adam Scott: .001.
And the value of strokes gained – putting to us, here in Pattaya? About as good as those extortionate unused food and drink vouchers purchased from Phoenix GC.
If you are genuinely interested in recording your putting stats, I recommend using putts-per-round. Unlike the Tour, however, I suggest you include putts from off the green.
Happy golfing,
Golfnutter.

Wichai & Erik form a deadly duo

Jomtien Golf with the IPGC

Monday, Oct. 7, The Emerald - Stableford
At Siam Cats on Sunday evening there were quite a few concerns about the weather situation, with a prediction of more rain to come, so there were a few cancellations for Monday’s golf at Emerald. In the morning there were still three groups who wanted to continue to the course and there was no rain on the journey so we teed off at our normal time of 9.30 a.m.

Wichai Tananusorn and Erik Reguinussen.

After three holes the clouds rolled in and for the next six holes intermittent light and heavy showers persisted. One group decided to return to the clubhouse and the other two continued for the full 18 in mediocre conditions but the competition was declared null and void.
Wednesday, Oct. 9, Greenwood – Stableford
We were allocated the C and A courses today and the cut was 7-18 in division 1 and 20 + in division 2. We teed off in glorious sunshine, which made a big difference to what we had been used to lately.
Playing off 30, Glenn King returned the best score of the day in division 2, winning with 37 points. Chris Reed was second with 31 and Ray Gott took third one point further back.
There were three 35’s in division 1 with Kari Kuparinen taking the top podium position with 19 points on the back nine. Wichai Tananusorn and Reijo Heiskanen fought it out for second place with 17 each on the back nine but Wichai pipped Reijo with a 11/10 back six count back.
Near pins went to Kari Kuparinen, Dennis Scougal, Chris Reed and Chris Slota.
Kari Kuparinen birdied A6 for the only ‘2’ of the day to take the pot in Division 1.
Friday, Oct. 11, Eastern Star – 2 Person Scramble
This was another one of our fun games before the high season kicks in with a two person stableford scramble; one player from division 1 (1-16) and one from division 2 (17+) in each team. There were 20 teams out in total, each receiving 40 % of combined handicap and each player had to record 7 tee shots.

Mike Chatt and Alan Bissell.

The weather conditions were perfect for the day with low clouds and a cool breeze coming off the coast.
Wichai and Erik won the day with 45 points and in second place were two teams locked on 44. Both scored 23 on the back nine and 15 on the back six and this continued on the back three with 8 each, but in the end with 6/5 on the last two holes Mike Chatt and Alan Bissell beat Martin Grimoldby and Glyn Evans.
Chris Voller and Rodney Howett finished fourth with 43 points after beating Bill Bertram and Burnie Sinclair and Bryan Rought and Glenn King on a 25/21/21 back nine count back.
Regular near pin prizes were won by Mike Chatt, Bob Moore, Marty Rock, Dennis Scougal, Glyn Evans, Glenn King and Chris Slota.
Special technical prizes for nearest the pin in multiple shots went to Bob Moore and Fred Temminck (3), Bill Bertram and Burnie Sinclair, Wichai Tananusorn and Erik Reguinussen, Kari Kuparinen and Reijo Heiskannen, Don Head and Miss Nut, and Chris Voller and Rodney Howett.
Mike Chatt and Alan Bissell birdied the 17th as did Marty Rock and Jimmy Johnson to share the spoils in the ‘2’s competition.
It was a brilliant day out, something different, new partners and a different format, everyone enjoyed it.

Walkley & Regan separated by count back

The Billabong Golf Bar Society

(Left-right): Helmut Hebstreit, Owen Walkley and Brian Maddox.

