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Pattaya’s Songkran Speed-Fest
While most of us were either dodging buckets full of
water, or throwing them, not everyone celebrated the arrival of the Thai New
Year in the same manner.
Completing the final two days of the national holiday, on April 14 & 15,
drivers fired up their engines at Bira Circuit and thrilled the crowds with
fast action around the track. Motorcycles, automobiles, pick-up trucks, you
name it. Thai drivers and a few foreigners alike, competing for bragging
rights for the New Year.
Meanwhile, down South Pattaya way, the sound of roaring engines could be
heard for miles around as the “Big-Boys” broke out the heavy gear for
powerboat racing over the weekend of April 19 & 20. Not a sport for the
light hearted, these dangerous craft are a thrill to watch, that is, if you
can see them. Most of the time, the rooster tails coming off their sterns
are so large, they block out any view from the shore. It must not be easy
for race officials to figure out who won!
Beer Put just one win away
Nine down, one to go for Beer Put to achieve an
undefeated season in the Friday Night Mickey Mouse Darts League. Only
Palmer’s stand in the way of a perfect season for the sharp shooters at Beer
Put.
In the battle for second place, Mick’s Place will take on Cheers in the
final week. With Beer Put having already wrapped up the title, the winner of
the Mick’s Place vs. Cheers match will gain bragging rights to the
runners-up position.
Week 8 saw Beer Put win the match and the beer leg over Rising Sun at home.
Mick’s Place won the match but lost the beer leg to Pleasure Dome away.
Palmer’s swept the match and the beer leg over Cheers at home.
Gen from Beer Put still holds the league lead for highest check-out, 116.
The final week of matches on Friday, April 25, has Palmer’s hosting Beer
Put, Mick’s Place hosting Cheers, and Rising Sun hosting Pleasure Dome.
League note: The end of season awards presentation party will be held on
Friday, May 2 at Mick’s Place.
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TAGGS presents Pattaya’s
first Am-Am
Tournament
The Alternative Golf Gentlemen’s Society will be proudly
presenting Pattaya’s first ever “Am-Am” golf tournament on Wednesday, April
30th, at a venue which will be announced in the near future.
The Am-Am format, which may lead into a Pro-Am tournament down the road,
will feature teams of 4 golfers, with the best 2 net scores out of 4 for
each hole counting toward the team’s score. The net scores will be based on
3/4 of each player’s handicap.
Teams will be made up of players representing several of the area’s bars,
such as the TQ team, Hare House team, Pleasure Dome team, etc., as well as
many individual teams. Competitors for the title can sign up bar teams,
individual teams, or just put their names in to be assigned to whatever team
needs them.
Trophies, T-shirts, food, and many special prizes, as well as all green
fees, will be included in the entry price of 4000 baht per team, or 1000
baht per golfer. All proceeds will go back into prizes and the tournament.
Meet on the day of the tournament at the Hare House at 8:00 a.m. Early
sign-ups are necessary, however, and can be done by contacting Wayne,
Stephen or Richard at the Hare House any time from now until a few days
before the big event.
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Rising Sun heats up
“In which century did Voltaire spend most of his life?” “Which dog in the
movies had a girlfriend called Missy?”
In a high scoring bout on April 13, Rising Sun in sporting form managed to
edge past their rivals to take the lead in the Sunday Quiz League. They
managed a majestic 80% equaled only by Mick’s Place who are probably too far
behind to make a late rally. Cheers Bar, how-ever, are only two points
behind the current leading bar.
The Bangkok question setters tripped up on a couple of questions. They
missed out the willow from the list of trees having catkins (ouch!) and
assumed that the only seven letter word meaning “defamation” is calumny. A
mighty roar resounded around Pattaya as there is a perfectly good
al-ternative in slander. These matters were settled in the bars’ favour at
the appeal stage. Sending apologies, university lecturer Larry Durrell (who
is standing in for Ann Schofield who is in Hong Kong) commented, “you
certainly can’t slide anything past those Pattaya boys even late at night.”
The answers to the above questions are eighteenth century and Beethoven.
Visitors are welcome at any particular bar if they turn up at their chosen
hostelry just before 8:30 p.m. on Sunday nights.
