PSC golf from The Golf Club
Monday, December 5, Green Valley – Stableford
1st Martin Zimmerman (15) 43pts
2nd Peter LeNoury (9) 38pts
Small field, small write up! For whatever reasons, holiday rates, other arrangements, back to work or injuries it was a very small field that took to the course on this, the King’s Birthday.
It was, actually, a fine day to play; slightly overcast to begin with and never too hot at all. The course itself seemed to have fared well despite hosting a very large tournament over the previous 2 days but the greens were woefully bad, being bumpy, patchy and inconsistent.
Brad Sproxton.
This didn’t bother Martin Zimmerman however, who, apparently, was knocking putts in from everywhere in compiling a huge 43 point haul, leaving the rest trailing in his wake. Valiantly trying to hang on to his coat tails was Peter LeNoury who rattled up a none too shabby 38 points for second place.
Friday, December 9, Crystal Bay – Stableford
A Flight
1st Kurt Lirussi (9) 40pts
2nd Thierry Petremont (11) 38pts
3rd Peter LeNoury (9) 37pts
B Flight
1st Brad Sproxton (13) 42pts
2nd Axel Mittelmann (14) 38pts
3rd Takeshi Hakozaki (15) 38pts
C Flight
1st Jim Elphick (24) 42pts
2nd Brian Prudden (20) 40pts
3rd Tom Balch (26) 38pts
Near Pins: Bob Newell, Lindsay Semple, Brad Sproxton, Peter Raita
Long Drives: Grant Montgomery, Axel Mittelmann, Lou ZigZag
Crystal Bay was the venue for day 2 of our second joint competition with Lewiinski’s Golf Society. As a shared effort for hosting the event, so it was too for the match report, Day 1 being covered by George ‘I need a title for my book’ Jackson in his weekly write up.
Fifty seven players teed it up today with guys from all over the planet and every age range covered, making it a truly cosmopolitan event. Up in the winners’ circle alone we had representatives from the US, Canada, UK, France, Sweden, Germany, Australia and Japan, emphasising once again what a global affair golf really is here in Pattaya.
These tournaments are not easy to arrange and take a lot of effort to pull off successfully, so take a second next time to appreciate all the work that the guys and staff at both venues do to provide us with, not only top quality competitions, but excellent food and service at presentation.
Occasionally, due to the very nature of golf here, things might not always run entirely smoothly. Imagine, if you will, just 1 or 2 people who have signed up not showing up on the day and how that impacts on everyone. Groupings that have been arranged previously now, suddenly, need re-arranging and all minutes before teeing off. That’s another thought to ponder next time you sign up at any society.
Moving on to the golf, we had 7 technical prizes up for grabs, near pins and long drives, and these were all nicely shared out between the two bars. Three flights were in operation today with 3 places in each.
What can I say about C Flight? It wasn’t compulsory to be over 70 years old to be in it but it may have looked like it; some of these guys were around when Moses was a lad. The average age of our 3 winners must have been nudging 90, throw in Joe ‘sat-nav’ Tynan, who just missed out in fourth, and we would have definitely topped the ton mark!
‘Young’ Tommy Balch celebrated his move up to the red tees with a nicely crafted 38 points and third place. Just back in town again, with the lovely Marlene, his wife of ‘fifty two’ years, is the man who defies all medical logic, Brian ‘zimmer’ Prudden, rolling back the years with a cracking 40 points. But easing ahead, at a nice steady pace mind you, was the spring chicken himself, Jim Elphick. His 42 points matched the best of the day and got him top place on the podium (with the necessary safety rails of course).
Thankfully these are all good blokes and friends of mine so they wont mind a bit of ribbing but, either way, it wont matter because they will have forgotten about it anyway 5 minutes after reading it!
After the nicely spaced out scoring of C Flight we got the exact opposite in the hotly contested B flight, where the bulk of today’s handicaps were situated. Five guys were all locked on 38 points, vying for 2nd and 3rd placings.
With only 16 on the back 9 it was hard lines to Pat Regan. Next to fall by the wayside was the ever-vocal Peter Hynard with 18 on the back. Asked for his comments, we all walked away before he could give them! The last unlucky player was Pat’s fellow countryman Colm Mullen who, despite 19 on count back, missed out.
This left the scrabble-winning combination of Takeshi Hakozaki and Axel Mittelmann who could not initially be separated, both with 20 for the back 9 score. With the back 6 score favouring Axel it was he who won that little battle. Leaving only the man of the moment Brad Sproxton. In the purplest of purple patches he couldn’t be bothered with count backs and just blasted his rivals away by 4 clear points for another brilliant 42.
As we get into the A Flight, which also required a count back for third place, it would be hard not to think a conspiracy was in place as the continuance of tongue-twisting names showed no signs of abating.
With 37 points and 19 coming back, Peter LeNoury ousted Jean-Pierre Gasser for third. In second and 1 point better was the man who seems to make a habit of taking the money when he plays with us, Thierry Petremont. This left the relative newcomer Kurt Lirussi to sweep clear at the top with 40 points.
Only one final thing remained and that was for the presentation of the engraved lead crystal glassware for the overall 2 day champion. Many people tried hard today but, even with a mediocre performance from Wednesday’s winner, he would surely have been tough to beat. That didn’t happen however as our winner relentlessly pressed home his advantage for a staggering 2 day total of 87 points. Congratulations then to Brad Sproxton, a worthy winner and a true gent.
Let’s hope we see you all for the next one in January!
