By John Huggan
It is March 10, two days after the conclusion of the Qatar Masters, the last tournament played on the European Tour before the coronavirus changed the world forever. Brian Nilsson has arrived back in Bangkok, Thailand, his home for the last 17 years. The Australian, universally known as “Aussie Bri” on the Old World circuit, where he has spent the last decade on former Ryder Cup player Nicolas Colsaerts’s bag, didn’t hang about in the nation’s capital though.

Realising the heightened dangers of staying in such a densely populated area, Nilsson and his wife, Fohn (“Fohnzie” to her friends), headed south to the Hilltop Ao Nang resort in the Krabi Province, the “gateway to the islands,” not far from Phuket.

Little did they know that trip would be just the start of a so-far two-month-long odyssey that has seen the pair involve themselves in a life-saving mission, what has become known as “Operation Happy Tummy.”

With the tourist industry all but decimated, the local villagers were left penniless and hungry, their sole means of supporting themselves suddenly gone. Very quickly, the situation reached dire proportions; people were starving.

“We could see that the people were in trouble,” says Nilsson. “The tourist season had been quiet anyway. But this was disastrous. With no one coming in, there was no work. None. So we came up with an idea. Our friend, Pete Tanawatana, who owns the resort, has continued to employ 15 members of his kitchen staff. They began producing food for the locals. Alex Wuttijirakul, who owns a local bar, has also been a great help.”

Within the first week, 300 meals were being given away. That expanded when the poorest communities and villages were included. So 300 meals a week soon became 300 per day. But that was providing only one meal per person. Today, “Happy Tummy” is looking after about 400 people and preparing 5,500 meals per week. That works out to about 15 per person, or about two meals a day.

“Three days a week we cook their meals,” says Nilsson. “On the other days we hand out dry packs with 500 grams of rice, four eggs, some tinned fish and milk for the kids. So the locals are still doing some cooking for themselves. We don’t have to see them every day.”

All of which has required money, of course. The initial aim was to raise £20,000—enough to provide food for four months—and that target has almost been reached through a variety of means. Donations from Nilsson’s fellow caddies have come in, as well as from European Tour players. And Thailand’s leading golfers have stepped up, as well as the nation’s leading badminton, tennis, swimming and Tae Kwon Do stars.

“My wife works for a company called ‘All-Thailand Golf Tours,’” says Nilsson. “She got in touch with many of the leading Thai golfers like Boonchu Ruangkit, Prom Meesawat, Danthai Boonma and Kosuke Hamamato. They started a ‘chip-off challenge’ on the internet. They chipped five balls each into a bucket maybe 10 yards away. If you failed to get at least three, you had to donate to ‘Happy Tummy.’ That was successful. Then the top badminton players started something similar. And the tennis players and the swimmers and the Tae-Kwon Do guys. All of that raised quite a bit of money.”

Further complicating the need for cash is the fact that many of the people living in the Ao Nang area hail from other parts of Thailand. To claim the government hand out they would have to travel back to their home province, which is impossible with the country in lockdown.

“That actually became a moot point,” says Nilsson, failing to hide his disdain, “when the government announced they don’t actually have the money.”

Anyway, there is more to this tale than mere fundraising. The accumulation of cash was only the beginning. Realizing that food hand outs are but a short-term solution to the problems faced by the locals, Nilsson and his gang have introduced them to basic farming. It was an obvious conclusion: If you can’t buy food, you better grow it.

“In the last two weeks we have been planting bean sprouts, water spinach (known here as ‘morning glory’) and kale,” reports Nilsson. “The great thing is that the beans can be grown in three or four days. You don’t even have to plant them. We’ve been using old egg containers. Throw in the seeds, add water and boom. It is so hot and humid here, things grow quickly.

“Step two has been the digging of some large holes,” he continues. “Lined with plastic sheeting, they are perfect for farming catfish. That’s not hard to do. We’ve been learning how from YouTube actually. So soon we are going to be providing our own vegetables and fish. We’ll keep going with the rice packs. And we have a deal with one of the big milk companies in Thailand. We’re getting baby formula too for the kids. There are 14 or 15 kids under two (years old) in the villages.”