Wednesday, Oct. 9, Green Valley – Stableford
What a pleasant change to go to golf with sun in the sky and blue skies, although we did get a short shower after about three or four holes it didn’t last long and from then on it was just a great day for golf.
The course was a bit soggy in places and with no carts on the fairways it was a bit of a walk for the carters, however we all got round in just a little over four hours which is good.
The team from the Players Lounge consisting of Bob Newell, Pat Regan, Jim Bell and Roger Ison had a day out, with only Roger not in the prizes. It was a count back for first place both on 42 points which is a great round of golf considering the condition of the course, even though we played ‘pick and place’ through the green it was still tough going for some.
There were five ‘2’s today including an eagle on hole five from Willim Lasonder; the other four were from Jim Bell, Bob Newell, Jack Butler and John Aylott.
Bob Newell came in at 5th place today with 37 points and on a normal day that should have got further up the ladder. In fourth spot with 38 points was Jack Butler, third came Jim Bell with 41, second on a count back was Pat Regan with 42 points and first was Owen Walkley also with 42.
Back at the bar the team from the Players Lounge promptly rang the bell and thanks from all who were here chaps.
Friday, Oct. 11, Plutaluang - Stableford
Plutaluang was the venue today and we played East and South. It was carts on most fairways but not all as the course was a little wet in places. The greens were a little slow but everything else was good.
With seven groups playing it was off to a good start down to the tee and go. Even with ‘pick and place’ the scores were good and bad. The scribe had a couple of mates over from the Sunshine Coast, namely Merv Chakley and Col Redley for a week and they contributed to the benevolent society of the Billabong Bar with a little donation, only because Col missed a putt on the last. Bad luck mate, see you next time!
Back to the scores and there was a five-way count back for third place and you guessed it Bob Newell missed out. He says he has never won a count back ever! Coming in fifth was Brain Maddox with 36 points, fourth went to Owen Walkley on the same score and third went to Barry Copestake also on 36. In second place was Helmut Hebstreit with 38 points, just losing on count back to our winner today, Tom Hand.
It was the Ritchie brothers’ day out when it came to the ‘2’s as Gary had two and Greig got the other to share the spoils.
Note: Don’t miss the scramble on the 25th Oct at the same venue. The Billabong Golf Bar is situated just off Siam Country Club Road looking straight down Lake Mabprachan. Call Bob on 082 204 3411 if you are looking for a game.

Grimes in the zone

The Pattaya Golf Society at Rabbi’s Elephant Bar

After an enforced absence of a few saturated days the PGS decided to test the depth of “squelch” again on Wednesday, 9th October, with Pattana B and A nines as the post-deluvium guinea pig. They found the fairways still soft and in parts boggy but the greens were in top shape.
The single flight played from the yellow tees and the recorded 6,500 yards seemed much, much longer. Against all the odds the stableford event was won with a score which ranked with the best of the year as Ken Grimes found himself “in the zone”, striking the ball long and straight and nailing putts from all distances on the consistent greens to record forty points. Ten points adrift in second were old hands Robbie Taylor and Mr Len with thirty points each.
There were no birdie ‘2’s and the returning Ray Regan was favourite for the Booby Bevy with his 21 points.
What a day it had been with golfers wrestling with wet and uncut rough and constantly preferring lies on the watery fairways. Things could only get better as the wet season draws to an end and the returning golfers can look forward to better times on courses as challenging as Pattana.

Elsworth takes the win

PSC golf from The Caddyshack

Friday, Oct. 11, Green Valley - Stableford
The weather finally got the better of us this week and we only managed a reasonable field on Friday 11th at Green Valley. The course was still extremely wet and longer term damage is being done to the greens with the amount of traffic plodding over them.
Glen Elsworth (H/cap 12) was the winner with 37 points ahead of Ted Gardner (8) with 36 points. Third place went to Fonsie McGahan (5) whose 34 points beat Mike Phillips’ effort on count back.
For high season schedule the Caddyshack will be playing Green Valley on Mondays and Fridays with Wednesday having a variety of other courses.
Note: The Caddyshack is located on Soi 17 off 3rd Road or soi 8 off Thepprasit. All golfers are welcome and reservations are taken at 081 865 3104.

