Staroba Batavia Masters : Finale (11)....

Saturday, 29th May 2010

During dinner, the group was entertained by a talented duo of Rina and her accompanying keyboard player. Many of the golfers took the opportunity to also show off their other talents apart from golf. These guys must be regulars at 'karaoke' joints at home and overseas...

Rina and PakYuzer doing a duet...

see how 'spirited' these guys were...

Rina belting a Siti Nurhaliza number...

Rina with "Upin" and "Ipin"...

even pakWanHusin could sing...wow...

and some 'dangdut' too...

the 'accomplished' singer pakYuzer

could easily earn a living by singing

if everything else do not work out...

(including golf!)

Staroba Batavia Masters: Finale...

Saturday, 29th May 2010

The Finale of the Staroba Batavia Masters was the Dinner and Prize Presentation held at the poolside of the Le Grandeaur Hotel at Mangga Dua, Jakarta. It was a lavish spread of sea-food grill and barbeque as well as a mix of Indonesian dishes. The golfers, some with their accompanying partners, occupied almost the whole area of the pool-side event.

pakdokter's partner, pakRosli's partner and pakRosli...

SGC Captain pakShaber, pakSani and their partners...

pakWanHusin and Ibu Laili...

pakTgAzman, pakAriffin and pakSolihuddin...

pakYuzer, pakAli and pakShahidan..

pakBaseri?, pakAlewi and pakYB Mansor...

pakYbMansor, pakNorahim and pakZaher..

The charts below summarised the results of the 3-day games. Almost everybody went home with a winning as many prizes were generously offerred everyday with everyone's handicap being adjusted daily to give everyone a winning chance. Only pakdokter failed to make it on the list but was duly rewarded with a 1-night free stay at the Executive Suite of the Le Grandeur ( compliments of the hotel) for being the only non-winner in the contingent........

pakSirajudin receiving the packet of millions of rupiah

as Captain of "the Rest of the World"

which won against the Staroba team..

1st day overall winner, pakZulRauf @ KJ Jul @ Uncle Jul

who scored 45 stableford points on a handicap of 20..

pakWanHusin awarding pakAlewi, 2nd day winner

(and reigning champion of Jakarta Masters 2009)

38 stableford points ( handicap 11)

pakSaniHashim ( right) was 3rd day winner

43 stableford points (handicap 16)....

pakTgAzman (left) awarding pakSirajuddin

Champion of Batavia Masters 2010

overall of 115 points over the 3 days...

pakdokter was given the 1-night free stay voucher

at the Executive Suite of Le Grandeaur Hotel

by Ms Rina, the resident crooner

for not making it to the winning list at all!...

but if one were to study the results closely.....

pakdokter did not come out last

in the overall 3-day scores.....

Staroba Batavia Masters (111): Permata Sentul....

Saturday, 29th May 2010.

This was the first time that the Staroba Golf Club played at the Permata Sentul Golf Club. Thanks to pakDrRosliAzadKhan for making it possible for the club to secure palying times for the group. In fact, pakDrRosli had also helped secure a very attractive discount for the group to play at the Cengkareng on Thursday.

Permata Sentul is located half-way between Jakarta and Bogor. The course has a hilly terrain, very similar to may courses in Bogor. The fairways are narrow with forest hazards on both sides in most of the holes. Some lakes also come into play in a few holes. The degree of difficulty from its narrowness is compensated by the short lengths of the holes in the course further helped by many downhill holes which made many players found them reachable in regulation.

pleasant and cool morning breeze at the cafe near the starting tees...

the electronic GPS and score recorder on the buggy

which can be printed out after the game..

Panjang (pakSolehuddin), KJ Jul, pakAriffin and pakBaseri?....

pakShahrizam, pakDatoOsman, pakAlewi...

and their charming caddies...

pakRahman,pakdokter,pakWanHusin and pakSani....

and our sweet caddies....

Pakdokter's flight was made up of pakRahman, pakWanHusin and pakSani. PakSani was really in his element that day, probably inspired by his caddy who sufferred from 'latah' each time she was provoked by one of us....PakSani in fact came home the overall champion for the day.

We also played a partnership in every 6 holes and pakSani collected from the rest of of us as he won in all the three partnerships he was in.

As usual, pakAzman requested his card to be compared against pakdokter and he played exceptionally well at the Permata Sentul and claimed 11 balls from pakdokter. Pakdokter supposed these two days of winnings made up for the trauma of the first day defeat he received from pakdokter!

Deti and Ratih were quite a distraction to pakdokter's game....

Staroba Batavia Masters (11): Imperial Karawaci..

Friday, 28th May 2010

Friday was the Wesak Day, a Buddhist Festival celebrated both in Malaysia and in Indonesia. Being a public holiday, the Imperial Karawaci Golf Course was quite packed that Friday. Our group was lucky to be able to get 7 slots for the 27 golfers that morning.

Pakdokter had played at the Imperial Karawaci several times in the past, mostly with the Staroba Golf Tours. But the course was still a difficult 'baby' to tame. The fairways are narrow and undulating. Being used to playing on a somewhat flat course at the RSGC, pakdokter found it hard to get used to the undulations of the fairways here. The same difficulty was shared by pakTgFarith, who happened to play that morning in pakdokter's flight together with pakRosli and pakKamal who dropped in to Jakarta the evening before. Pakdokter had in fact pulled one of the tee shots into one of the luxury bungalows lining the fairway. Luckily no window was broken!

getting dressed in the locker room..

pakRosli, pakTgFarith, pakKamal and pakdokter...

