Change of Course – Avril Wins First ‘Jacket’

When the PSC February rates were posted on Jan.30, very helpful, we had a quick look to catch any changes from last month’s pricing.

I saw the special 1650 bht G/fee, caddy, cart price at Khao Kheow was missing. As we had thought that price would roll into Feb, I decided on a phone call to confirm or get a new price to inform the players.

That call confirmed for Links Golf on Monday Feb.3 our price is 1650 bht all in.

The first we heard about 2150 bht was at the green fees desk at check-in. The manager was called, some explaining, by Paul Smith who speaks fluent Thai, and attempted negotiations failed, so Phil told him that we will just load our 44 golfers on the buses and go somewhere else. There was no attempt to stop us.

Nearby Pleasant Valley was only too happy to take the combined 90,000 bht that our golfers had in their pockets ready to spend. We had a booking at KK for Feb.21, that is now cancelled along with that approx. 90,000 bht plus two more on the draft shedule for March.

Everybody calmly waited until the later tee time of 11.30 am, caddies were sorted and our first group got away on time.

The course is in very good condition, and has been for quite some time now. I think this is the Pleasant Valley we might expect from here on.

We had some good results today without those crazy 40 plus scores.

Andrew Kelleher was pretty disappointed with his first game back a couple of weeks ago, but has been gradually getting happier and his 38 points to win the ‘A’ flight shows that he is back.

Steve Moxey won the Green Jacket on Friday and continued that form to score 37 points for second place, while Patrick Engels was once again among the results with his 36 points to win a countback over his good mate, Pierre Cere.

Keith Griffiths has had two games since getting back last week and won both of them. Today, 38 points got him the ‘B’ flight win.

Stuart Thompson, in his last outing before heading back to Aus. for a while, and Darren Beavers battled it out at 37 points, for the minor placings, with Stu getting the nod for second on countback.

The ‘C’ flight produced a winning score from another Lady visitor. Avril Chambers made 39 points to take the win and her first Green Jacket. She is the third lady winner in a few weeks, so maybe Phil’s idea of a Pink Jacket is taking shape.

Jim Ferris has slowly been returning to form and his score of 34 points took second spot ahead of Kenny Jepson on 32 points.

Near Pin ‘A’ flight: George Mueller, Andrew Kelleher, Peter Lacey, Wayne Peppernell

Near Pin ‘B’ flight: Alan Walker, Jim Ferris, Avril Chambers, Larry Slattery.

‘A’ Flight ( 0-14)

1^st  Place – Andrew Kelleher (11) – 38 pts

2^nd Place – Steve Moxey (13) – 37 pts

3^rd Place – Patrick Engels (10) – 36 pts c/back

 “B” Flight (15-21)

1^st  Place –  Keith Griffiths (17) – 38 pts

2^nd Place – Stuart Thompson (21) – 37 pts c/back

3^rd Place – Darren Beavers (19) – 37 pts

‘C’ Flight ( 22+)

 1^st  Place – Avril Chambers (22)- 39 pts

2^nd Place – Jim Ferris (25) – 34 pts

3^rd Place – Kenny Jepson (26) – 32 pts

Best Front Nine “C” ( non winners)….John Chelo….21 pts c/back

Best Back Nine “A” (non winners)…..Keith Melbourne ….21 pts

It was getting late by the time of presentations so it was decided to leave out the ‘wig’ for today. But…Phil couldn’t resist the chance to tell another story about Rana and have him wear the ‘silly hat’.

A day that could have turned into somewhat of a disaster was handled extremely well by Phil with the complete cooperation of all players, well done all. And, we got to play golf.