Richard Owen
Richard Owen
Rickmansworth Away Leg
Following the 4:2 win at home, Richmond Park played the away leg in warm Autumn sunshine, seeking the 2.5 points necessary to claim an overall win and return the trophy to Richmond Park. The Ricky course was in good condition, especially the greens, which were as challenging as ever.
Our first 2 pairs (Richard Owen & Manny Rasores and Maher Sharma & Dan Ballantyne) suffered defeats, but our third pairing of Richard Back & John Ahad grabbed 1/2 point on the 18th, thanks to a birdie by Richard. Our 4th pair of Captain Paul Green & Iker Lanzagorta had an impressive 6&5 win for a point. Our 5th pair of Allan Boyd & Steve De Long lost their match but our 6th pairing of Aiden Hurley & Richard Smith ‘did the business’ and won their match.
So although a 3.5:2.5 points loss on the day, overall it was a 6.5:5.5 points win for Richmond Park and the trophy was reluctantly returned to Paul by their captain. Lasagne, chips and salad were served and enjoyed by all.
Midweek September Plate
A warm pleasant day with a slight breeze.
Peppe Monterosso had a steady round 21 out and 18 back for his 39 points beating Toby Hunt and Graham Cull into 2nd and 3rd places with their 38 points. Graham had amassed 24 points on the front 9 but found the back 9 a little tougher going. Angus Robertson beat Kim Jabbour on countback both having 37 points.
For the first time for a while there were no 2’s recorded.
Silver Jubilee
After a cloudy start, the sun came out and it was a very pleasant, warm Autumn day, with a moderate westerly breeze. The greens seem to have now recovered from the restoration work a few weeks ago and the fairways are beginning to ‘green up’. Substantial cutting back of the brambles and mowing of the long grass over the past week was evident.
This year’s winner of the Silver Jubilee trophy is Oz Doyle with a very steady and impressive net 64 (7 under par). Perhaps surpringly no birdies but 10 pars and no double bogeys. In second place was Tony Kopczak with a 6 under par 65; Tony started with 3 pars, finished with 3 pars and did little wrong in between. Three players had net 67’s, Richard Prosser beating Tom Laybourn and Richard Owen on countback, respectively. In 6th place, and best lady, was Ellie Rhodes with a net 68.
This was the final round of the Jubilee series and this year’s winner of the Anniversay Cup is Niamh Grace with a total of 275 shots from her best 4 rounds, 3 ahead of Nick Rogers (278 shots) and Oz Doyle (279 shots). The final results sheet is attached.
Men’s Invitation
10 mixed pairs played for this year’s Men’s Invitation on a warm, sunny, but very breezy day. The greens on the Duke’s course were found to be running pretty true and the fairways were a little softer and greener than they have been for months – so less run!
Three pairs scored 40 points or more and the results at the top were very close. Two teams had 41 points and on countback (by one shot) Brian Ransom & Monique Hubaille beat Jonno McLean & Kelly Hewitt. In 3rd place, just missing out on the prizes, were Nick Rogers and Alison Chadwick (40 points); Dennis Keough & Doreen Dolby took 4th place with 39 points.
Pizza and chips were enjoyed after play and a good time was had by all.
September Monthly Medals (Men GM 7 of 8)
Women
A double blow for Bella who went home thinking she was the monthly medal winner only to be beaten by Seshi who probably finished a couple of hours later and recorded a net 68 and a gross 94 which is her lowest score since joining us. Bella was also one of 2 women who incorrectly entered their score into the system – both resulting in a worse result.
The course is noticeably softer underfoot and is starting to green up. The downside is that the badgers have also noticed this and there is considerable damage around many of the greens as they take advantage. The upside is the greens seem to have benefitted well from the tining and sanding done a few weeks ago.
Men
Today’s winners in Division 1 were:
1st James Smith 63
2nd Alan Treacy 67
3rd Paul Kamerling 69
and after 7 rounds of the Grand Medal the leading scores in Division 1 are:
Brian McMahon 343 shots, Peter Harrison 347 shots and Richard Smith 348 shots
Today’s winners in Division 2 were:
1st Olav Bridie 68
2nd Tony Kopczak 68
3rd Paul Gullet 71
and after 7 rounds of the Grand Medal the leading scores in Division 2 are: Tony Kopczak 342 shots, Gregory Jean-Baptiste 351 shots and David Grace 352 shots.
