Richard Owen
Richard Owen
Friday Texas Scramble
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed this format of team competition, which was new to a few members. The weather was glorious, the course was in good condition and the scoring was good too. Clear winners with a gross 71, net 59, was the team of Cheryl, John Ahad and Stephen Haworth; only they know whether there was an outstanding player or whether all played an equal part, however inclusion of Cheryl playing off the red tees almost certainly played a part.
In a very commendable 2nd place were the team of Peter Flint, James Deissler and Rannesh with a gross 72, net 61.
Sweep payment was to the 3 in the winning team.
Another Texas Scramble will be arranged in about 6 weeks time.
Friday Stableford Sweep
In fine golfing weather, warm with very little wind and none of the forecast occasional showers, John A. was the runaway winner with 43 points, an extremely steady round with a birdie on the 16th. Coming in 2nd and 3rd respectively were Giles and Suhail, both with 37 points. Just behind were James and late entry Mike H., both with 36 points; Mike posting birdies on both the 2nd and 11th holes. Well played to all the leading players; sweep payout will be to the top 3.
It was good to see that considerable swathes of rough on the front and sides of the fairways had been cut by Glendale since we last played the Princes, making the course significantly easier, although the rough that remains is still punishing.
Finally, it was good to see Brian back playing again and to welcome Ehsan to his first competitive round.
Hawtree match, Richmond Park A vs Easthampstead
In fine sunny weather, following the previous day’s continuous heavy rain, RPGC’s A team played host to Easthampstead. Both teams were captained by Zimbabweans, which made way for a lot of pre game reminiscing about the good old days. All four of our pairs performed well, resulting in a final score of 152 versus Easthampstead’s 145. The match was followed with a much appreciated selection of pizzas, courtesy of the club. Good luck to the team for the next match which will be against Huntswood A.
Hawtree Richmond Park B vs Southsea GC
HAWTREE RICHMOND PARK B v SOUTHSEA
RPGC’s B team welcomed Southsea to the Park on a baking Duke’s course with the (over) abundant rough further challenging all the players, leading to a high number of reloads or ‘over to you partner’ comments becoming the norm for the day. All four pairings outscored their opponents, as we ran out comfortable winners 146-115. Caroline Stilwell and Luke Baker prevailed 32-30, Susan Smith and Armi Ingratta 35-26, Lia Donath and Nigel Gaymond 38-30, with pride of place going to the lead-off pair Cheryl Woodhouse and Damber Thapa who got things going with a hard-fought performance 41-39 over the Southsea captain’s pair in the lead game. The team now awaits their next opponent in the regional semi-final in an anticipated home game against Hoebridge A.
2021 Home Leg – Rickmansworth Friendly
This Saturday 6 pairs faced off in the home leg of the annual friendly vs Rickmansworth. Playing conditions were pretty decent. Kim and Ryan Dewar were playing catch-up from the go. Things looked pretty dire when they went 3 down after just 3 holes. But some good iron play by Ryan allowed the lead off pair to square things off on hole 12. They even briefly took the lead on the next hole. Only to lose that slim lead on the next hole. Both teams stood on the 18th with the visitors 1 Up. The match ended in a real anti-climax when only 1 player (the visiting captain) managed to put a ball in play. RPGC – Tricky Ricky 0-1. Richard Owen and Sazer Cuneyt were in a real tussle the whole round. They managed to make something out of nothing when they won the last hole to earn a respectable draw. RPGC 0.5 – Tricky 1.5. Alan King and Rick Kimber played a steady round to earn the home team’s first victory RPGC 1.5 – Tricky 1.5. Surprise package of the day were Tony Kopczak and Mike Shabani who demolished their opponents 6&5 (they recorded a 4BBB stableford score of … 48pts). RPGC 2.5 – Tricky 1.5. Alvaro Garcia-Hoz and Uli Katte were able to increase RPGC’s lead with a solid win. RPGC 3.5 – Tricky 1.5. Sean Thomas and Damber were in control of their match for 13 holes. A few uncharacteristic errors lead to a heartbreaking loss on the last hole. Final Score RPGC 3.5 – Tricky 2.5.
Return leg on 11-Sep promises to be (even) tougher than expected but we’ll give it a shot.
Friday Stableford Sweep
After an overcast start to the morning the sun soon came out and it was perfect weather for golf. Most of the field recorded respectable scores but nobody scorched the course, probably due to the long grass present beyond the fairways and semi.
Early leader in the clubhouse was Ann Gardner with 35 points, with a strong start to her round, a wobble on the middle and a steady and consistent final 7 holes. Richard Norden then overtook Ann, posting 36 points (18 points out and another 18 points back). Ben and Louis Dickey went out mid-afternoon and so it was early evening before their cards were submitted, Ben scoring 35 points and taking over 2nd place from Ann with a better back 9.
Friday Stableford Sweep
Although the BBC weather forecast early in the morning was mainly dry with a few occasional showers, this had changed by 9am to 80% rain and even that was an understatement – in fact the 18 hardy competitors and 2 players playing for handicap were subjected to incessant heavy rain. Seven players (and a dog) quite understandably ‘gave up’ part way round, however the rain didn’t seem to affect John Ahad’s golf with an impressive 37 points and was like ‘water off a duck’s back’ to Damber who posted 33 points but could quite easily have had 37 points too if regulation 2 putts hadn’t become 3s on several greens.
NAPGC Clapham Common match vs Huntswood
RPGC team narrowly lost this first round match 209 to 206 points
Friday Team Competition (1,2,3 waltz)
Our first Friday team competition was played in fine, mainly sunny early summer weather conditions and competitors seemed to enjoy playing as a ‘team’ for a change. With all the recent rain the fairways were softer than they will become and the semi-rough & rough have become ‘lush’. The only down side was the 4-ball of golf novices on a ‘day out’ in front of us, who caused a horrendous ‘back up’ of games over the front 9.
The winning team, with a total of 76 points, was the socially distanced Adrian Wells (who was card marking in an early game) together with Ann Gardner and Jeremy Prescott, playing towards the back of our main group. Together they went out in 37 points, mainly due to Ann’s personal 21 points, and then came back in an even stronger 39 points, this time mainly due to Adrian’s 22 points, but Jeremy pitched in with 2 and 3 points on the front and back 9s when needed to.
It was close between 2nd, 3rd and 4th places (73, 72 and 71 points respectively) with the team of Julian, Naveed and Tim clinching the runner’s up place with 39 out and 34 back, and Alvaro, Alan and Kevin posting 39 out and 33 back. So it seems both of these teams ran out of steam on the back 9, particularly by comparison with our winners.
The sweep monies will be shared by the winning team members.
We will have another team event in 3 weeks time.
Siemens Bowl vs Wexham Park GC
On a wintry day in May, marked by intermittent showers and a strong icy wind, the scoring on both sides was remarkably good, given the conditions.
The result of the four, fourball betterball stableford matches, was that Wexham Park triumphed by the very slim margin of 153 points to our 151.
Our four pairs, who individually played to 85% of their Course Handicaps scored as follows:
Away pairs, John Ahad and Adrian Wells (38 points) plus Paul Green and Shaun Dupreez (39 points) managed a combined 77 points against the Wexham opponents score of 76 points.
At Prince’s, Mike and Chris Jones (38 points) plus Cuneyt Sazer and Tony Kopczak (36 points) had their combined 74 points bettered by Wexham Park’s 77 points.
So, a very close call indeed; the 60 foot breaking birdie putt sunk by our 27 handicap opponent on a par three for 4 points was pivotal to the result.
Onwards and upwards!
John Ahad (Captain)