Competitions
Competitions
September Medals
Women
Such good timing on the weather front as the rain started for the last game of the day on the 17th & accompanied me all the way home.
Congratulations to Bella on her net 70 and another medal win for her. Despite her view that she played so badly on the front 9, and there were 10 shots difference between her front & back 9 scores, it was still good enough for a 4 shot cushion. Because we play at 95% of course handicaps, Bella’s net 70 translates to playing to 33.4 ie below her handicap and will result in a small cut tomorrow.
With conditions very different already from a few weeks ago, very well judged Bella!
Today’s comp is the first part of the women’s autumn meeting with prizes awarded after the 4BBB which takes place next month.
Men
A grey cloudy day for the September Medal but the predicted rain just held off.
The best scores came from the 1st division – 64 from Peter Needham and 65 from Iker Lanzagorta; in that division Gerard Ouattara chsed with 7 and Peter Harrison and Richard Smith with 71s.
In the second division the winner with a commendable 66 was Sean O’Sullivan who n turn led from Richard Prosser 67 and Mihael Pham 69
Front 9 honours were shared by Richard, Peter and Iker – 4 over; whilst Aidan Hurley secured back 9 with level par.
This was the penultimate (7 of possible 8) round of te Gran Medal which in the first division sees Iker the leader 339 from Richard Owen 345; in second division Rannesh Jansari maintains the lead on 350 from Gerard 355.
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.
President’s Prize
A few soggy cards in the pile today. It looked like the early crew got the best of the weather today and the results tend to indicate that to be the case (for some anyway). For the rest of us it was a day of heavy showers intermingled with some sunny intervals.
The President’s Prize was decided on the back 9. Sookkyung (Seshi) and Michael’s cards being mirror images of each other with Seshi playing it the winning way round having her 22 points on the back 9 rather than the front as Michael did for their 38 points a piece.
Just 1 point further back was Kim followed by Elisabeth, Maher and Peppe on 36. Elisabeth had the best back 9 with 23 points.
There were 7 additional challenges for everyone today and probably contrary to most expectations 5 of the 7 were won by those playing off the white tees. Just because of the difference in the tee positions most impressive were Ben’s on the 10th with a tap in birdie 2 and Angus’ nearest in 2 on the 15th from the back tee. And of course Russell, who probably took the flags out with him in the first game who couldn’t be beaten on two of the holes.
Nearest the Pins (par 3s):
7th – Michael
10th – Ben
16th – Russell
Nearest in 2:
2nd – Russell
9th – Mehmet
15th – Angus
18th – Peppe
The Golden Jubilee Shield & Top Dog Event 6 of 7
Mixed weather for the Golden Jubilee. Sun and clouds but it stayed dry and breezy. Greens need to recover from the recent works e.g. hollow tining and sanding.
Winner of the Golden Jubilee with an excellent 63 was Gavin Laniger off 17 – Gavin scored just 2 over par on the front 9. He was chased on 66 by Greg Wright who also returned 2 over par on front 9. Paul Fulham, Richard Prosser and Chris Mellish were next with commendable 68s.
Will Balakrishnan took front and back 9 honours – 36 and 39 with best gross of the day 75. Best woman was Monique Hubaille net 73.
The round was 4th in the Anniversary Cup series which is headed by Michael Pham 284 from Nigel Ward and Iker Lanzargote 287.
It was also 6th competition in the men’s Top Dog series. Division 1 (Senior) is headed by Aidan Hurley on 22 points from Kerry Sargeant and Richard Smith 15. Division 2 (Junior) sees Abdullah Almasud lead 21 points from Michael Pham 20.
NAPGC Hawtree Final
The first final of the NAPGC finals weekend got off to an inauspicious start for everyone when it was discovered there were 2 fairly large societies playing ahead of us. So after a late start it was another round of over 5 hours for those who’d played away in the previous round at Easthampstead.
Possibly as a result of everyone having to wait on almost every shot (we were playing greensomes behind the 4 ball players) only 2 pairs scored over 36 points and sadly it wasn’t the Richmond Park team.
We went one better than our last final coming in 2nd place behind the winners (Wycombe Heights) and were told we were 4 behind with RP taking runners-up spot on countback. An adjustment to one or more scores must have been made at a later time as the NAPGC website shows RP to be just 2 points behind the winners and 2 ahead of Huntswood in 3rd.
