Berger king tops the week

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IPGC golf from The Haven

Sunday, Jan. 30, Silky Oakes – Stableford

White tees CSS 70

Yellow tees CSS 73

White Flight

1st Roar Berger (26) 40pts

2nd Sean Hallahan (18) 37pts

3rd Frank McGowan (16) 36pts

Yellow Flight

1st Ted Lodge (11) 35pts

2nd Frank Harrington (6) 35pts

3rd Martin McAteer (14) 35pts

With enough players to field two divisions the opportunity was taken to play from two different tees to accommodate all levels of expertise and handicaps, also taking into account the individual aspirations of the contenders.  The two different competitions returned scores that underlined the differences between the two, with three strokes variation in the CSS for the day.

Allan Hanlon.Allan Hanlon.

The Yellow Flight saw Roar Berger stride in three points ahead of Sean Hallahan in second and a further one in front of Frank McGowan in third.

The Whites had Ted Lodge taking advantage of his local knowledge as he just led in a group of four at one over handicap by winning the resulting count-back with a very good one under handicap back nine.

Al Keith.Al Keith.

Frank Harrington saw the winner’s podium, having struggled everywhere else during the rest of the week, with a solid 18 on the inward half with Martin McAteer two behind in the count-back in third.

Just missing out after a stunning two under par gross going out, but slipping badly when the clubhouse was in view, was Russell Goldsworthy who finished on just 14 points through the last nine.

Kevin Hamilton, Frank Harrington and Russell Goldsworthy shared the ‘2’s off the yellows and John Connolly slipped in the only one off the whites.

Monday, Jan. 30, Greenwood – Stableford

CSS 73

1st Allan Hanlon (12) 36pts

2nd Rick Schramm (9) 35pts

3rd Shuichi Kodaka (18) 33pts

4th Benny Hansen (26) 33pts

5th Russell Exley (7) 33pts

Another chance to play what is currently one of the best conditioned courses in the area brought out a good number of players but none could master the very fast but very true greens and the windy conditions on the day.

Rod Howett.Rod Howett.

Allan Hanlon did the best of the day with a solid level handicap round that proved to be sufficient to take the top step of the podium away from Rick Schramm by a single point.

Shuichi Kodaka quickly got back into his Pattaya golf mode with another round there or thereabouts that got better as it progressed, culminating in winning the three-way count-back for third with a better 19 as Benny Hansen in fourth, but winning his first prize out of The Haven, could scrape together just 14 and Russell Exley subsided to 13 points after going out in two under handicap and looking like the days winner at the turn.

There were no 2’s in either division which just went to underscore the difficulty of the course on the day.

Before making the presentations Stephen Beard welcomed new members Ian Dawson, Eric Goodman and Frank Harrington and also welcomed back Brian Talbot and Dave Lehane.

Friday, Feb. 4, The Emerald – Stableford

CSS 72

Div. 1 (0-17)

1st Al Keith (5) 37pts

2nd Dave Stockman (3) 37pts

3rd Doug Campbell (15) 36pts

4th Brian Libby (9) 36pts

Div. 2 (18+)

1st Rod Howett (25) 38pts

2nd Al Rolnik (23) 34pts

3rd Bill Hurd (19) 34pts

4th Leif Lossius (29) 34pts

With everyone having played in the previous Wednesday’s IPGC Monthly Medals, and nobody hardly troubling the scorers that day, all the players were extremely hopeful of some far better returns for the day at the usually player friendly Emerald.  But for the fourth time in the week it proved to be all a bit of a struggle to get any sort of round going, either in the first or second division, with the greens having been recently sanded and the general conditions difficult to handle.

Rod Howett returned the best result of the day to take the second division’s top spot with a two under handicap round that was good enough by four to see off the chasing pack.  This was led by Al Rolnik who won the count-back with a better 20 against Bill Hurd’s 18 in third and Leif Lossius’s 16 in fourth.

Leif was reckoned to be unlucky as he did not spot that his handicap had risen a shot and mistakenly played off his old lower handicap, thus losing a point which would have put him in second place.

The first division was closely contested with Al Keith just edging out Dave Stockman with a better count-back of 20 to 19 after Dave had gone round in a pair of gross 37s and Al had a 39/37 split.  Good golf indeed.

Doug Campbell, making a welcome return to Soi 13 golf, took third place with a better count-back of 20 to 16 over Brian Libby who played from his new and lower handicap for the first time.

Once again there were no 2’s in either division.

Back at The Haven there were welcomes for new members Keith Melbourne, Ron Rigden, John Pearce, and welcome backs for Doug Campbell, Clive Tolley and Yasuo Suzuki.

Note.  If you would like to play with The Haven group you can contact mobile 084782 4582 or call in to the hotel at 185 Soi 13 between Beach Road and 2nd Road.  All transportation to the course is arranged and you do not need to sign up prior to the day, but you should be there by 8.30 on Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays and Sundays on the days you wish to play.  A schedule of courses to be played can be found on our web site at www.thehaven-hotel.com.