Ballantyne Trophy Final
The Final of the NAPGC Ballantyne Trophy was played at Winter Hill Golf Club, near Maidenhead, on the Saturday of NAPGC’s 2026 Finals Weekend. The Ballantyne finalists, Richmond Park B and Wycombe Heights C, tee’d off at 1pm on a sunny, warm, but breezy day, following the teams playing for the Hawtree and Siemens trophies. The Winter Hill course was in great condition, showing very little sign of the multiple summer heat waves that have affected so many courses, including Richmond Park.
The teams and handicaps are shown on the tee sheet (link below). Richmond Park’s first pair of Richard Back and Joe Gonclaves were ‘running late’ and arrived just 10 minutes before their tee time. Neither had played the course before but competed in a close match which finished with a “1 down” loss. Richmond Park’s second pair of Nick Rogers and Aiden Hurley also had a close match throughout but closed it out with a “2 & 1” win. Richmond Park’s third pair took the lead on the 5th hole and built a 4up lead after 9 holes. This lead was pegged back to 3up after 11 holes, 2up after 13 holes, and just 1up after 15 holes, however pars on the 16th, 17th and 18th resulted in a “1up win” at the finish. So Richmond Park retained the Ballantyne Trophy for another year with a 2:1 win. Although extremely competitive, the matches were played in a very good spirit and the Wycombe team were very gracious in defeat.
Golden Jubilee
A very pleasant, partly sunny early Autumn day with a noticeable southerly breeze and temperatures rising to 26 degC. The greens seemed to be well on the way to recovering from their recent hollow tining and other restoration treatment but were slow and still a little bumpy.
Only 5 players played under Par and our clear winner of the Golden Jubilee Shield was Oz Doyle with a net 66, playing off 17. 2 shots back was Peter Needham net 68, playing off 14, and in the 3rd and 4th places Jonathan Evans and Richard Smith, both net 69. It is surprising that the top 15 places taken by the men were all Division 1 players; the best Division 2 player was Tony Kopczak (net 75) in 16th place overall. Sali Davies recorded the best women’s score (net 72) in 11th place overall.
This was the 4th round (of 5) in the Anniversary Cup series and the latest position is shown in the report attached. Richard Smith and Niamh Grace share the lead on 281 shots, 3 ahead of Nick Rogers (284) and Kerry Sargeant (286).
In the men’s Top Dog competitions, it is very close at the top in both the Senior and Junior divisions (report attached). In the Senior Division, Iker (26 points) leads from Brian McMahon (25) and Allan Boyd (24). In the Junior Division, Sean O’Sullivan leads on 23 points, from Mike Shabani (22) and Seymour Laird (20).
Midweek Club Championship, Round 1
Good day for golf, only slight rain for the later starters.
In the men’s scratch competitions, Angus Robertson leads the way in Division 1 with 78, three shots ahead of 3 players on 81. (Richard Back’s 77 and Duncan Matthews 80 will not count, as they hadn’t played 6 qualifying Midweek competitions this year). In Division 2, Jonno McLean (84) has a 3 shots lead over David Grace, with Leigh Drake a further shot back. In the women’s scratch competition, Gina Jillett (77) has a commanding 8 shots lead over Jayne Maxwell.
In the Handicap Cup competition, the best scores in Round 1 were Mike Sands net 65 and net 66s for Richard Marriott, Pralab Barua and Jonno McLean, who lead Round 1 because Mike Sands hadn’t played 6 Midweek competitions this year.
Bank Holiday Plate
Despite the course getting some rain it didn’t seem to affect the run on the ball today and the cored & sanded greens didn’t appear to faze too many especially not Hilary who was 5 points ahead with her 44 point win. Behind her were 3 players on 39 points, 3 on 38 and 4 on 37. Hilary’s round resulted in an ESR of 1 shot.