When the going gets tough

PSC golf from The Golf Club

Dan Willets, Phil Smedley and Gabriel Enright.
Steve Ellison
Monday, Oct. 7, Green Valley (white tees) – Stroke
1st Ernie McInerney (11) net 74
2nd Rick Allison (2) net 75
3rd Tony Bates (17) net 83
It was very nearly a washout today, but a few brave souls just had to play golf so for whatever reason, it was decided by the group that today would be played as stroke play. As things turned out, it was the right choice for Ernie McInerney as he smoked them all with a net 74 for the day.

Newlyweds Gavin Wright and Fern.
Ernie has just gotten back to town after a stint of work back in the States. I guess work can sometimes do your golf game a world of good. That is one heck of a good round for just getting your land legs back so well played Ernie Mac!
Steady Rick Allison was just a stroke off with his 75, and Tony Bates came in third with an 83 net score.
Tuesday, Oct. 8, Phoenix Gold Lake & Mountain (white tees) – Stableford
1st Dan Willets (11) 37pts
2nd Rick Allison (2) 36pts
3rd Vincent Gras (17) 33pts
We are still under cloud cover as early October shows little sign of a short rainy season. What is unusual is being hit by the tail end of 2 typhoons one after the other. We really can’t complain as what Pattaya gets is very little in comparison to the Philippines or India. We forget we are blessed by a microclimate here that many places would love to have.
Most courses are still quite squishy underfoot, and our usual policy for this time of year is ‘lift, clean and place’ to make things fair. That will remain in place until we see a change in the weather, which should be soon.
We saw another Aussie 1-2-3 today as they continue to dominate the podium. Dan Willets once again came out on top with another strong round of 37 points, while his partner in crime Rick Allison turned in a 36 point card for his last game of golf for this trip. Thanks for joining us Rick and hope to see you back here soon.
Another travelling golfer, Vincent Gras, has been touring Thailand lately, so his 33 points for third was well earned.
Thursday, Oct. 10, Green Valley (white tees) – Stableford
1st Walter Baechli (20) 35pts
2nd Dan Willets (11) 33pts
T3rd Gabriel Enright (22) 32pts
T3rd Phil Smedley (10) 32pts
Due to the extreme flooding up north, we decided to cancel the Kabinburi trip. We had a change in venue to Green Valley and ended up dry and glad we made the right choice. Most of us were also recovering from the social event of the season, the wedding reception of our old pal Gavin Wright and his stunning wife Fern. Congratulations to them both from all of us here at TGC.
Speaking of old pals, it was good to see Walter Baechli back with us again. Walter is always in good spirits and a gentleman both on and off the course. His 35 points today left him one stroke from shooting his handicap, but the best card of the day. Way to go Walter!
Note: The Golf Club is located on Soi LK Metro. We try to schedule summer “Sports Days”, so come join us for a seriously fun day out. Just call 085 434 3377 or see our website www.golfclubpattaya .com and for more information mail us: [email protected] and see updates at www.facebook.com/golfclubpattaya... all handicaps welcome!

Booth blitzes Greenwood

Travellers Rest Golf Group

Andy Rich
The Rainy Season in Thailand is proving itself with a vengeance at the moment with many areas suffering severe flooding, including some of our regular golfing venues. I think I chose a good week to go touring around the north of Thailand, the weather in Chiang Mai was beautiful. I left Pattaya on the morning of Monday 7th October in diabolical weather thinking the TRGG could not possibly play golf in that weather, but play golf they did.
Monday, Oct. 7, Bangpra - Stableford
Bangpra, the monkey course, was the venue and I expect the monkeys were confused as they probably thought it was they who were born with the brains not the idiotic humans trying to play golf in those conditions. Ged Higgins held things together the best to just edge David Booth, with Keith Thorogood taking third place.

Mod Chaviraksa - winner at Phoenix.

