Handford & O’Keefe joint first in Race2Bkk

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PSC golf from The Outback Golf Bar

Monday, August 18, Burapha – Stableford

After a few grizzles last week about the length of A & B from the blues, the five Outbacker groups had the pleasure of the shorter white tees on one of the hottest August days for years; thankfully some rain came later in the round which cooled us all down a little.

Carts were not allowed on the course so winter rules (lift, clean and place on the fairway) came into effect, however the scoring remained mediocre as only three players matched or bettered their handicap and there were no ‘2’s.

(From left): Sugar Ray, Greg Hirst, John Stafford and John O’Keefe.(From left): Sugar Ray, Greg Hirst, John Stafford and John O’Keefe.

A surprise winner in Tony Aslett won Div B with 35pts from Denis Steele in second on 32, who was warming up for the big upcoming Hua Hin tournament as were Kim Danboise and Barney Clarkson who both had 31’s, Kim getting the nod for third on count back.

Bob Finley had the top score of the day with 39 points to beat Jim Brackett (38) in Div A, with Kerry Beck (36) third and Dennis Pelly fourth with 34.

Div A (0–14)

1st Bob Finley (13) 39pts

2nd Jim Brackett (08) 38pts

3rd Kerry Beck (13) 36pts

Div B (15+)

1st Tony Aslett (24) 35 pts

2nd Denis Steele (15) 32 pts

3rd Kim Danboise (15) 31 pts

Wednesday, August 20, Thai Country Club – Stableford

The Race2Bkk 2014 started at Burapha on the 2nd December last year, culminating in the final which was held this week at the beautiful Thai Country Club.  Points are awarded for all podium places throughout the year for all of the Outback weekly tournaments, with the Monthly Medal and Tours counting double.  The top 24 players throughout the year are invited to play in a one round final for a total purse of 30,000 baht, with 20,000 of that going to the winner.

A trio of smiles at Thai Country Club.A trio of smiles at Thai Country Club.

Thai Country Club kindly gave the Outback some very generous concessions for four visits to the course over the last four months which was much appreciated by many and for which, in particular, I would like to thank John Blanch, their General Manager, for making it possible.  The staff there have been impeccable and have looked after us all extremely well on every occasion.

Greg Hirst of DeVere, who sponsors our Monthly Medals has continued to sponsor this event jointly with the Outback but we welcome the inclusion of a new main sponsor in “Providence Life”.

On a hugely hot and humid day for golf with the course presented as always in immaculate condition, we tried a different format to last year’s final, which was stroke-play; but some of the higher handicappers felt that as we played stableford most of the year, i.e. for most of the qualifiers, they were disadvantaged as strokeplay may favour the lower marker.  So this year we played a stableford event, which I believe, if played off full handicap in one division, favours the high handicappers; so to level the field a little, everybody received 7/8ths of their handicap as their allowance.  We also decided that there would be no count back in the main event due to the amount of prize money up for grabs.

So to the winner of the main event, in fact joint winners, as both Sugar Ray and John O’Keefe scored 37 points each to share a pot of 26,000 baht, followed home by John Stafford with 36, who picked up 4000 baht.  Green Fee vouchers were awarded to Kim Danboise (35pts) in 4th, Paul Bourke (34pts) in 5th, Kerry Beck (34pts) in 6th and Andy Makara (33pts) in 7th.

We also must thank the Managers at Siam Plantation, Laem Chabang, Burapha and Green Valley who have once again provided additional support and prizes by way of complimentary Green Fee vouchers.

As for normal daily event, there were two divisions, the top division being won by Kim Danboise (35), with Paul Bourke (34), Kerry Beck (34) and Brad Jordison (33) taking 2nd, 3rd and 4th.  Whilst Div B looked a little different as the first three in the Race2Bkk all came from this division and they could not win one of the daily prizes, leaving John Fitzgerald the winner on 33 points and Andy Makara (33), David Davies (32) and Suzi Lawton (31) taking the minor podium places.

There were three ‘2’s from Andy Makara & Steve Mann on the 11th and Sugar Ray on the 16th.

The date for the start of the Race2Bkk 2015 has not yet been set but is likely to be October 1st at Laem Chabang.

Div A (0-13)

1st Kim Danboise (13) 35pts

2nd Paul Bourke (09) 34pts

3rd Kerry Beck (11) 34pts

4th Brad Jordison (07) 33pts

Div B (14+)

1st Sugar Ray Handford (17) 37pts

2nd John O’Keefe (16) 37pts

3rd John Stafford (15) 36pts

4th John Fitzgerald (16) 33pts

Friday, August 22, Green Valley – Stableford

As the PSC decided to stage one of their monthly tournaments here at Green Valley and the Outback were reluctant to move to St. Andrews, we staged our comp in and around the PSC players starting on the eleventh tee.

About half of our field of 22 played in the PSC comp as well as ours and the scoring was fairly keen.  Brad Jordison found himself on a new handicap for the Hua Hin tournament, as he scored 39 points to win Div A from Martin Kingswood (36) and Greg Hill (35), and Andy Makara, who also did quite well in the PSC event, won Div B with 41 points and was looking to carry that form with down to Hua Hin.

Sugar Ray (37) followed up his success in the Race2Bkk with another good round here to take second, with John Fitzgerald (36) finishing off a very successful week’s golf, to take third.

Loads of ‘2’s today from Martin Kingswood (5th), Eddy Beilby, Dennis Pelly, John Fitzgerald & Bob Lindborg all on the 8th and Greg Hill on the 16th.

Div A (0-17)

1st Brad Jordison (08) 39pts

2nd Martin Kingswood (13) 36pts

3rd Greg Hill (17) 35pts

Div B (18+)

1st Andy Makara (23) 41pts

2nd Sugar Ray Handford (19) 37pts

3rd John Fitzgerald (18) 36pts

Note:  The Outback Golf Bar is situated about 6km from Sukhumvit Road along Soi Siam Country.  Call Jack on 081 578 1956.