40 birdies recorded today plus an eagle 2 for Ed Hall on the 14th – it was either a relatively uncommon straight drive for Ed or a great chip in. (sorry Ed but your partner from yesterday alluded to some fairly wild drives!!)
We also seemed to luck out with the weather despite the grey clouds rolling in and over us without stopping to drop any rain – driving home the radio was reporting the covers still on at Lords as they’d been rained off for a bit.
David Lloyd Hampton Friendly Match
A mixed team of 12 RPGC players took part in the annual match against the David Lloyd Hampton (DLH) club and secured a 5:1 win, to retain the trophy. This fixture has been played for more than 10 years against the DLH club, which used to be known as Amida. The RPGC team held the honours for the match, winning at home last year and hoping to retain the bragging rights following this away fixture.
The match was played on the DLH course, which is a 9-hole course where we played two circuits of the course making 18 holes. The front and back 9 holes were played from slightly different tee positions, with the women playing from the red tees and the men from the whites. The format was four ball better ball matchplay.
Unfortunately, the fairways had suffered a similar fate to Richmond Park where the dry summer has burned off the grass, so most lies were on bare turf. As a result, there was a lot of run on the ball along with unpredictable bounces. The odd bladed shot was hard to avoid but that’s been summer 2026!
We started to play on what was forecast to be quite a wet day but thankfully the weather forecast was more pessimistic than reality and whereas we had to have brollies at the ready for the odd shower, the match was played in relatively good conditions.
To the credit of all players who had signed up for this fixture, and despite the BBC promising monsoon conditions, everyone turned up for the challenge and, after a very tasty morning roll and a hot drink, we headed to the first tee at 10.00am to begin the first of 6 four ball better ball games.
The first Richmond Park team of Alison Chadwick and Aiden Hurley halved the first hole with birdies, Alison and Aidan steadily built a lead to be 3 up after 9. On the 12th Alison’s tee shot hit the flag stick and she tapped in for birdie and a five-hole lead. Another birdie and par followed to secure a 5 and 4 win for team 1.
Team 2 comprised Sheena Harrington and Russell Stewart playing their game against the DLH women’s and men’s captains who came out of the blocks quickly and, after the third hole, we were two down with the short game of the DLH team proving to be the difference. But battling on, after the 9th it was all square and team 2 went on to go 2 up at one point only to lose that lead heading into the 18th hole all square. However, after both men thinned their approach shots to the 18th, it was Sheena who finally stepped up to win the hole and game 2 for RPGC.
The game 3 pairing of John Cho and Richard Owen alternately won and lost holes to their opponents through the front 9 scoring pars and birdies. The back 9 second loop started “all square”. A one-shot lead was then taken at the 10th, increased to 2up on the 13th, 3 up on the 15th and the match closed out at 4 &2 on the 16th.
Game 4 was played by Caroline Stillwell and Paul Green. This game was nip and tuck from the start and there was never more than a hole in it. Level after nine, Paul and Caroline snatched a draw with impressive birdies at the finish.
The game 5 team was Ellie Rhodes and Maher Sharma. They had a similar, tightly contested game which finished in another draw and a second consolation ½ point for DLH.
The final RPGC pairing comprised Lia Donath and Ed Hall. Both pairs started scruffily in the heaviest shower of the morning but thanks to some great play from Lia they took a 2-hole lead early on. The match stayed tight until the RPGC team pulled away on the back 9, sealing a 4 and 2 win on the 16th green.
So, overall, a big win for Richmond Park taking four of the six games to a win and drawing two, therefore, the team won the match by 5 points to 1 on the day. An excellent result made even more impressive given this was an away match on an unfamiliar course for the significant majority of the RPGC team. We were all invited for food at the end of the match in the conservatory area of the David Lloyd club which was welcome. All games were played in good spirit and the DLH team proved to be excellent hosts and seemed to enjoy the challenge but perhaps, not the result! The DLH women’s Captain (Veronika Wyper) therefore handed the match claret jug back to us to keep for another year with a short address thanking RPGC for participating. Thanks to all our hosts on the day including the DLH men’s captain Keith Mitchell.