1st Ged Higgins (20) 34pts
2nd David Booth (15) 33pts
3rd Keith Thorogood (28) 31pts
Tuesday, Oct. 8, Greenwood - Stableford
On Tuesday it was off to Greenwood (C and A courses) for the TRGG and I can only assume by the final scores for the day that the winner played out of his skin, or alternatively has a very dodgy handicap. I will let you, the reader, decide.
Stewart Booth was the winner with a quite amazing 46 points followed in a long, long way behind by Derek Thorogood, with Ted Senior finishing in third.
1st Stewart Booth (14) 46pts
2nd Derek Thorogood (17) 37pts
3rd Ted Senior (14) 35pts
Thursday, Oct. 10, Phoenix - Stableford
On Thursday it was back to Phoenix (Mountain and Lakes) for the largest turnout of the week. The ladies had it all their own way today, seeing off all the men with ease.
Mod Chaviraksa continued her good form of late by taking first place, with Tewin Poopay Lamthong filling the runners up spot and leading man Ged Higgins was in third place.
1st Mod Chaviraksa (12) 36pts
2nd Tewin Poopay Lamthong (11) 34pts
3rd Ged Higgins (19) 32pts
Good luck to all you golfers for the coming week and if you would like to play a round of golf with the TRGG please phone Fergus Brennan on 086 056 7019 or pop into the Ned Kelly Bar in Soi Lengkee and add your name to the weekly lists which are posted on the notice board.

Blackshaw secures bragging rights at Burapha

PSC golf from I-Rovers

Thursday, Oct. 10, Burapha A & B (white tees) - Stableford
We played at Burapha today with a small turnout, but being sort of last minute and with all the rain we’ve recently it was still a good day out.
Burapha has to be one of the best courses around, lush fairways, quick greens and an interesting track. It’s not too difficult if you’re playing ok but with the weather we have had of late it was playing very long today and the fairways were a little wet for the first 12 holes or so, but the greens still ran true.
If you’re off your putting game here you’re scared to hit it too hard, but then you run the risk of leaving it well short. You’ve definitely got to commit to your putt. Wonderful advice after the round, but it didn’t help me out on the course.
Today we welcomed Daniel from Scotland who proved to be a really good guy and a very handy golfer. He plays off 6 handicap now but used to play off scratch before business got in the way. My back was hurting just watching him hit the ball that hard. I bet the ball was glad it was all over after 18 holes.
We also welcomed Donnie from Australia. Thanks for the company Donnie and good to see you out there having a hit.
We played 12 holes today, then the thunder and lightning started and we quickly decided to have a break at the drink stop and wait it out. Well the heavens opened up and the torrential rain came down for about 30 minutes and you couldn’t even see the greens anymore. Congrats here to Burapha as 5 minutes after the rain stopped, the greens dried out and away we went. Mind, the fairways after that were just a bog, but we only had a few holes to go so we plugged on.
Paul Blackshaw (h/cap10) finished first today with a net 76, just pipping Daniel Smith (H/cap 6) by one stroke.
All golfers are welcome to come play with us at I-Rovers. Just call into the bar on soi LK Metro or contact us via facebook at: irovers golf.

Super Cars make a splash at Bira

The Bira Circuit in Pattaya welcomed back the Thailand Super Series for Races 5 & 6 over the weekend, Oct. 5-6.

Thailand Super Series rolled into Bira Circuit in the first weekend of Oct. for Race 5 & 6 of the season with the drivers set for a high speed duel in what could only be described as seriously ‘rainy’ conditions. It simply poured down throughout the whole event with almost every category affected by the weather and by Sunday evening the Pattaya racetrack and its surroundings were saturated.
But the conditions didn’t affect the race programme, rather it added to the show as the one of the most dramatic, exciting and nail-biting racing weekends played out in front of the many fans who braved the conditions.
Superstar driver Vuttikorn Inthraphuvasak left Bira on Sunday night, Oct. 6, with two wins out of two and firmly back on course for the title after his big slipup at the previous race. But he was made to work hard for his victories by talented youngster Pasin Lathouras along with Piti Bhirombhakdi and the experienced Vattana Motorsport owner Chonsawat Asavahame.
In Super Car’s Class 2, Nattavude Charoensukhawatana led out a crushing Toyota 1-2 in Saturday’s first race as he closed in further on the title, but Sunday’s encounter turned out to be one of the most exciting in recent memory and through the bucketing rain Grant Supaphong emerged after a faultless drive to claim his first ever Super Car win.

