Today we were playing the final round of the Founders Cup. Neither of the leading pair were able to play today but with their healthy lead over the rest of the field, it made no difference. Congratulations to Henry Lindesay-Bethune for taking the spoils with 154 points. Dave Cato was runner up with 151 and Mehmet Akdeniz just pipped Richard Owen for third spot (both with 149).

Many of us started our rounds in persistent light rain but fortunately, the skies lightened as the morning went on and the later groups finished in bright sunshine. The weather didn’t really affect the course conditions although the greens were notably slower than of late.

Winner today with an impressive 42 points was Val Panattoni (26). Val played a very solid round scoring 21 points on both 9’s. He scored 3 points on no less than 9 holes. In second place was Sheena Harrington (17) who scored 39 points (19 out, 20 back). Sheena’s blob on the 12th obviously inspired her because she parred the next four holes! Stephen Haworth (19) took third spot – also with 39 points. He had a superb front 9 (scoring 23 points) but came back down to earth somewhat with 16 points on the way in.

The sun eventually came out and as forecast it heated up to 30C for the Platinum Jubilee.

There were some outstanding scores on Duke’s. The winner with net 63 on back 9 countback was Tom Simpkins from the best woman Seema Sandhu; Tom was just 1 over par on the back 9 and best gross of the day 77. But man congratulations to Seema who stated with a par, starting a pattern for the day. Next were a couple of glorious 65s from Olav Bridie and Joan Mulcahy both with mainly pars or bogeys. Fantastic. Michael Hayden again did well with 69 and there followed 7 70s.
Most difficult hole proved to be 18th with 14 triple bogeys returned.

This was 2nd round of 5 for the Anniversary Cup which now sees Tom Simpkins leading 134 from Michael Hayden 139.

Another hot, dry day with little wind and feeling humid – max 26 degrees but it felt warmer.

Today’s clear winner was Kim Jabbour who took advantage of the cooler early morning temperatures – in fact 3 of the six ‘early starters’ scored in the top 5. Kim’s winning score (44 points, gross 86) was the best of his 20 rounds with us, since getting his handicap in March, and earned him and ESR of -1. He had 21 points out (with one blob) and 23 points in.

Tied in second place on 41 points were Mike Jones and Seymour, Mike winning out on countback. Jonno McLean (40 points) and Joan Mulcahy (39 points and best lady) take 4th and 5th places. Well done to all the top 5. On the down side, many players found the round very slow, waiting for the group in front on every hole. There was no reason for this as there was ‘no-one’ holding up our mid-morning competition group and it was a stableford competition in 3-balls. Sweep pay-out was to the top 5 sweep entrants.

A fresher day than the heat and humidity of recent days and a breeze.

The Shaw Cup was won with an excellent 42 point from Charles Haines – 21 on each 9; chasing him with 41 were Gerard Ouattara and Lee Frost both with 41 points and countback proclaimed Gerard 2nd. Fine 39s followed from Tony Kopczak and Tom O’Hare.

Best woman Doreen Dolby 37on countback from Jenny Lawrence. Best front 9 from Bernie McDermott 22 and back 23 from Olav Bridie.
This was 3rd comp in the men’s Top Dog with Joe Goncalves leading First Division [Senior]14 points from Michael Hayden, Tom O’Hare and Alan Treacy 12 each. Second Division[Junior] leader is Charles Haines 13 from Michael Pham and Charlie Whiteman 12 each.

The rounds started in hazy sunshine and slightly more humid conditions than the previous heatwave days but the high clouds cleared by midday and it was another very hot day. With rock hard fairways, good tee shots ‘ran a mile’ but the greens and approaches were is great condition, due to their daily watering.

Charles Haines and Tom Laybourn were both in great form and tied at the top with 40 points. However Charles was the winner on countback (18 out, 22 back); Charles had a ‘purple patch’ in the middle of his round with birdies on the 9th, 10th and 12th – his birdie 3 on the 10th being a 60 yards ‘chip in’.

Tom had 22 out and 18 points in, with birdies on the 6th (a 25 yards chip in) and the 12th. Tom drove the back of the 9th green in 2 but only par’d the hole. Also, a better last 3 holes and he could have won with 44 points – that’s what pressure does to you!

Third place finds Seymour with 37 points (20 out and 17 in), continuing his steady, resurgent form. Without sluggish scores on the 14th, 15th and 16th holes he could have been challenging for top spot.

Easiest holes yesterday were the 9th and 12th and most difficult were the 7th and 8th (as usual). Lee Frost still leads the Friday Birdie Tree on 10, with Simon McKnight and Richard Owen sharing 2nd place on 8. Richard also narrowly missed out on an eagle 2 on the 17th by leaving his putt 9 inches away !

