Richard Owen
Richard Owen
David Lloyd (Amida) Friendly
A mixed team of 12 RPGC players took part in the annual match against a team from the David Lloyd Hampton (DLH) club on Saturday the 4th of October 2025. This fixture has been played for more than 10 years against a team from DLH, which used to be known as Amida. The DLH team held the honours for the competition winning at home last year and hoping to retain the bragging rights on their visit to Richmond Park this year.
The match was played on the Duke’s course, with the women playing from the red tees and the men from the whites on what was a very windy day, as the tail end of storm Amy closed some of the public parks across London but not the Duke’s course. To the credit of all players who had signed up for this fixture, and despite the yellow weather warning, they turned up for the challenge and after a morning roll and a hot drink we headed to the first tee at 9.15am to begin the first of 6 four ball better ball games. It was thankfully a dry day but at times the wind was gusting very strongly which made standing still to hit the ball a bit of a challenge at times.
The first Richmond Park team of Bella Mahale and Russell Stewart came out of the blocks really quickly and were 6 holes up at the turn finally winning 7 & 6. The second game, played by Joan Mulcahy and Simon Russett, was much tighter for the front nine but they then dominated on the back nine and won 3 & 2. The third team of Monique Hubaille and Sajid Khan had an even tighter game but won on the last hole. Team four, Seema Sandhu and Ed Hall, had an easier time of it and were four holes up by the fifth, eventually winning 6 & 4. Team five, Ellie Rhodes and Maher Sharma had a similar dominant round and finally won out 4 & 3. Team six comprising Jayne Maxwell and Richard Owen were up against much stiffer opposition (including the DLH long hitting lady captain) and lost their game after 15 holes, so a drop of consolation was taken by the DLH team. So, overall, a big win for Richmond Park taking 5 of the 6 games to win the day.
Pizza was thankfully consumed at the end as we warmed up after the first real taste of chilly Autumn weather. All games were played in good spirit and the DLH team were generally impressed with the course and enjoyed the challenge but perhaps, not the result!
Home advantage was a big advantage in this match. Again, well done to everyone for braving the elements to play. Unfortunately, we were unable to get everybody in the picture (below) – this is the best we have.
Rickmansworth match, Away Leg
The team from Richmond Golf Club headed up to North London to play Rickmansworth in the second leg of a competition between the clubs which has been running for 60 years. The first leg finished 3 points to each team so all that was needed was 3 points to retain the trophy which Richmond won last year. We tee’ d off with rain threatening on the forecast but it remained dry for all six of the games. However, it turned out that that was the only bit of good fortune we had as we battled the course as much as the opposition team. Although a short course at a par 65, 4,635 yards, the course is quite difficult and very little there seemed to be predictable! Richmond Park had a pretty strong team overall and as a result the other team had 102 shots against our 39.
Joe Goncalves pitch into the hole in their game kept his team with Maher Sharma in the hunt with a draw for half a point. The teams of Alan Treacy/Russell Stewart and Michael Hayden/Simon Russett lost by 1 hole and 2 holes, respectively, which gave Rickmansworth 2.5 points and 1 point away from winning the match. The teams of Simon McKnight/Peter Harrison and Chris Mellish/Cliff Morgan both battled to the finish with draws which meant that at half a point per game, Rickmansworth had the match with 3 ½ points. Adrian Wells and Julian James gave Richmond Park a consolation win and an impressive one, given the shots they had to give away to the opposition – 27 in total. So, the 2025 match ended with Rickmansworth winning 6½ points to our 5½. The Rickmansworth course is a varied and difficult challenge and home advantage is a big advantage in this case – better luck next year!!
Men’s Horton Park match (2nd leg – away)
Following heavy overnight rain and a brief course inspection by the Horton captain, the course was deemed ‘fit for play’ and our 6 pairs headed off in sunny, breezy weather for the 2nd leg of our inaugural match against the home club. With a 3.5:2.5 lead from the home leg at Richmond Park, we were looking for at least an additional 3 points from the away fixture to secure the win. In fact, we won the away leg 5:1 making the overall result 8.5:3.5 in favour of Richmond Park, much to the joy of our team (and the despondency of the Horton captain – who won his match).
Our winning pairs were Joe Gonclaves & Maher Sharma (2up), Iker Lanzagorta & Chris Mellish (3&2), Gerard Ouattara & Marco Vergani (6&4), Will Balakrishnan & Kevin Prendergast (3&2) and Sunny Lall & Alex Catlow (2up). All these pairings scored between 39 and 43 stableford points (better ball) off their course handicaps, with Iker & Chris on 43 points.
The match was played in a very friendly atmosphere and we enjoyed pizza, chips and drinks in their clubroom after the match. Unfortunately the greens had been spiked, hollow tined and sanded only days before the match and some of the tees were in poor condition, however the fairways and bunkers were in better condition than those at Richmond Park. Whilst our early pairs finished before the heavy showers resumed, our final pairs caught the rain on the closing holes.
It is hoped to arrange to play a return double-header again next year.
NAPGC Ballantyne Trophy, Final
The final of the Ballantyne Trophy was played as part of ‘Finals Day Weekend’ at Winter Hill golf course in Buckinghamshire. 34 teams had entered the competition, from Portsmouth in the South, to Rose Hill in the Midlands, to Basildon in the East and Richmond Park were up against a strong team from Rose Hill in the final. The competition teed off on a fine and sunny day at around 1:30pm (after the Hawtree and Siemens Bowl finals). The pace of play was slow, due to games in front, but after five and half hours Richmond Park secured the win (2&1) to claim the trophy for the first time in our club’s history.
