Eight Buriram Golf Society members and one international guest played at the Suranaree Golf Course (Korat army base) and the Korat Country Club on 8-9 September.
These road tours are popular and very competitive, though the first day scores showed how tough playing an unknown course can be.
Dave Griffin led the way at Suranaree with 25 points from Lindsay Warden (24) and Peter Dempsey (23). Plenty of water and enough trees to keep an axe man happy for a long time proved a big test for our intrepid group.
Fairways were on the narrow side so each shot needed to be well placed to navigate to the beautiful greens.
Fast rolling greens with subtle slopes are a little different to our home course at Khao Kradong so cursing along the lines of “I just touched that and it’s way past the hole” were common.
Fast Greens Proved To Be a Tough Challenge
Magnus Sundgren, on one leg for most of the round and suffering from the heat, was off his usual game as was Colin Bradwell who preferred to phone his sweetheart on nearly every hole (just to make sure she was happy waiting in the clubhouse – very sweet really but it certainly affected the score of the defending tour champion).
Rod Young started slowly with his new clubs and found club selection difficult early on. With some energetic support from his caddy he got going on the second nine holes to post 18 points.
Tony Murphy and Neil Cameron found the water carries a little long but managed to finish with respectable scores not too far from the leaders.
John Upex played as a guest of Colin and scored well on the first day though Tony and Neil savagely cut his handicap for day two. John is now our first official overseas member (spending most of his time in England) and his UPEX Group business has been welcomed as a Society sponsor.
The day’s trials and tribulations were discussed in great detail in the hotel bar and the Check Bar close by. Captain Neil directed traffic at the table and was unstoppable when he found out that buying five large Leos got you a free bottle!
Youngy took on a fatherly role to make sure our overnight leader Dave was cared for in an appropriate manner and was never short of some fluid. Colin organised a lovely pink hair comb for Dave who had left his at home.
Dave combed his hair so much that by the end of the night his head was wobbling on his shoulders (or could it have been the Leo?).
The Evening’s Festivities With Leo’s in Abundance
Another hot day greeted the golfers at the Korat Country Club on the second day. A very different layout with water only in play on a few holes. Society supremo Peter Dempsey was helpful in locating the water on several holes for his group and his caddy actually fished one ball out for him amongst dozens of lovely water lilies.
Magnus and Colin found their form and played well for 30 points each – Magnus had 20 points on the front nine before tiring.
The final group of Dave, Lindsay and Peter struggled to hit shots early on but improved on terrible front nine scores to end up with 27 and 28 points.
It was a good battle in this group with Dave dropping out of contention before scoring 10 points in three holes to take back the lead. A three putt on the final hole gave him 52 points for the championship, tied with Lindsay and one ahead of Peter.
Their hopes were dashed at the clubhouse when it was revealed that Rod had made his charge and scored 35 points to take out the Tour Trophy with a total of 53.
Hopes Dashed At The Clubhouse
Only two points separated the first five players and only seven points between first to last. Tony’s evil brilliant handicapping system was proved triumphant. He showed remarkable restraint when adjusting winner Rod’s handicap from 10 to 6 – just a few discrete giggles and guffaws.
Both golf courses are in good condition with excellent greens. Suranaree was more difficult due to the extensive water and tight fairways but was the more beautiful (and busier) of the two layouts.
The Country Club is a very good layout with plenty of doglegs that require placement off the tee and many more trees lining the generous fairways.
It was certainly a more straight forward test than Suranaree which requires good knowledge of its layout to avoid the many traps laying in wait for the unwary golfer.
Appropriately, the Tour Trophy will now sit proudly in the Society’s official home at Paddy’s Irish Bar and Outback Grill (proprietor Rod Young). We expect it to be polished every day until the next road trip.
Trophy Winner Rod Young (Left), Presented By Previous Winner Colin Bradwell
The mark of a champion (or just a lucky golfer?) – Rod hit a long but wayward drive on a par 5 hole to find himself cutting the corner to the green but faced with a few tall trees.
Estimated distance to hole – 190 yards. Play to make – have to hit an 8 iron to get over the trees! Shot executed – whacked a flyer out of the rough to get within inches of the green. A truly amazing shot though spoiled by a three putt for par.
Report by Lindsay