Vuttikorn Inthraphuvasak in his Singha-A Motorsport-Porsche was a double winner in the Class 1 event.

Saturday’s big Class 1 race saw the upcoming Pasin Lathouras on pole having set a qualifying time that was fractions ahead of the Porsche driver Vuttikorn Inthraphuvasak. On the run to Turn 1 Vuttikorn got the jump on Pasin while Indharasak Techaterasiri (Lamborghini) overtook Piti Bhirombhakdi (Porsche) and also took a quick look round the outside of the Ferrari but wasn’t able to make a second position gain stick.
By the time the field had raced up the hill, navigated the hairpin and started the high speed run down to 100R, Vuttikorn already had a few lengths over Pasin and Indharasak, while Piti was now finding his fourth place under threat from Chonsawat Asavahame in the second Reiter-Vattana-Unity Lamborghini.
However, within a lap Piti was in the gravel through no fault of his own and the Safety Car had been deployed. The blue and yellow Porsche was quickly cleared, the Safety Car retreated to the pit lane and battle recommenced.
When racing resumed it would turn out to be a straight fight between the Porsche of Vuttikorn and the Ferrari of Pasin. The 19-year-old tried just about everything he knew for almost 20 laps but just couldn’t find a way past the hugely experienced Porsche driver who knows this track like the back of his hand and he held on to take the chequered flag.

Nattavude Charoensukhawatana in his Toyota leads the Super Series Class 2 race at Bira Circuit on Saturday, Oct. 5.

Sunday’s Class 1 race on Oct. 6 saw the GT3 cars bring the 2-day racing festival to a close and yet again it proved to be another showdown between Porsche and Ferrari.
Pasin, starting once more from pole position, got away cleanly at the green light and maintained his lead into turn 1 as the chasing pack fought for positions. Vuttikorn briefly slipped down to fourth place behind Chonsawat’s Lamborghini and Piti’s Porsche, but Saturday’s champ soon got the bit between his teeth and by lap 6 he had regained second spot.
As the track began to dry out, Pasin stated to struggle on his wet weather tires and Vuttikorn took advantage to sneak through on the inside to take the race lead at half distance. Pasin’s pace dropped off dramatically and he was passed by Pitti in the second Singha-A Motorsport-Porsche who then gradually closed down the gap on race leader Vuttikorn. By the final lap the gap was down to less than a second but Vuttikorn used to his experience and knowledge of the circuit to hang on and take the chequered flag by 0.806 of a second.
“My setup today was good for the completely wet track but after half of the race the track was getting drier so I was slowed down a little bit. I think Piti came up and passed Pasin and then I think he was faster than I was and if the race had two or three more laps he could have passed me,” admitted Vuttikorn post race.
The race of the weekend occurred undoubtedly a couple of hours earlier Sunday in the Super Car 2 Class. The battle for honors witnessed some of the worst conditions of the festival but equally some of the most exciting racing.

Cars line up on the grid for one of the few dry run races of the weekend.

At the start, New Zealander Craig Corliss in his Holden Commodore burst past pole-sitter Nattavude and took the lead. His advantage lasted until only until lap 4 however when a spin allowed Aki in the Vattana Motorsport Porsche to assume the race lead with Grant Supaphong closing fast behind.
Supaphong’s 4 wheel drive Mitsubishi Evo X thrived in the wet conditions and he soon took over at the front of the race as Aki struggled for grip. With cars spinning off all over the track it was no surprise to see the safety car deployed to bring some order to the race but when Voravud’s Ferrari beached into the second chicane on lap 17 the race was red flagged until the car could be moved.
Once the race was restated, Supaphong burst away from the field once more but behind him there was a battle royale for the minor places with up to six cars regularly swapping track positions as they all took turns spinning off in the slippery conditions. Supaphong eventually took the flag with a three second lead over Aki’s Ferrari who headed the remainder of the battered field over the line.
“In the qualification and in the race on Saturday I had a problem with the brakes and the steering wheel and the engine so last night the mechanics tried to fix everything and today there was heavy rain so the temperature of my engine came down and the four wheel drive is more easy to control on the wet track,” noted a happy Supaphong.
The Thailand Super Series now takes a break for two months before resuming in Bangsaen on December 18-22 for the final 2 races of the season.
(Report and photos provided courtesy of Racing Sprit/Thailand Super Series)

Pasin Lathouras’ Ferrari (center) heads the Class 1 field into turn 1 of Sunday’s race.

