...this is about a battle for free lunch at the Kampachi!Pakdokter's regular 'golf kakis' at the RSGC, the two Tengku Brothers ( not the Blues Brothers) challenged the two old men of the group to a Sunday morning game for which the loser will pay for lunch at the Kampachi Japanese Restaurant of the Equatorial Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. The elder of the Tengkus, the oil-baron by the name of PakAzman played to a handicap of 25 and the younger internet whiz-kid sibling, pakMuzafar, plays to a handicap of 26! Pakdokter now play to a handicap of 25 and the most senior gentleman of the group, pakHyder, plays to a handicap of 22. We agreed that for this 'battle royale', all of us will play to the same handicap of 24....
the four warriors, pakHyder, pakMuzafar, pakAzman and pakdokter...We were the first to tee-off early Sunday morning. PakAzman came to the club at 6 am to secure the 7.06 am slot for the 2nd Nine of the New Course.
pakHyder was given the honour to tee-off first as he has the lowest official handicap...PakHyder was first at the tee but for whatever reason only known to him he sent his ball into the out-of bound zone to the right. Pakdokter took it calmly and drove his ball slightly left but just about 5 yards short of the 100 yards mark well within the fairway. PakAzman, with his 'goliath' physique sent a hard and high drive but well short of pakdokter's. It was left to PakMuzafar, or Ya, as we fondly call him at most times, to make up for his elder sibling's bruised ego! But Ya only managed to drive about 10 yards short of pakdokter.
PakHyder was out of contention to help our partnership in this hole,and it was left to pakdokter to face the Tengku Brothers. PakAzman, still affected by a dented pride, sliced his second shot to the right well short of the green. His younger sibling, now under some pressure, pulled his shot and sent it into the left front bunker.
Pakdokter used a pitching wedge and lobbed a high ball to about 10 yards of the pin. Pakdokter could see the nervous tics on PakAzman's face even in the somewhat dull morning light. Ya came out of the bunker brilliantly but managed a bogey with 2 putts. PakAzman did a double and with no pressure, pakdokter took 2 easy putts to par and take the hole for our partnership.
If pakdokter were to describe the battle at every hole in detail as the first, then this post will become like an epic of the "One Thousand and One Nights". So suffice to say that pakdokter and partner were two-up at the fourth hole and continued the lead until the sixth hole. Poor pakAzman, he took a while to regain his nerves, sending most of his drives either to the left or the right. Lucky for him that his younger sibling, Ya, had a nerve cool as a cat, and he was able to match the more senior golfers most of the time.
lovely view of KL Tower and the KLCC from hole No. 6 of the 2nd Nine New Course...Ya took 2 of the last 3 holes to enable the Tengku Brothers to end the 1st Nine square with pakdokter and pakHyder.
We were booked to next play the 1st Nine of the New Course but PakAzman in particular suggested that we change the booking to play the 1st Nine of the Old Course instead. He said that pakHyder's favourite Nine is the 1st of the New Course and he wanted to eliminate this advantage! PakAzman was really sounding 'desperate'!
Ya at the tee, hole No.1 of the New Course...In the end we decided to play as the original plan after we both reassured the Tengku Brothers that they were good enough to actually match us.
Pakdokter hit a fantastic drive that split the narrow fairway facing the commanding twin-towers of the KLCC. PakHyder sent an equally great drive although about 20 yards short of pakdokter. The tense pakAzman sent his drive a little to the right but way behind the two of us. It took Ya to salvage their 'maruah' when he sent his drive about 40 yards ahead of pakdokter, right in the centre of the fairway.
These young 'guns' have to learn to manage their nerves! PakAzman sent his second shot swerving to the right and Ya overshot the green and almost went to the out-of-bound region. PakHyder sent a low shot that ran up to reach the green in two. And pakdokter used a 7-iron and sent a high lob over the front bunker from about 165 yards to fall on the apron and roll on to about 20 yards of the far-end pin.
As the Tengku Brothers were both going to get a bogey at best, pakHyder putted to about one-and-a-half club length of the pin and pakdokter did better with the putt leaving the ball at a distance of only 1mm longer than the club length. However pakdokter was not offerred a 'give' and was asked to take the putt. To give the 'boys' a little excitement, pakdokter pulled his putt to miss the hole slightly, knowing full well that we would pour cold water on their excitement shortly as pakHyder would not give away his putt for par! And so did he....
We were again one-up at the start of the 2nd Nine.
And not to bore you with so much details, pakdokter can say that the game was evenly matched until the last hole. We were square with one hole to go and only the stamina of the younger bodies probably helped the Tengku Brothers to claim victory and a free lunch after that. And all the fight came from the younger Tengku, whose club handicap is 26 yet could return a score of 90!!!
Pakdokter and pakHyder can proudly say that we brought out the best from Ya....
7 comments:
Dear four gladiators,
I suggest four of you have THE BATTLE FOR LE MERIDIEN in July in Jakarta. I would be glad to prepare the battlefield.
Hey Pak Doktor,
We were one up with the last hole to play. We actually won by 2 holes!! Macam mana kira ni....tu la main dengan orang tua mudah lupa.
Anyway, it was a fantastic battle...more for pride than anything else. It was not all my brother, Ja's effort that won us the match; I got 2 pars and the 2nd last holes when Pak Doktor got two on, I got two on as well and saved the holes.
I koow what Pak Doktor is up to - trying to play mind games; trying to put a wedge between me and my brother before the next battle. It will not work because as they say, "..it ain't heavy cause he's my brother...". We will prevail!!
By the way, the sushi, shashimi, tappanyaki and others lah tasted so so good.The meal was thoroughly enjoyable and complete satisfaction came when Pak Hyder took the bill. (Later he settled it with Pak Doktor).
We did not loose. At the second last hole, par three, Tengku Azman's drive went into the pond.
He dropped the ball three club lenths away from the pond.
On top of that, the ball was dropped on the fairway, instead of the rough.
For this, they definitely lost that hole, as a penalty, but being gracious opponents, we allowed them to win the hole, and the match, other wise, it would have been a draw, and on countback, we would have been the eventual winners.
Dear tourdirector,
pakdokter would be glad for another battle in Jakarta. pakdokter suggest that we play at the "Royale Jakarta" golf course and pakdokter would like to book 'Usha' as pakdokter's caddie. Bisa?...
Semuanya bisa diatur pak dokter tapi handicapnya mahu ikut SGC atau yang bawa dari Royal Selangor?
Condition of the Battle:
Celebration is for 5.
Dear tourdirector,
Celebration for more than five pun bisa. Caddie-caddie pun bisa di jemput...
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