Marcus sparkles at Crystal Bay

0
948

PSC Golf from the Ferdinand Golf Society

Monday, March 16, Crystal Bay A & C – Stableford

Travelling north on Highway 3 is always busy on a Monday morning but we arrived at Crystal Bay in plenty of time for our 10.00am start.  After waiting for several groups to tee off ahead of us on C1, our first group got away right on time on a perfect golfing day, quite hot but with a nice breeze to cool things down.  The course was in fine shape with the greens firm and true and the golfers ahead of us were setting a good pace therefore no delays and we completed our round in a little over four hours.

All the placegetters were in group one with Marcus Earp taking first place with an excellent 42 points, so he can look forward to losing some shots after the next handicap update.  Good pal Marco Beer from Switzerland came second with a fine 40 points and your writer, Peter Blackburn (19 point back nine), came third on a count back over Bent Larsen (18 point back nine) with both of us having 36 points.

Marcus Earp.Marcus Earp.

1st Marcus Earp (33) 42pts

2nd Marco Beer (17) 40pts

3rd Peter Blackburn (16) 40pts

Near Pins: C7 – Christian Boysen

Long Putts: A9 – Christian Boysen

Friday, March 20, Phoenix, Mountain & Lake – Stableford

We had yet another excellent field for our Friday at Phoenix competition with in excess of 10 groups on the starting sheet.  Our tee time of 10.32 am was a little earlier than normal, which caught a few of us napping but there were no great dramas and we got the whole field away without too much trouble.

The weather was good but very hot and not much breeze but the course was in good condition with most of the greens quite slick.  The pace was quite good and most of the groups took about four and a quarter hours to complete their round.

We had two flights on the day with A Flight being for handicaps 0 to 17 and B Flight for 18 and over with 5 places in each flight.

The winner in A Flight was Paul Smith with 33 points and Peter Ditz finished second 1 point further back.  There were 3 golfers on 31 points so a count back was required which resulted in third place going to Freddy Starbeck (21 point back nine) with John Chelo (16 point back nine) fourth and your writer, Peter Blackburn (15 point back nine) finishing fifth.

John Dearden (left) & Paul Smith.John Dearden (left) & Paul Smith.

B Flight saw John Dearden emerge the winner with 33 points, 1 point ahead of Bernard Green in second spot while Marcus Earp came third with 31 points and another count back saw Dick Braimbridge (15 point back nine) finish fourth ahead of Peter Terry (13 point back nine) fifth – both golfers having 29 points.

A Flight (0-17)

1st Paul Smith (3) 33pts

2nd Peter Ditz (10) 32pts

3rd Freddy Starbeck (14) 31pts

4th John Chelo (17) 31pts

5th Peter Blackburn (16) 31pts

B Flight (18+)

1st John Dearden (20) 33pts

2nd Bernard Green (27) 32pts

3rd Marcus Earp (33) 31pts

4th Dick Braimbridge (34) 29pts

5th Peter Terry (18) 29pts

Near Pins: M4 – Peter Terry, M8 – Paul Smith, L2 – ‘Banjo’ Bannister, L7 – Neil Skilton

Long Putts: M9 – Mogens Melander, L9 – Tor

Note: The Ferdinand Golf Society welcomes golfers of any persuasion – low & high handicappers alike, female golfers and beginners.  We generally play Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays at Phoenix, meeting at The Phantom Bar in Soi Buakhow 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 petermal [email protected].