The scores above bore testimony to the level of difficulty of this course, at least to pakdokter and to a degree to pakTgFarith, both members of the RSGC. We teed-off from the 2nd Nine and both pakdokter and pakTgFarith returned scores of 56 and 55 respectively. We both settled down a bit on the return flight with improved scores of 50 (pakdokter) and 47(pakTgFarith). PakRosli and pakKamal played relatively well to their handicaps of 15 and 14.

Between us, we played a partnership game over every 6 holes and unfortunately for the day pakdokter came out with the loosing partner in all the three rounds. And in the individual game against pakTgFarith, pakdokter lost 8 balls to him.

PakTgAzman who was cleanly beaten by all on the day before asked pakdokter for a bet based on the card and he came home slightly better than pakdokter. According to him pakdokter lost 5 balls and so the bet was duly paid.....

Staroba Batavia Masters (1): Cengkareng..

Thursday, 27th May 2010

At about the same time last year, the Staroba Golf Club organised the Staroba Jakarta Open 2009, and this year's tour has been named the Staroba Batavia Masters 2010. The response was so good that the registration for participants had to be closed after 28 golfers had signed up.

Some of the golfers travelled by KLM the previous Wednesday evening and the rest flew in to Jakarta on Thursday morning on either Malaysia Airlines or Airasia. The first day game was played at the Cengkareng Golf Course which was located near the airport. There was another tournament being held there that morning, so our own tee-off time had to be delayed to 12 noon. So most of us spent the free time looking up stuff in the pro shop, having drinks and lunch and a few even managed to squeeze in a body massage for about 30 minutes or so!

Shahrizam getting his 'body' stretched before the game...

what a luxury...

Pakdokter was slotted to play with regular 'kakis' from the RSGC, pakTgAzman and pakTgFarith and pakRoslanChik was the fourth player in our flight.

'Ezy' pakTgFarith, 'old man' pakdokter,

'ever-confident' pakTgAzman, 'cool' pakRoslanChik...


RoslanChik practise swing....

pakTgAzman....relax la...

stylish pakTgFarith...

very clinical....

We decided to play a partnership match, with the partnership being switched around after every 6 holes to give everyone a fairer competition against each other. Pakdokter and pakTgFarith played to a handicap of 23, pakTgAzman played to a handicap of 21 whereas pakRoslanChik played to a handicap of 13.

In the first 6 holes, pakdokter partnered pakRoslanChik and beat the other pair for a win of 3 balls. Pakdokter next partnered pakTgFarith and was again very lucky to beat the opposing pair for a 3 ball win. The last partnership with pakTgAzman also saw pakdokter's luck coming into play with an unexpected chip that went into the hole for a determining win for the match. All in all pakdokter collected 9 balls (3 balls each from the other players) being the only one who had outright wins in all the three matches.

ekor apa ni...

hole No-9 with the club-house in the far end...

pakdokter shot 2-on for this par-4 index-4 hole

but 3 putted for a 5.....cheh....

Cengkareng is a pleasant walking course..

Apart from the partnership games, each of us also played a 'cut-throat' game against each other. PakRoslanChik kept up his good play and played 6-under to his handicap of 13! Naturally he was able to beat the three of us despite the many strokes that he gave us based on our handicaps. PakTgFarith played exceptionally well. With a handicap of 23, he played 5-under and returned a gross score of 90. Naturally pakdokter also lost to him, if pakdokter's memory is right, by 12 balls.

The most memorable match for pakdokter was the game against pakTgAzman and pakAzman insisted that we play scratch as per our agreement at the beginning of the year even though his official handicap for the day was 21! pakTgAzman has always bragged that pakdokter can never beat him 'overseas'. Well, pakdokter finally managed to prove him wrong this time. In the 1st Nine pakdokter won the game to collect 3 balls. In the 2nd Nine, the game was a closely fought match. We both squared the 10th hole but pakAzman took the 11th only to be squared at the 12th which pakdokter won.PakAzman won the next 2 holes convincingly and pakdokter thought that that would be the end as pakdokter was already tired and had collapsed with cramps on both calves midway through the 14th hole. But luck was on pakdokter's side as pakdokter won back the 15th and 16th hole to square the game again! PakAzman won the 17th to go one up and one to go ( dommy one) but as luck would have it, pakdokter chipped in to hole for a 6 at the par-5 18th hole while pakAzman only managed an 8 after sending his 2nd shot into water but despite of getting it on to the apron for 4 he duffed his chip and 3 putts for the final score of 8. So pakdokter went home very glad and happy with an overall win for the match and took home 5 balls from pakAzman.

Well, no amount of balls can match the pleasure of at last beating pakAzman at an overseas course! This 'old man' still has some fighting left, guys.....

And poor pakAzman was the biggest loser that day, having to pay to all the three of us as well as in the partnership matches....

proof of pakdokter's first 'overseas' victory against pakAzman....

Although the Cengkareng has been the home to the Indonesian Open fo many years, pakdokter was quite surprised at our abilities to play a reasonably good game. In fact so many of the other players came home with fantastic scores, the best for the day, pakK J Jul ( Uncle Jul) was the first day winner with a 9-under score playing to a handicap of 20.

pakdokter's caddy, Cha Cha..

generally the caddies were very good.....

but were quite helpless when pakdokter colllapsed with 'cramps'....