The Biwako Championship : The First Nine @ the Biwako Course

Sunday was bright and sunny - but the temperature was still in the low teens. After 3 rounds of golf in this 'winter' weather, pakdokter had actually suffered 'sunburn'! Pakdokter's facial skin was sore to touch. Pakdokter had never experienced a sunburn for a long time - not even after 4 to 6 consecutive days of golf in the tropics. This must be caused by the cold freezing and dry wind together with the direct sunlight on to the skin which pakdokter took lightly because of the cold weather. Perhaps a layer of sunblock would have helped.

Datuk Khadar Merican and Datuk Azizi Yom Ahmad with

their Biwako's flight mate. Over dinner pakdokter learnt that

they had trailed the Biwako's pair at first but came back towards

the end to collect yens from their opponents. So they promised to

a rematch next January when the Biwako visits RSGC for their annual

inter-port game.

pakdokter played with Ezanee Bakar (15) and Kenji Yamashita (16)

pictured above was our flight with one of the club managers
The tee was put between the championship and regular positions today
so we played a slightly shorter course today. This was probably to
accomodate the many Biwako players who are in their 80's and 90's

this picture was taken from the tee box at hole-8 of the Biwako Course
the downhill fairway faced the Biwako Lake in the background and
beyond the mountain in the distance would be the city of Kyoto.
Kyoto is just a 15 minutes train-ride from Kusatsu, the town where our
hotel is. Kusatsu is just about 15 minutes by road to the Biwako

Ezanee chipping in at hole 9 of the Biwako Nine

pakdokter with the flight caddy

the caddy is a university student majoring in Sports Science

and Management and she is also a golfer. Her father is Osaka's

foremost gastroeneterologist who also happens to be Kenjisan's

physician. It is interesting to learn the Japanese healthcare practices

from Kenjisan. He goes for a 2-yearly gastroscopic investigation to screen for

cancer. This is probably relevant in Japan as if pakdokter remembers correctly,

gastroenterological cancers are common amongst the Japanese.

pakdokter played quite well considering pakdokter's 24 handicap.

if not for the 7 @ the 2nd hole par 3 it would have been better

pakdokter 5 putted on this fast steep down slope!

it was like playing @ the Augusta....