pakdoktergolfblog: The Interport Game at the Biwako Country Club...

Sunday was another bright and sunny day perfect for golf. We checked out of our hotel and were shuttled to the Biwako Country Club for an early breakfast before the early morning tee-off for the friendly game with our Japanese hosts.

Pakdokter was made to partner pakZaid Ibrahim with two very senior gentlemen from the Biwako Club, namely Mr Morikatsu Shiraishi (handicap 10) and Mr Yasuhiko Kasamatsu (handicap 14). Both gentlemen were in their late sixties if not early seventies yet they both hit their drives much longer than the both of us!

Unfortunately both of them spoke very little English to enable us to get to know them better.

pakdokter, Kasamatsusan, Shiraishisan and pakZaid...

Pakdokter and pakZaid decided to play a small bet on the side, agreeing to both play to a handicap of 24 and to pay a small fee per stroke difference in our final scores based on a stroke play.

We played the Ritto Nine and the Mikami Nine for the competition, the Ritto Nine being the longer of the 3 Nines at the course. Playing from the white tee, the course measured 6241 yards.

PakZaid did very well in the first 4 holes, scoring pars on the first (par 5) and third (par 4) holes and left pakdokter a little shaken trailing 4 strokes behind after the fourth hole.

Pakdokter's luck came in on the 5th hole ( par-5) with a par to be followed with two more pars on the next par 3 and par 4 sixth and seventh hole. Pakdokter bogeyed the eight hole where pakZaid scored a triple bogey and we both bogeyed the last par-4 hole number ninth.

Pakdokter returned a score of 44 for the first 9 against pakZaid's 49. So pakdokter was happy to have a a 5 stroke lead into the second 9.

the fairways were generally still brown from the severe effects of winter but the full bloom of the sakuras made up for it....

After the usual lunch break we went back to play the Mikami 9 and with a comfortable lead pakdokter was able to stay calm and played a steady game. Pakdokter scored a par at the par 4 second hole and another par at the par-3 fourth hole. Poor pakZaid must have lost his nerves and was ten down after the fourth hole.

We agreed to cap the game at the 1o strokes difference and played on to try and win the competition with the other golfers.

Pakdokter played a consistent game to the end to return a score of 46 for the Mikami 9 with another par at the par-3 hole number 8.

our caddy was so happy with pakdokter's performance the she gave pakdokter a big hug for this photo.....

At the prize presentation after dinner pakdokter was declared the winner amongst the RSGC players, playing to a score of -6 from a handicap of 24!

This was one of pakdokter's best ever score in his golfing career, only to be 'bested' at one of the Nines at the Ciputra Course in Surabaya in February this year when pakdokter returned a score of 40!

Dr Saitosan, the Captain of Biwako Golf Club congratulating pakdokter for the fine game..

Shiraishisan and Kasamatsusan at the dinner...

After the dinner and prize presentation, we were shuttled to the Kyoto Station from where we took the Nozomi Shinkansen, the famed Japanese bullet train which brought us to Tokyo in just two and a half hours covering a distance of more than 500 km!