Presentation Night was again held at the Tiger Bar after the success from last year. Les and his helpers at the Chiangmai Club’s expence once again did us proud with ample food to suit most participants and partners. A vote of thanks was given by both club captains for all the efforts of those concerned and the Issan Club presented the Chiangmai club with a box of dark Lao beer and two bottles of spirits to be handed out in our next competition (Scramble end November at Lanna). Prizes were handed out for the nearest the pins on all three courses and much to our regret the Challenge Cup was again handed over to Tim till next year. The similarity between the two clubs was once again highlighted by the overall results and the social activities and comradeship. An invite was given by Tim & Nuan Sansorn from Khon Kaen TAT for the club to come and enjoy the hospitality of Khon Kaen’s Hotels and Golf Courses next year at around the same time. All agreed that once again the format for the competition and social activities was a big success and most if not all are looking forward to the re-match next year.
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MAEJO MATCH PLAY SINGLES.
Clear Blue Skies and for once most people were almost too early. The starter gave us the go ahead 1 hour early and indicated that we could go off 1 & 10, but when it came down to it there was one person missing from the first three groups so it was necessary to start the Social players and higher handicaps first. But by 10am, our original tee-off time, all but one group were on their way. And just as well because play was slow and I put that down to the fact that the competition went down to the last group on the last hole with 5 matches halved out of 15. The last three groups taking between five and five and a half hours to complete. Unfortunately Chiangmai were not good enough on the final day going down to Issan 20.5 to 24.5, meaning that another very close competition went Issan’s way winning the trophy by one point overall. The nearest the pins went to Barry Finch (Issan) and David Murphy (Chiangmai). So even the nearest the pins were split 50/50 in the overall competition.
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GASSAN KHUNTAN SOCIAL SCRAMBLE.
Overcast skies were a bit of a worry after yesterday but the God’s smiled on us today and we had some great weather with a mixture of blue sky, cloud and sunshine but no rain. The course came as a shock to some especially after the dirt track leading to the course which has been made much worse after all the rain over the past week. But to everyones surprise the course looked as pretty as a picture and played extremely well although the general consensus was that it was a good challenge for all concerned and they were glad that it was the social days play and not the competition day. After some late withdrawals we ended up with Two 3 balls and Six 4 balls and with only two groups getting in under Par one three ball (Mr B, Greg and An) and one 4 ball (Guy, Andy, Tim, Keith) they were our winners and the next best was Level Par (Alan, Dave, Malcolm & Les). Well done and a box of Lao beer to each team. The nearest the pins were won by Nuan on the 2nd hole and Tim on the 18th hole. The shot of the day was by Phil Williams who put the first shot of the day off the tenth through the crowd of on lookers without hitting anyone and didnt even make the water in front of the Ladies tee.
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GREEN VALLEY MATCH PLAY PAIRS.
While Green Valley itself was in great shape the weather unfortunately let us down. The previous nights rain had made the start very humid but with cloudy skies it was hoped we would have a decent round, but the sun broke through and increased the humidity and when the breeze did come after nine holes it was followed by a short shower. But worse was to come, the first group made it to the 18th Green but the remaining 9 groups were caught in one of the most torrential downpours we have seen this year just five holes from home. The first three groups home were outright 3 point wins to Chiangmai and Issan chipped in with one 3 point win and the rest of the groups were fairly evenly split giving the final result on day one of the tournament to Chiangmai 13.5 points to Issans 10.5 points. The nearest the pins were on hole 3 won by Nigel Jones and on hole 12 won by Gordon Langtry.