Geographic expansion of the scheme is also underway. Hearing of a nearby fishing community that had basically been cut-off, Nilsson has been to investigate, courtesy of the Thai police allowing him a special dispensation to get through the many road checkpoints.

“There are 60 people in the village,” says Nilsson. “They have been eating fish for weeks. And nothing else. So now we have set up a barter system. We send them chickens and eggs and rice in return for fish. That gives everyone a more balanced diet. We’ve also been trying to spread the word and tell others what we are doing. The hope is that other provinces will start similar projects. People are starving everywhere in Thailand.”

Two-months after it began, the journey from Qatar via Bangkok is a long way from over. But “Aussie Bri,” with a lot of help from his friends, is getting there. None of which comes as a surprise to his boss.

“Brian’s greatest quality is his loyalty to friends and those close to him,” says Colsaerts, who notes that he and Nilsson must rank in the top three on tour for the length of their working relationship. “I can’t imagine anyone thinks he is anything other than one of the good guys. You can’t last on tour this long without being passionate about everything you do. He and Fohnzie are wonderful people and a great match. You can see that in what they are doing now.

“I’ve seen the back streets in Thailand through Fohnzie. We’ve done things in the past for schools there. One was struggling to find teachers but we were able to help. And Brian has been involved every step of the way.”

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After two rained out days and several frustrating false starts in between, the inaugural Pattana Golf Championship finally got underway in Thailand Thursday and the Spaniard made up for lost time with a sizzling eight-under 64.

It will see Casado take a two shot lead over Thai Nakul Vichitryuthasastr into Friday’s final round with the MENA Golf Tour’s first ever 72-hole tournament to be decided over 36-holes, whether permitting.

England’s Jodan Garnish and Indian Udayan Mane fired 67s to share third a further shot adrift, one clear of a seven-man group which included Venezuela’s Wolmer Murillo, the winner of the MENA Tour’s Mountain Creek Open by Golf Citizen last year.

Starting on Pattana Golf Club & Resort’s 10th tee, Casado jumped out of the blocks with an impressive six successive birdies from the 11th.

“It was an amazing round with nine birdies. My putting was crazy as I made six birdies from holes 11-16 and another three on the front nine,” the Spaniard said.

“This is my first year playing on the MENA Tour and I am really enjoying the atmosphere as there is a tremendous sense of camaraderie among the players.”

That mightn’t last if Casado continues to wield such a hot putter although Vichitryuthasastr went bogey free Thursday and looks a threat. The experienced Thai also lit up the back nine with five birdies before picking up another shot on the 1st to stay in contention for a maiden MENA Tour title.

‘Played a good, solid round. I had an early start and benefited from the lack of wind,” said Vichitryuthasastr who turned professional in 2006 after an impressive amateur career which saw him represent Thailand in the Putra Cup and the Eisenhower Trophy.

Mane also kept it clean, reeling off two birdies on the front nine and three coming home.

“I drove the ball really well which gave me enough chances to hit greens,” said the Bangaluru native, who won a Professional Golf Tour of India’s event in Dhaka in March.

“It was a bit waterlogged in a few places, but it’s our duty as players to adjust to the course. The greens were surprisingly really quick and it caught me off guard on a few holes, but I was able to salvage pars.”

Elsewhere, European Tour regular Prom Meesawat returned a 70 to move into a 16-way tie for 16th along with England’s Zane Scotland and Luke Joy, who finished runner-up at last week’s Mountain Creek Open by Golf Citizen.

Brazil’s Dubai-based prodigy Tiago Lobo mixed five birdies with an eagle and four bogeys to lead the amateur division on a 69, three shots ahead of fast-improving Indian star Arkesh Bhatia, who is also based in Dubai.

The cut was made at level-par 72 with 58 professionals and seven amateurs making it to the final round. English cricketer-turned-golfer Craig Kieswetter (73) was among the notables who missed out on the halfway mark.

