Kenny Chung captures Monthly Mug

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PSC Golf from the Café Kronborg

Monday, Feb. 13, Bangpakong – Stableford

We originally had a full field and a waiting list but by the time there were cancellations and two annoying “no shows” we ended up with a still very good number of 37 golfers to travel to the lovely Bangpakong Riverside Golf Club.

The Admiral was one of the late cancellations with what turned out to be gout so it was up to yours truly to get things going with assistance from Andre, Hunter, Ken & Toddy.  We handed out several welcomes including Brad Todd from Perth, Western Australia, Ed Kost From Brisbane, Australia, Shinichi Kobayashi from Japan, Bob Edwards from Utah in the USA, Martin & Nick Thomas from Vancouver, Canada & London, UK respectively and Chris Partridge from Sheffield, UK.  We were also blessed with the presence of Mulligan’s Lakeside golf organizer and winner of last Friday’s PSC Monthly Medal best gross award, Jeff Wylie.

Kenny Chung (left) receives the Monthly Mug from Bjarne.Kenny Chung (left) receives the Monthly Mug from Bjarne.

Due to a few people running late we departed the Kronny a tad later than scheduled at 0823 hrs and arrived at the course 65 minutes later in four mini vans.  Our allotted tee time was 1007 hrs and after waiting for a couple of groups to hit off, our first group, a three ball got away just 3 minutes behind schedule.

The weather was good although hot and humid and as usual the course was in fantastic condition with superb greens.  This truly is one of the best courses that we play and I for one and no doubt many others look forward to the monthly trip here.  Despite the five-ball in front of us the pace was quite good and after one enforced break for drinks we completed our full round in four hours & twenty five minutes.

American Monty Sykes finally hit his straps and shot 70 off the stick to just win the A Flight with 47 points, 1 point ahead of fellow American Ken Bernek in second place.  Jeff Wylie also had a sub-par round and finished third with 43 points and in a count back for fourth & fifth places Shinichi Kobayashi (24 point back nine & 16 points last 6 holes) triumphed ahead of Peter Blackburn (24 point back nine & 15 points last 6 holes), both with 40 points.  Mr consistency Rob Brown finished sixth with 39 points.

B Flight was won by Jan Lovgreen with 43 points, just 1 point ahead of Elias Magnusson in second spot and Graham Buckingham was third on 40 points.  Eddie “The Eagle” Glinsek surprised everyone (including himself) by scoring 39 points and finishing fourth with Kjeld Ravn in fifth place with 38 points and Mick O’Connor sixth on 36 points.

Monty Sykes, Peter Blackburn & Jan Lovgreen.Monty Sykes, Peter Blackburn & Jan Lovgreen.

A Flight (0-19)

1st Monte Sykes (9) 47pts

2nd Ken Bernek (18) 46pts

3rd Jeff Wylie (6) 43 points

4th Shinichi Kobayashi (16) 40pts

5th Peter Blackburn (13) 40pts

6th Rob Brown (7) 39pts

B Flight (20+)

1st Jan Lovgreen (23) 43pts

2nd Elias Magnusson (23) 42pts

3rd Graham Buckingham (22) 40pts

4th Eddie Glinsek (34) 39pts

5th Kjeld Ravn (21) 38pts

6th Mick O’Connor (22) 36pts

Near Pins:  4th Peter Blackburn, 7th Mike Gosden, 13th Jan Lovgreen, 16th Jeff Wylie

Long Putts:  9th Mick O’Connor, 18th Jesper Rasmussen

After having a good day last Thursday the ladies did not fare too well on this day and with two of them featuring in a count back for the Compass Cap it was eventually awarded to Susan Gaarde.

Thursday, Feb. 16, Pattaya C.C. – Stroke

A warm welcome was made to two visitors today, Anders Moeller from Sweden and Ross Nicholson from Scotland.  The buses were on time but some of the players (maybe one) were late and for some unknown reason the Admiral waited an extra 10 minutes before normal departure?

Apparently, the condition of the course was not up to stroke play standard with complaints that the first three holes were sanded and a comment was made to the scribe, “After three holes we had to learn to putt again!”  Similarly the rough, fairways and cut around the greens were also reportedly in neglect.

We have heard that from mid March the back nine here will be closed for 7 months with major rehab works in the pipeline followed by the front nine with a similar makeover, so perhaps the condition of the course as a whole is being neglected in consideration of the closures?

There were two flights today 0–19 for A grade and 20 and above for B grade with a single award for the best net score of the day, the Monthly Mug, generously donated once again by Bjarne of Café Kronborg.

Kenny Chung was victorious in winning the Monthly Mug award with a net 68 off his 25 handicap.  Apparently, the person who wins the mug is entitled to produce it and ask any other player to fill it up, with beverage of choice, once over the ensuing month.  (The scribe hopes to win it one day and preferably during the high season when we have maximum players!)

Winner of the A flight was the popular Takeshi Hakozaki with net 69 (14) followed by Michael Catillon 70 (19), Peter Sindberg third with 74 (13) and Nils Hansen 75 (15) in fourth spot but unfortunately for him he was not at presentation so as per the standing rules he forfeited and Martin Todd 76 (8) was awarded fourth position.

B flight was taken out by Hugh O’Donnell with a net 71 (26) and it was reported that he “toured every grain of sand” being in almost every bunker!  In second place on a count back was the ever improving Carole Kubicki with 72 (24) followed by Dave Richardson “The Admiral” 72 (23) and fourth was Kurt Sandgaard also 72 (36).

Near Pins:  5th Richard Kubicki, 7th Peter Sindberg, 12th Carole Kubicki, 16th Michael Catillon

Long Putts:  9th Ross Nicholson, 18th Robert Brown (who had a shocker and allegedly commented “The only prize I can win now is this!” so Texas wedged from one foot off the green to one foot on the green and proceeded to knock in the longest putt!)

Our mate from Oz, Dick Bainbridge was once again the recipient of this worst score of the day award and will be donating to charity when he fronts up next, as there is another standing rule which says that the “Compass award cannot be forfeited for non attendance at presentations”. Dick’s bad day was highlighted by his sand iron breaking off at the handle due to corrosion.  Time to buy a new set mate!

Deefa’s masters “The Drut” was absent but stand in, Ken Bernek, paraded Deefa and collected many grateful contributions and also fined a few players for playful indiscretions. It is understood that the coffers from this worthy collection is currently in the tens of thousands of baht, to be used to enhance the lives of some lucky, less fortunate local children in the near future.  Deefa’s owner will inform soon.