The finals pairings were from left to right in the photo: Paul Green & Sheena Harrington, Joe Goncalves & Joan Mulcahy, Cheryl Woodhouse & Angus Robertson and Mel Dunn & Susan Smith.
Helping to get us there in earlier rounds were Caroline Stilwell, Jayne Maxwell, Justin Wildman, Richard Owen and Brendan Sullivan.
Hopefully we’ll go one better next time!!
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.
The Fred Hawtree Trophy
What a difference a few days make in conditions! Bit of a triple whammy today with the course having just re-opened following the scheduled maintenance, about an inch of rain in the previous 24 hours and a fairly gusty wind and then add in the format of a bogey comp.
Of the 36 booked players only 27 decided to brave the elements and for those playing after 9.30 it was relatively dry overhead except for one rather heavy squall though it doesn’t seem to have helped the scoring much!
Not sure at what stage Tom realised that his 1 up score was going to not only be in contention but would see him winning today, but it was close with Sookkyung (Seshi) topping the leaderboard for most of the day, tied with the course but was pipped by Kim Jabbour on the back 9 to take 2nd spot.
Dave Cato was so happy with his 1 down that he forgot to sign his card or he would have taken 3rd spot, which goes to Angus (2 down) with Andy (3 down) in 4th.
…. In comparison with last year’s Fred Hawtree, the winner was 5 up and through to 22nd place was still only 3 down. It was played on Prince’s so score might be expected to be better but not perhaps so extreme.
August Plate
Somewhat windy but otherwise a dry course and true greens.
Winner with a superb 45 points was Oz Doyle (13) playing ‘the best round of his life’. A front nine of 26 set the pace and contained 3 birdies. The back nine collected another 19 points. Second was Toby Chidavaenzi (19) with 41 points. A further ’40s’ score was made by Alastair Montgomery (04) in third place, who collected 40 points, playing an amazing 1 under par on the front nine and one over par on the back. Fourth was Adrian Wells (11) with 39 points and 5th was Greg Wright (08) with 38 points.
MW Club Championship/Hcap Trophy R2
Overall, the weather was probably slightly better than forecast. However, there was a torrential downpour at 10:10 and a few considerably lighter showers as well. Added to that, there was a strong gusty wind to contend with. When it really blew, it was affecting the ball considerably in the air and was even having an influence on long putts. Despite the rain, the fairways still had plenty of run and the greens were in excellent condition. Hitting a good teeshot downwind was a joy, hitting one into it. not quite so much!
There are several competition results to report on:
Starting with the Men’s Scratch results:
In Division 1 (Senior), Richard Back takes top spot with his aggregate 158 strokes, Justin Wildman is second with 163 and Richard Owen is third with 164.
In Division 2 (Junior), top spot goes to Andy Johnson with his aggregate of 189, Steve De Long is second with 191 and Seymour Lairdjust pipped Richard Norden for third (both with 195).
In the Women’s Scratch, Gina Jillett takes first place with her aggregate of 165. Sheena Harrington is second with 175 and Jayne Maxwell took third place with 180.
Congratulations to Richard, Andy and Gina for their championship-winning performances.
There was also a handicap competition played over the two rounds for the lowest aggregate net score.
Winner by 2 strokes was Jayne Maxwell with her combined net total of 138.
There were a heap of players just 2 strokes behind on 140. MS shows that Alison Chadwick took second place ahead of Justin Wildman in third. Commiserations to Richard Owen and Gina Jillett who had the same score but, in terms of placings “computer says no”.
Congratulations to Jayne on her fine win.
And a special mention for Will (playing off 5) who had the lowest gross score of the day with his hugely imressive 74.
Summer Bank Holiday Plate
A sunny start for the August Bank Holiday Plate but it clouded over.
There was some truly excellent scoring. Michael Pham returned 45 points and will be subject to a WHS Exceptional Scoring Record well done Michael. He was followed by a super 42 from Ellie Rhodes that included a front 9 of 23 points with a ‘blob’ at 5th
Alison Chadwick had another good round with 40 points, one better than Adrian Wells on 39.
Congratulations to Rannesh Jansari for another eagle – this time at the first hole.