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Some play was possible on the second day of the inaugural $50,000 event after a waterlogged Pattana Golf Club and Resort saw the abandonment of Tuesday’s opening round. But another deluge of rain shortly after the commencement of play saw tournament director Trevor Varri (pictured) pull the plug on Wednesday’s play.

“The course has not cleared, it’s still water-logged, we’ve had more rain since then and the course is still unplayable, so unfortunately the rest of the day we are not going to be able to get any further play so we’ve cancelled play today,” said Varri.

Play is scheduled to recommence – with the scores of the few players who did manage to start Wednesday null and void – at 7am (Thai time) Thursday. However the weather forecast has Varri worried for the fate of the flagship event of the tour’s Thailand swing.

“Hopefully we’ll get the play in tomorrow, the weather forecast is not great but we’ll do everything we can to prepare the course ready for play. The greenkeeping staff have been absolutely amazing and they’re working so hard all day and all night to keep the water off the course but we still see it coming down and it’s very, very difficult at the moment to foresee how we are going to conclude this tournament,” he said.

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“Big Dolphin” Meesawat headlines historic MENA Tour event in Thailand

“There’s one or two options at the moment to try and get 36 holes completed at the least but it all depends really on what happens tomorrow [Thursday] so we’ll reassess tomorrow and hopefully we’ll get some play.”

Pattana’s 10th hole

Varri has ordered a reverse draw so the early “starters” from the first two days “can get a bit of a lie in” because “they have been getting up at the crack of dawn”.

“This way we can spread the frustration around a little bit.”

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The 32-year-old Thai, nicknamed the ‘Big Dolphin’ courtesy of his burly physique, will tee it up in the Dubai-HQed Tour’s first 72-hole event at Pattana Golf Club and Resort in Chon Buri, a 135 minute drive south-east of Bangkok, from Tuesday.

After winning three Thai Amateur Championships and the IMG Academy Junior World Golf Championships in 1997 and 2002, Meesawat turned pro in 2004 and landed his first pro title at the SK Telecom Open in South Korea two years later.

He has one other Asian Tour title – the 2014 Yeangder Tournament Players Championship – and has played a total of 127 European Tour events since 2013, including qualifying for the 2011 Open Championship where he missed the cut at Royal St George’s.

After losing his full playing privileges last season, the Hua Hin native is currently 92nd in the Race to Dubai standings having banked €107,697 in six 2016-17 wraparound season starts, headlined by top 15 finishes at the Australian PGA Championship (T10), Omega Dubai Desert Classic (T15) and Hero Indian Open (T13).

The son of Suthepi, the first Thai to win the Thailand Open, Meesawat came closest to a European Tour breakthrough when he dipped out in a three-way playoff for the 2013 Hong Kong Open to a Miguel Angel Jimenez birdie in the first extra hole.

Ranked 307th in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), Meesawat is one of 33 Thais in a field for this week’s $50,000 event including players from 25 countries. The Pattana Golf Championship is the climax to the MENA Tour’s three tournament Thailand swing and carries additional OWGR points given it is a round longer than the tour’s usual 54-hole offerings.

Switzerland’s Dubai-based Michael Harradine and Thailand’s Worathon Zeng will lead the challenge in the amateur division that has attracted nine entries. Harradine won amateur honours at last week’s Mountain Creek Open on on six-under 210 last week while Zeng had reigned supreme at the first Thailand swing event, the MahaSamutr Masters.

“We are very excited to be part of the MENA Tour. It will provide us with a great opportunity to showcase our championship course to a field which wears a global look,” said Rujirapun Juangroongruangkit, Executive Vice President of Pattana Golf Club.

Mohamed Juma Buamaim, chairman of the MENA Tour, thanked the Pattana Golf Club and Resort management for supporting the event, saying: “We couldn’t have asked for a better venue to stage our landmark 72-hole tournament. I am confident it will become a permanent stop on the tour.”

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