Mazda’s lead from the front in the Super Production race.

Pattaya Sports Club Fishing Report

Colin shows off his cobia catch.

The south-west monsoon has been pretty unrelenting in recent weeks, and on a couple of trips in late September, the brave souls who ventured out have found conditions pretty hard going, sometimes with not many fish to show for their efforts. However, Dene, on his first outing for some time, reported a haul of at least 12 kilos of decent-size fish, showing that they are still there to be caught.
On Saturday 5th October the group set out in relatively calm conditions, and mid-morning Colin hooked a fine cobia with a small live-bait. Then, he said, “I got a new whole squid on the hook and tossed it about 10 feet from the boat and was beginning to let out line when BOOM the second one attacked – great fight for a few minutes! There was actually a third one but it simply took a few nibbles out of the squid and disappeared.”
After posing proudly with these two fine specimens he had to sit down for a while, but that was the end of any excitement for the day since no-one else had similar luck, as in the afternoon the wind and waves increased and the fish stopped biting.
Our next trip in October is scheduled for Saturday 19th, and at time of writing there are still some vacancies. Our November schedule will be announced soon. For further details and bookings visit www.pattayasports.org/ or phone John O’Neill on 085 391 7045.

World’s top 6 teams enter Phuket beach volleyball

World No 1 duo Lima and Talita will be headlining a star-studded cast of players at the Phuket Thailand Open FIVB beach volleyball tournament.

This year’s Phuket Thailand Open powered by PTT, the penultimate event of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour will be graced by the top 6 teams in the world rankings. The tournament, which will be held on Karon beach, Phuket from 29 October – 3 November is the biggest annual beach volleyball event in South-East Asia and the only event in Asia on the World Tour outside of China.
Heading the list of entries is the No 1 team in the world rankings, the Brazilian pair of Lima and Talita. Playing together for the first time this year they have taken the sport by storm, winning no less than 5 Grand Slam tournaments to date at Shanghai, the Hague, Rome, Long Beach and Berlin.
The German team of Holtwick and Semmler who are ranked no 2 in the world have also entered and they have recorded 4 podium finishes this year. Another Brazilian team, the Solgado sisters, Marie Clara and Carol who are ranked at no 3 in the world are back on the tour after a year’s sojourn and have been in scintillating form in the latter part of the season, recently winning the Grand Slam in Moscow.
Ranked no 4 in the world and regular visitors to Thailand are the Spanish pair of Liliana and Baquerizo. They have been on the podium 3 times this year. A third Brazilian team are holding down 5th spot in the world rankings, Lilli and Seixas are also medal winners on 3 occasions in 2013. The no 6 team in the world rankings is another pair of sisters, Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger from Austria.
With the World’s top 6 teams confirming their participation in the Phuket Thailand Open powered by PTT, the tournament promises to be the most exciting ever in the eight years history that the event has been held in Thailand.
Admission to the tournament is free and a large sponsor zone on-site with activities and games will further enhance the spectator experience. For beach volleyball fans who are unable to travel to Phuket, the semi-finals on Saturday 2 November and the finals on Sunday 3 November will be televised in Thailand and worldwide.
For more information on the tournament, contact Pentangle Promotions Co., Ltd at Tel: 02-3113414/5 or via the website at www.pentanglepromotions.com.

Thai Premier League Standings Oct. 11

Team P W D L +/- Pts.

