PSC 119th monthly golf tournament

by Nigel Cannon

Pleasant Valley Golf Club

The picturesque Pleasant Valley was the course selected by golf chairman Joe Mooneyham to host this month's tournament. The course was in excellent condition considering the number of rainy days we have had of late. It was 'pick, clean and place' through the green. With just a sharp shower for about 20 minutes as the first group were finishing, the day was fine.

There were 100 members signed up to play, but due to some personal problems and navigational concerns, the field was reduced to 96 – which is a good number for October. There were many new faces including Lee Aderlly, a professional caddy with the European Tour and Santa Clause, aka Rick Bevington, who is back getting ready for his Christmas duties. Joe was joined by social chairman Nigel Cannon for registration and welcoming all players prior to commencing their rounds. With a couple of local groups infiltrating our competition, rounds were about 4 ½ hours.

As the players handed in their cards, there were many complements thanking PSC for once again coming up with another successful day.

With a fine 73 it was Jeff Wylie who won the low gross prize.

It was a count-back to determine 'A' Flight – playing medal from the blue tees, with newcomers Shaun Merriman (10) and Jean Maffray (12) both scoring a net 67, with Shaun just getting the nod.

'B' Flight had the best Stableford score of the day with Mark West (17) (another new face) with a great 43 points. 42 points was sufficient to secure 'C' Flight by Reijo Heiskanen (18), and in 'D' Flight player Michael Coghlan (29) was in top spot with 40 points.

We had 9 ladies today and count-back required as both Oil St Laurent (29) and Lakda Onsee (18) had 38 points with Oil in first place.

Pleasant Valley has an excellent restaurant overlooking the 9th and 18th greens and many took the opportunity to partake before making their way to Pattaya and Lewiinski's. Almost all of today's players, some with partners, came to enjoy the buffet provided by Colin and his staff which was, as usual, simply the best! With such a big number it was appreciated that Marchinelo, who is due to open an Italian restaurant next door, loaned Colin his premises for the evening.

After all were satisfied, it was presentation time. Nigel Cannon welcomed all and introduced golf chairman Joe Mooneyham. Joe expressed his appreciation to all members playing today and complimented Colin and his staff on another fine spread. He also gave details of an upcoming professional golf tournament at Amata Springs in early December with many top professionals in attendance and volunteers were needed as marshals. In addition complementary tickets for all four days will be available from PSC golf venues and clubhouse. This, another example of the relationship PSC has with the Eastern Seaboard Golf Association. Nigel then announced the results and Joe presented the prizes assisted by Tony Oakes, PSC president. This was followed by the lucky draw and finally the 50/50 winner–for the second time–was Phillipe Pruvot, who went home a happy man.