Competitions
Competitions
Midweek Autumn Pairs
The weather was overcast but warm with a heavy air. The greens were a little slow but maybe that was just a reflection of my putting.
Playing off the Red pars and index was novel for the men off the white tees.
However, Dave Cato and Julian James dovetailed well with 21 points out and 24 back for their 45 points. Their scorecard had 9 x 3 pointers and 1 x 4 points for a birdie plus no 1 point scores,quite impressive!!
Runners up on countback were Shrila Amin and Pepe Monterosso with 42 points.
An enjoyable day was had by all.
Autumn Stableford – Round 2 of 2
A quieter day after the passage of Storm Amy but still windy – with sunny periods.
A sterling performance from Simon McKnight won the second round of the Autumn Stableford with 39 points – Simon also won front 9 honours with 22 points. Just a point behind was Mark Bean 38 points followed by another good round of 36 points from Michael Pham.
The aggregate 36 holes was won by Michael with 75 points and tied for second place were first round joint leaders Olav Bridie and Giovanni Caboni; next came today’s winner Simon and best woman Bella Mahale.
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.
Midweek October Medal (Midweek GM Rd 8 of 8)
A fine weather day on the course for the October Medal.
The winner of Division 1 was Jayne Maxwell with a very steady net 66 followed by 3 players on net 67 with Richard Owen 2nd on countback from Ray Esin (Lowest Gross of the day) and Dave Cato in 4th place
Division 2 was won by the ever present Richard Norden with a net 65. Richard also had the lowest gross of Div 2 with 84. Richard Marriott came 2nd with a net 67 just ahead of Cheryl Woodhouse with her net 68. Andy Johnson came 4th on countback with his net 69.
It was a good day to be a Richard!!
Very well done to Division 1 winner Dave Cato who finished 1 point ahead of Toby Hunt.
Also very well done to Peter D Harrington Division 2 who had a more comfortable margin of 2 points over Andy Johnson,
Autumn Stableford – Round 1 of 2
A grey day for the first round of the Autumn Stableford. Rain caught the last games.
There were no fewer than 5 40 points but Olav Bridie took winning place with a superior back 9 of 23 points; the other 40s came from Giovanni Caboni (plenty in reserve with 3 ‘blobs’), best woman Bella Mahale, Lee Frost and Chris Jones,
Well done to Deborah Potter for 24 points on her back 9 and also to Brian McMahon for his eagle at 15th.
Men’s Invitation
The event was played on a bright sunny Saturday and although not attended by the usual numbers, was enjoyed by all competitors. Three of our new women took part and agreed it was a great alternative to playing in the weekly competitions.
Prizes were award to the runners up and winners, who included two of the new women.
Runners up with 44 stableford points were Ed Hall and Kelly Hewitt
Winners with 46 stableford points were Ellie Rhodes and Maher Sharma.
Midweek September Plate
A pleasant dry bright and autumnal day for the September Plate on Duke’s.
The in-form Jonno Mclean won with a great 40 points – Jonno had room in the bag for even more having picked up on 2 holes. A shot behind was Kim Jabbour with a creditable 39 points . Next on 37 points were best woman Sookkyyung Park, Andy Johnson, Chris Rudkin and Peppe Monterosso. Recent NAPGC Seniors champ Angus had 35. Ed Robinson had notable back 9 21 points.
The Silver Jubilee Trophy ( For 25 yrs: 1924-1949 )
Bright , cool and sunny but dry for the Silver Jubilee.
An astonishing 62 from Richard Smith won the Jubilee – just 1 over par and level 4s for the back 9; well done Richard! His nearest contender was Michael Pham having another good round with a glorious 65. Deborah Potter took 3rd place, and best placed woman, on countback from Mike Shabani – both 67s.
Richard took both front and back 9 honours with 2 36s front and back.
This was final round of the Anniversary Cup which sees Michael Pham the winner with a deserved 275 from both Nigel Ward and Deborah Potter both 283.
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!!
Midweek September Medal (MW GM round 7 of 8)
A blustery and cloudy day, which could have been worse if the predicted rain had happened.
However, for some this not seem an obstacle with some good scores.
Mike Assender out in 38 and back in 35 showed what could be achieved with the lowest gross score of the day. Andy Jognson in Div 2 also stolled round with a net 64.
The outstanding shot of the day goes to Sheena Harrington with a Hole in One at the 11th. Very well done!!
Peter Harrington partnering Sheena scored a birdie 2 at the same hole. Amazing Family scoring into the wind as well.
after 7 of 8 rounds of the Midweek Grand Medal Toby Hunt leads 344 from Dave Cato 353.