MATCH REPORT
Day One.
On Tuesday, Over 50 golfers teed off in the now traditional mixed team scramble event. What Isaan Organiser Tim had not told us was the little surprise that on already undulating greens at Singha Park he had very kindly arranged for the pins to be placed at the most precarious places on the greens, resulting in any number of three and even a few four putts!! On one hole, an attempted 3 foot putt slid by resulting in a side roll down a hill and a 15 footer coming back!! Chiang Mai players Grahame Curry, Steve Blakey, Gordon Bell and Graham Best were all in the prizes finishing in the top 3 of 13 teams and a good time was had by all.
Day Two.
Wednesday consisted of 11 fourball betterball pairs matches, mostly producing very close matches, a number of which came down to the final putt on the 18th green. Chiang Mai won 5 matches, Isaan 4, with 2 tied. Notable victories were won by the Chiang Mai teams involving Grahame Curry, Mark Windle, Ian Rudd, Kari Laukkanen (all Royal Leaguers), Brendan Tanham, Craig Morris, Dan Evans and Graham Best (thank goodness for the Australia/ New Zealand section of the CMSG!!). Valuable points were also picked up in draws or narrow defeats involving Phil Williams & Steve Blakey, Len Sparrow & Malcolm Tetley, Harrie Sanders & Duane Demmerle, and John Almquist & Peter Roberts.
This left the score at the end of the first day of competition proper a precarious 17 to 16 lead for Chiang Mai.
Day Three.
Thursday is by nature, the most nervous day for everyone, with this year twenty singles matches and 60 points at stake at the home course of many of the opposition, Dancoon, a quirky rough & ready type of course, not a patch on the beautiful Singha Park which is only 2 years old and already hosting Pro Tour events. The Isaan team were in a determined mood not to have the hat trick of victories done to them by the Chiang Mai team, and it showed in the play where after nine holes our side was already down in most of the matches. In the end, despite great wins for Mark Windle, Jukka Vilander, Ian Rudd, Craig Morris, Graham Best and Gordon Bell , we only managed six victories out of twenty matches, with Isaan winning eleven and three tied, resulting in a final victory for Isaan by 51 1/2 points to 41 1/2.
It just wasnt our day! Even in the prize draw/ raffle during the presentation ceremony and excellent barbecue, about 15 Isaan guys won raffle prizes against only about five for Chiang Mai guys!!
Well played to Isaan, they deserved their win.....just......if only a couple more matches had gone to us instead of them, we would have won and retained the trophy!!I guess thats what makes Golf such a great game especially in matchplay events!!....ah well, lets see what next year brings. All who attended had a great time, the hosts once again did an excellent organising job, and all went very smoothly.....apart from the result!!
MALCOLM
