The Haven Weekly Report

CSS 72

1st Roar Berger (26) - 36 cb 20

2nd Barry Traynor (12) - 36 cb 18

3rd Brian Talbot (13) - 35

4th Russell Exley (7) - 33 cb 18

5th Fred Chadwick (15) - 33 cb 15 b6 12

6th Dave Lehane (16) - 33 cb 15 b6 10

A very tough weeks golf out of Soi 13, with only one player out of the three competitions scoring below par, started at Green Valley and with the numbers still down following the mass exodus over the Songkran holidays there was just the one division, which was headed by Roar Berger as he won a tight count back with Barry Traynor with a better 20 to 18 on the back nine after Barry had gone out in a level handicap score but could not squeeze out that last put on the 18th green. But Roar was a worthy winner as he finished particularly strongly over the last three.

Brian Talbot made it a happy return to Pattaya with a one over handicap score that was good enough for third spot with Russell Exley another two shots back in fourth.

Russell just got the better of Fred Chadwick with a count back of 18 to 15 and Fred just edged Dave Lehane with a back six of 12 to 10 for fifth place.

Fred Chadwick scored the only 2 in the first division and Roar Berger had the lone one in the second.

Before presenting the prizes Stephen Beard welcomed back Ole Stamnes, David Lehane, Brian Talbot and Cliff Hornsby.

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1st Cliff Hornsby (16) - 31

2nd Paul Hartley (20) - 30 cb 15 b6 12

3rd Brian Talbot (13) - 30 cb 15 b6 10

4th Jens Gunnarsson (12) - 28

With the weather as "hot as hell" and a green keeper intent on setting the hardest pin positions, the course played about as hard as it can which saw the days CSS move out to 75 and become a non- counting competition for upward handicap review.

Cliff Hornsby was as surprised as anyone as he took his first win for some time out of The Haven by the slimmest of margins ahead of Paul, Hartley and Brain Talbot with the former getting the nod for second with a winning 12 to 10 on the back six after they had halved the nine in 15’s.

Jens Gunnarson filled out the mentions with a unmemorable score but one good on the day for fourth place.

Unsurprisingly, with the course set up and the prevailing conditions, there were no 2’s in either division.

Prior to the presentation by The Doc, he welcomed back Paul Hartley and Kevin Townsend.

Back at The Haven, a story was related concerning a recent scramble where the usual preferred lies were used after selecting the teams ball position. One of the competing teams were noted as placing all the balls played on a tee on every occasion, even in the rough, and when questioned about the incidents replied, "well we rather prefer to play the ball off a tee than the ground, as it can sometimes be too difficult" Fortunately for the rest of the competitors, the golfing standards of the team were not high enough to trouble the scorers and so it did not become an issue.

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1st Tom Byrne (14) - 68

2nd Russell Exley (7) - 76

3rd Kevin Townsend (10) - 80

1st Evan Millar (23) - 74

2nd Sid Ottaway (22) - 79

3rd Alec Hoare (16) - 81

Ladies

1st Orawan Meeraka (32) - 80

Tom Byrne at last broke the par which had eluded all the other competitors during the week’s previous outings with a stunning four under score at what is arguably the toughest course that is played regularly by the group.

From the yellow tees the A and C courses measure over 6600 yards and anything around par can usually be expected to be in contention, so four under is a very commendable number and comparison with the next best in any division shows a six shot margin and Tom’s win by eight strokes underscores his dominance of the first division.

Russell Exley took a creditable second place with Kevin Townsend pleasantly surprised to end up in third.

The second division was led home by Evan Millar who outshone the rest of the division by five shots with Sid Ottaway being the nearest and Alec Hoare another two strokes adrift in third place.

With only one lady participating, there was once again no Ladies medal winner, but Orawan’s very good score, especially in the light of the rest of the scores and achieved from the white tees deserves special mention.

Trevor Schirmer slipped in the only 2 in the first division and Evan Millar added to his days haul with his solo effort in the second division.

Before presenting the prizes The Doc welcomed new member Shuichi Shibata and also welcomed back Charlie Sheppard, Alec Hoare, Tom Byrne and Joe McArdle.