Lovely day for golf most of the field scored 30+ points. However, a couple of players were out to win with 40+ points.
Ged Quinn made hay while the sun shone with 21 out and 22 back for 43 points whilst in 2nd place was Elizabeth Piner with 21 out and 20 back for 41. Colin Price just pipped Stephen Haworth into 3rd on countback both with 39 points. Gina Jillett coasted into 5th with her 38 points.

Interestingly there were NO 2’s today . I don’t know when that last happened.

A fresher day than of late with a good turnout for Captains’ Day (66)

The headline leader of the day was new member Alex Fraser-Cannon stil l going trough handicapping cards. Overall winner in the competition was Michael Hayden on countback [last 6 holes – scores were identical front and back 9) winning men’s captain’s prizefrom Michael Pham both 41 points.

Two women came next with 38 = again separated on countback with Lia Donath winning due to superior back 9 of 23 points to Niamh’s 20; well done ladies! Naturally Lia wins he women’s captain’s prize

NTP prizes for the men:

NTP par 3s:

7^th           Joe Goncalves

10^th        Peter Jagger

16^th        Maher Sharma

NTP in 2s

2^nd          Paul Green

9^th           Sunny Lall

15^th        Jonno McLean

18^th            Kerry Sargeant

NTP prizes for the women:

NTP par 3

10^th        Lia Donath

NTP in 2s

7^th           Cheryl Woodhouse

16^th        Sheena Harrington

18^th        Sheena Harrington

A bar tab was provided for members afterwards and most seemed to take advantage. Time was taken to provide manual calculation of the men’s Top Dog and as per attached after 2 events Michael Hayden shares lead of senior division with Alan Treacy both 12 points; likewise Michael Pharm share junior division with 12 each.

Although the sun eventually broke through for a glorious end to our rounds, much of the day was spent under grey skies. However, it was a good golfing day with very little wind.

We were playing for the Midweek June Medal which was also the fourth round of the Midweek Grand Medal competition. As many of you already know, it has been decided to adjust the dividing point between the two midweek divisions to HI 18.6 and below for Division 1 (senior) with Division 2 (junior) being HI 18.7 and above. This has been done in order to try to even out the number of midweek players in each division and therefore the sweep prizes. Today’s medal result reflects that change and the overall Grand Medal standings have also been adjusted accordingly. Sunday competitions remain unaltered.

Winner of Division 1 (senior) today was Toby Hunt playing off 14 with a net score of 66. Toby went out in a respectable 42 and came back in 38. He scored a 4 on 7 holes of his back 9. Peppe Monterosso (16) made second spot with 67 while Lee Frost (15) just pipped Mike Assender (9) to 3rd spot on countback. Both scored 68. Mike had the lowest gross score of the day.

In Division 2 (junior) our men’s secretary Peter Harrington (27) carded a net 62 (lowest net of the day). Peter shot 46 out and came back in 43. In second place with 68 came Kim Jabbour (27) closely followed by Steve Tyrrell and Peter Fisher both with 69.

A special mention for SimonMcKnight who eagled the par 5 9th today.

Of those who have completed 4 rounds in the Midweek Grand Medal, the standings are:
Division 1
Julian James 288
Peppe Monterosso 289
Division 2
Peter Fisher 284
Richard Marriott 308
Richard Norden 313

Women

Men

Bright day with a breeze but it remained dry for the June Medal on Prince’s. Recent rains (much needed) brought some thicker rough but greens were reported fast.

Some very good scoring resulted with division 1 (senior) headed by a fantastic (best ever?) 63 from Bill Norman [gross 41 out, 35 (inc. straight pars for final 6) in]; Paul Kamerling in last game chased with a glorious 65 – standing on the 7th tee Paul was 2 under par gross! An outstanding 66 was next from Joe Goncalves – Joe’s was best gross for the day (73) and had best back 9 just 1 over par. Further remarkable scoring in the 60s came from Raymond Esin 67 and Tom Simpkins 69.

Division 2 (junior) also had good scoring headed by Callum Chapple off 18 -67; Callum’s excellent round showed some future promise with 8s at 5 & 8 being offset by a rare birdie at SI 1 7th (!). Tom Laybourne’s 68 had a very commendable gross 40 on back 9. Tony Kopczak edged on countback Gerard Outtara both returning good 69s.
In the Grand Medal through round 4 (of possible 8) those with 4 rounds to date are headed by:

First division: Julian James 293 from Oz Doyle 294 and Iker Lanzagorta295.
Second division: Gerard Ouattara 285 from Alex Catlow 297, Nigel Ward 300 and Rannesh Jansari 302.