Buriram United 29 20 9 0 42 69

Muang Thong United 29 20 6 3 27 66

Chonburi 29 16 8 5 21 56

Suphanburi 30 14 9 7 13 51

Bangkok Glass 30 13 8 9 9 47

Army United 29 12 8 9 10 44

BEC Tero Sasana 29 11 8 10 2 41

Osotspa 29 9 12 8 1 39

Police United 29 8 11 10 3 35

Chainat 29 9 7 13 -3 34

Songkhla United 29 6 11 12 -16 29

Samut Songkhram 29 6 10 13 -15 28

Bangkok United 29 7 7 15 -20 28

TOT 30 7 7 16 -27 28

Ratchaburi 29 5 11 13 -8 26

Pattaya United 29 8 2 19 -22 26

Chiangrai United 29 5 10 14 -17 25

Sisaket 0 0 0 0 0 0

Results: Samut Songkhram 0 v 2 Chiangrai United, TOT 0 v 2 Suphanburi. Weekend Fixtures (Oct. 19): Chainat v Suphanburi, Songkhla United v Bangkok United, Osotspa v BEC Tero Sasana, Police United v Chonburi. (Oct. 20): Buriram United v Pattaya United, Samut Songkhram v Army United, Chiangrai United v Ratchaburi, Muang Thong United v Bangkok Glass. (All matches kick-off at 6 p.m. except at Chiang Rai and Muang Thong where kick-off is 6.30 p.m.

Thai sailor takes on the world’s best in China

Kamolwan “Bam” Chanyim (left) with Olympic gold medalist Xu Lijia.

Fresh from competing in Spain at the Cuidad de Santander Trophy last month, Thai national sailor Kamolwan Chanyim (Bam) represented the kingdom in the Laser Radial Women’s World Championship 2013 in Rizhao, China, which ran from September 27 to October 8.
With the sponsorship of Kingdom Property, the 17 year old two-time national Laser Radial champion competed against 2012 Olympic gold medalist Xu Lijia of China and many other Olympians and elite sailors from around the world. Bam finished 51st overall. Singaporean Elizabeth Yin, who Bam will face at the SEA Games in Myanmar in December, finished 46th overall, but Bam beat her in half the 12 races, with two 4th place and one 6th place finishes in the silver fleet.
Participating in the World Championship is important for a sailor’s ranking and to earn points to be eligible for the next Olympic qualification trials in September 2014.
“Even though my position was not that impressive, I proved I could compete with top sailors, starting alongside the best in the world, and I improved my skills and identified areas for improvement to prepare myself for the next Olympic qualification event,” said Bam.
The new world champion is Tina Mihelic from Croatia, with Tuula Tenkanen of Finland winning the silver and Paige Railey of the USA taking gold. In challenging conditions, the competition was very tough, with 2012 Olympic medalists Xu Lijia finishing 9th, Marit Brouwmeester of the Netherlands 16th, Evi Van Acker of Belgium 8th, and new European champion Annalise Murphy of Ireland 23rd.

Bam sails at the Laser Radial Women’s Worlds in China.

Thai duo take out Krabi adventure race

Competitors took on a 9km kayak through the spectacular Tha Lane gorge.

108 teams started the second edition of the ever-popular Sheraton Krabi Trophy Adventure Race on September 21. According to many, this event has become one of the most exciting adventure races in Asia and offers some of the most stunning scenery. Held at the beautiful Sheraton Krabi Resort and Spa, this race has all the ingredients for top class adventure racing.
After a 16km muddy and technical MTB section, athletes experienced a vertiginous but short run to the lagoon swim. Then another short run before the long ocean swim to the kayak CP.
The 9km kayak section took place through the Tha Lane gorge, one of the most scenic and spectacular places for paddling in the world.
Then there was a long, interesting and varied run through the national park and back to the bikes. The last MTB ride brought racers back to the Sheraton beach and the finishing line.
This year winners were Team Champion System/Feel Free 4 comprised of Saman Gunan and Jantaraboon KiangchaiPaiphana (Jay) who crossed the line in a time of 4:20:10.
For more information about upcoming adventure races, go to www.ama-events.com

Race winners Saman Gunan and Jantaraboon KiangchaiPaiphana.