Things were not looking good early on for our first pair of Richard Owen and Gerard Ouattara, 2 down after 2 holes and 3 down after 5 holes, however they gradually forced their way back into the match and were all square after the 10th hole. The next 4 holes were all halved and then Richard won the elevated (table top) 15th with a par 3, giving us the lead for the first time in the match. The final 3 holes were played in a very tense atmosphere, all halved in pars.
Our second pair, Russell Stewart and Iker Lanzagorta, had a more comfortable time taking the lead early on and keeping 1 or 2 holes ahead through the middle of their round, until going further ahead for a 4&2 win. Our third pair, Adrian Wells and Aiden Hurley, had a tight game throughout, 1 down after the first hole, 2 up after the 4th, all square by the 7th and still all square after the 14th. However, they lost the table top par 3 15th and also the par 5 16th and finished 2 down (but were glad as they walked off the 18th to find out the team had won overall !).
Special mention also to Paul Green, Mel Dunn and Julian James who played a big part in earlier rounds getting the club to Final Day.
NAPGC Ballantyne Trophy, National Semi-Final
Richmond Park played their National Semi-Final pairs matchplay against Royal Epping Forest golf club at Haste Hill golf course (neutral venue) and won 3:0. The team now play at the NAPGC National Finals Day at Winter Hill golf club on Saturday September 6th.
Most of the team had a practice round at Haste Hill on the eve of the semi-final, which helped significantly, particularly with the difficult front 9 holes.
Our first pair (Paul Green & Mel Dunn) had a comfortable 6&5 win against their low-single-figure-handicap opponents. Game 2 was a lot closer but was closed out “1up” on the 18th hole by Adrian Wells & Julian James. Our 3rd pair (Gerard Ouattara & Richard Owen) went ahead on the 2nd hole, again against low handicap opponents, steadily built up a 4-up lead over the front 9, and finished on the 16th hole with a 4&2 win.
Round 4, Ballantyne Trophy 2025
On the final day of a heatwave, the Richmond Park team played Wycombe Heights B (last year’s Ballantyne Trophy winners) on Stockley Park golf course – a ‘neutral’ course, as this was the Regional Final. The result was a slow and hard-fought 2:1 win for Richmond Park. The next round is the National Semi-Final, to decide who plays at NAPGC Finals Day.
Our first pair (Paul Green and Mel Dunn) were soon trailing against stiff opposition and the match closed out with a 5&4 win for Wycombe. Our second pair (Adrian Wells and Julian James) were also soon trailing 3 down but gradually reeled their opponents in and finished 2 up. Our third pairing (Richard Owen and Gerard Ouattara) got off to an explosive start with 4 birdies on the first 3 holes and were 4 up after 4 holes. However, by the 10th hole the match was all square and over the back 9 the score alternated between all square and 1up to Richmond Park. Gerard’s par on the 17th took us to 1up (and the ‘half’ secured), and Richard’s long 2 putt par on the final hole secured the win.
Hawtree, Round 3 Regional Final
On a heatwave day, the Richmond Park team played Easthampstead for a place at NAPGC Finals Day in September. It was an extremely close match which Richmond Park won 152:151 combined stableford points.
The away pairings of Sheena Harrington & Paul Green and Susan Smith & Mel Dunn both scored 37 points in their greensomes matches, to their opponents 34 points – so 6up Away (after a very long 5.5 hour round). At Home, on the Duke’s course, the RPGC pairing of Brendan Sullivan & Jayne Maxwell scored 44 points to Easthampstead’s amazing 46 points and in the other match RPGC’s Cheryl Woodhouse & Richard Owen scored 34 points to their opponents 37 points. So now it’s the Final at Winter Hill golf course on Saturday September 6th.
NAPGC Mitchell Thompson Qualifier 2025
Richmond Park fielded a team of 8 players (4 pairs) in this year’s seniors Mitchell Thompson qualifier at Stockley Park golf course, against 5 other teams from Basildon, Huntswood, Brent Valley, Farnham Park and Southsea golf clubs. The format was greensomes and the weather conditions were “heatwave 33 deg. C !!). Richmond Park were represented by Brett Colley & Mike Jones, Paul Green & Chris Jones, Russell Stewart & Adrian Wells and Richard Owen & Gerard Ouattara. Our combined score of 133 stableford points put us in 3rd place with the winners being Farnham Park (140 points). Top scorers for RPGC were Paul & Chris on 39 points, equally the best of the day. Only Farnham Park progress to Finals Day in September.
Horton Park match, Home leg
Six pairs from Horton Park Golf Club visited Richmond Park for the inaugural 4BBB match between the two clubs. The match was played on the Duke’s course in warm but overcast conditions, with a little occasional light rain. The Richmond Park team, all kitted out in yellow shirts (some brand new !), were Alan Treacy & Richard Back, Richard Owen & Manny Rasores, Joe Goncalves & Maher Sharma, Sunny Lall & Sajid Khan, David Grace & Will Balakrishnan and Gerard Ouattara & Cliff Morgan.
After the first 3 games had finished the result was not looking good for our home team (Horton 2.5 points : 0.5 points RPGC), however our final 3 pairs all came in with wins, making the overall result a win for Richmond Park, RPGC 3.5 points : 2.5 points Horton Park.
The match was played in a competitive but friendly atmosphere and the teams enjoyed pizza and chips in the clubhouse afterwards. The return fixture at Horton Park will be on Saturday September 13th (a week before the return leg at Rickmansworth).
Midsummer Trophy
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.