Snake Oil Works for Phil

Phil Davies arrived at Links this morning planning on withdrawing from the start sheet. His left shoulder was in pain, but then Tip Briney offered some of his magic heat cream, that has something to do with scorpions?. This magic worked and Phil went out to play.

Phil then topped the scoring with 41 points in a nice return to form. The irony is that Tip Briney scored 40 points only to be deprived of his second successive Green Jacket by the man he cured.

As there was preparation for the Singha All Thailand Tournament on the A+B nines, we were assigned C+D nines.

Maurice called lift, clean and place which proved to be a good decision as the fairways were soft with virtually no run, the skirt in front of the greens was soft and the greens slow.

The rough  here is thick and deep and many a ball is lost as it sinks into the grass.

Thirty two players teed off with the weather very hot and no breeze for relief.

Phil, of course, won the “A” flight four points better than Mark Efendie, who is on a flying visit from Australia. His score of 37 points looked good on this course today.

Another on a quick turnaround is Garry Barker who returned a nice even 36 points from his handicap of #3. And the best gross for the day.

John Pierrel filled fourth spot with 35 points.

The magic potion man took first place for the “B” flight by six points from Barry Oats, who seems to hang in pretty well and today played a steady game, scoring 34 points.

Mike Firkin showed a glimpse of a return to form, taking third place with 32 points, while Stu Brown was in the mix once again with only 30 points, but that was enough.

After the first nine the weather changed to something completely different as cloud cover moved in with the caddies forecasting rain. A strong breeze blew up and the temperature became noticeably cooler and much more pleasant.

Near Pins: Bill Copeland (A flight), Wayne Peppernell (A flight), Iain Craigen (B flight).

                   No winner for the other B flight pin.

A-Flight (0 –15)

1^st Place – Phil Davies (13) – 41 pts

2^nd Place -Mark Efendie (15) – 37 pts

3^rd Place -Garry Barker (3) – 36 pts

4^th Place -John Pierrel (13) – 35 pts

B-Flight (16 +)

1^st Place -Tip Briney (23) – 40 pts

2^nd Place -Barry Oats (28) – 34 pts

3^rd Place -Mike Firkin (24) – 32 pts c/back

4^th Place – Stu Brown (28) – 30 pts

Best Front Nine ( non winners) – Paul Durkan – 19 pts

Best Back Nine ( non winners) –  Tommy Marshall – 19 pts c/back

One “B” flight near pin had the name of an “A” flight player, so we thought that was worth a “silly hat” for Guy Stewart.

John Anderson managed (or mis-managed) his worst score in Thailand and thoroughly deserved the “wig”.

The caddies got it right. The rain came in sheets as our last group exited the 18^th green, and continued until the last Toll gate into Pattaya, which was dry.