The latest scores are:
Rising Sun 545 Points
Cheers 543 Points
Mick’s Place 516 Points
Pleasure Dome 502 Points
Bob’s 454 Points
Britannia 452 Points
Palmer’s 452 Points
Wild Chicken 409 Points
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Brizzell takes four club
Brian Brizzell finished atop the leader board in The Alternative Golf
Gentlemen’s Society monthly Four Club competition. The honorable judge, “Sir
F.F.” scored 33 Stableford points at Pattaya Country Club on Wednesday,
April 16 to win the tournament by one shot.
Norman Brooks, for the second week in a row, finished second in a TAGGS
tourney. Brooks finished with 32 Stableford points.
The shot of the day was produced by Wayne Tischbern on the 353 yard par 4
#10. Wayne holed his bunker shot for a net birdie. “Nobody but the caddie
saw it,” Wayne complained. Wayne also injured his knee jumping out of the
bunker to try and watch his shot go in.
Kurt Farnham fared a bit worse. On just the 4th hole of the tournament, Kurt
split his three wood in half trying to negotiate a tree off the side of the
fairway (“tree wood?”). Kurt was forced to play the rest of his round with
only a 6 iron, sand wedge and putter. Actually, his score improved.
Matts Mueller and Patrick Asklund won the TAGGS Pairs Better Ball Medal
round the previous week (April 9) at Sriracha. The two turned out to be a
perfect match, for although Matts shot a gross 107 and Patrick a gross 108,
the pair finished with a net 61. When either one of them had a “nightmare
hole”, the other managed par or better. “Only Singha beer,” Matts said in
response to his teams first place performance. “We didn’t drink any...”
Don Richardson and Norman Brooks finished second, one stroke back with a net
62. Anders Karlson and Jonas Bergstrom finished third with a net 65.
The Alternative Golf Gentlemen’s Society’s next tournament will be the Am-Am
at Sriracha on Wednesday, April 30. For more information, contact Steve,
Wayne or Richard at the Hare House on Soi Post Office.
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Improve your Bridge
by Barrie Kenyon
Although Phuket does not have a bridge club, occasional
games are played at the Sea View Hotel along Patong Beach. One of the star
players, a burly Frenchman who runs a couple of bars, asked me to play a
complex system which included Texas transfers, Splinters and the Taiwanese
mini no trump. “But only use the Taiwan bid when we are not vulnerable,” he
soberly warned me as I began to wish I had not bothered to escape from the
Pattaya water throwing festival. Luckily I drew the most appalling cards all
night and was seldom called upon to make any bids at all, let alone any
relating to American states. You can’t get into much trouble if you keep
saying “pass” with poor hands.
But even sophisticated players have their bad moments. How would you tackle
the problem below? The Frenchman was sitting East and defending a contract
of three no trumps with me as his partner West. Declarer South crossed to
the dummy and led the Queen in the unbid suit: dummy’s holding was Queen,
Jack, 9, 5. Now the Frenchman East held in his hand King, 7, 4 and casually
covered the Queen with his honour. Everyone knows you cover an honour with
an honour, don’t they?
Actually, the rule to follow is never to cover the first of two touching
honours. East ought to have played a low card when the dummy’s Queen was
led, but covered when the Jack followed. The reason for this is that if you
do cover the first of touching honours, you run the risk of leaving the
declarer with a finesse position against your partner, in this case West who
happened to be me. So declarer covered East’s King with his Ace and finessed
dummy’s nine on the way back. My holding was Ten, 3, 2. I never made a
trick.
This situation would never have arisen if East had waited with his King
until declarer led dummy’s second honour. Then the Ten in my hand would have
won the third round of the suit. As it was, game and rubber to the
opposition. But the hand is a good example of automatically covering an
honour with an honour being wrong, provided you know what you are doing. It
is all a question of picturing which cards your partner might hold.
If, however, East had held a doubleton King (say King, 4) he would have been
right to cover the first time in most circumstances. This is to guard
against declarer leading a small card the second time the suit is led and
your King now falling helplessly to the Ace. Oh well, back to the buckets
and hosepipes of Pattaya.
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