Competitions

Competitions

13 Jul '25

J Q Robertson – Top Dog Event 4 of 7

Posted in Competitions

Not quite as hot as recently with a breeze. For the ‘JQR’

New member Alan Boyd heads the results with 44points off 17; his final card for qualifying for RPGC competitions.

The winner on a back 9 countback was Alison Chadwick on 41 points from Richard Hanna in the last game. Well done to both esp. Alison for a great back 9 of 23 points. Very well played to Richard Smith 40 and Aidan Hurley 39. AIdan kept a 6 off his gross 74 card – and picked up an eagle on 3rd hole. Michael Pham and Doreen Dolby also had excellent 39s.

This was 4th event in the men’s Top Dog and in the First Division Richard Smith 15 leads Joe Goncalves 14; in Second Division it’s Michael Pham 20 from Charles Haines 13.

12 Jul '25

Hawtree, Round 3 Regional Final

Posted in Hawtree

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.

11 Jul '25

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.

9 Jul '25

Midweek July Medal (Midweek GM Rd 5 of 8)

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Today we were playing the Midweek July Medal which is the 5th round of the Midweek Grand Medal Trophy. We were treated to another glorious day for golf with sunny skies and hardly any breeze.
In the ideal conditions, scoring was predictably good and, in a couple of instances, downright stellar!

Division 1 winner was Pralab Barua with a net 62. Pralab’s gross of 76 was the lowest of the day (40 out, 36 in) and included 2 birdies at the 11th and 16th holes. Tom Laybourn finished second with a net 65. Tom had a very steady round grossing 37 on both 9’s.

In Division 2, Pat Dalton had a day to remember. Playing off 26, Pat shot 85 for a net score of 59 and not surprisingly, won the division by a country mile. Pat grossed 43 out and 42 back. His card included 5 pars and a birdie on the 15th hole. I suspect WHS will make sure Pat’s not playing off 26 next time out!
In second place was Richard Marriott (28) with a net 66. Despite 2 snowmen on his card, Richard scored 50 out and 44 in for a gross of 94 which included 4 pars. Chris Jones(20) was third with a net 68 followed by Kim Jabbour with a net 69 and Andy Johnson with a net 70.

In the Midweek Grand Medal Trophy, Julian James still leads Peppe Monterosso in Division 1 with Toby Hunt, Angus Robertson and Dave Cato in hot pursuit. In Division 2, Peter Fisher is establishing a commanding lead over Richard Marriott, David Grace, Graham Cull and Lia Donnath. A report showing the full standings is attached.

6 Jul '25

July Monthly Medals – GMT Rd 5 of 8

Posted in Competitions

Women

An interesting end to today’s round for those in the last game who were klaxoned off as they walked to the 18th tee. As no one was interested in going back out to finish they all NR’d.

But it would have made no difference to the results with Doreen the runaway winner with her net 62. Just 7 under par. Of course for the competition she was off 95% of her handicap and WHS is showing that she played to 24.7 – just 12 below her handicap. Expect to see an ESR reduction overnight.

6 behind was Seshi (Sookkyung) in 2nd spot.

Men

Dry until a short thunderstorm struck after midday for the July medal, 3 players ‘not played’ 3 holes due lightning risk.

Michael Hayden shot another excellent round winning the first division with 64. Michaels’s round was the best gross of the day 73 and also won front 9 honours. Iker Lanzagorta was 1 behind with a glorious 65 and just 2 behind on back 9 of 35. Special mention to Paul Kamerling for best back 9 -10 better than front nine and of course to Kerry Sargeant for a super eagle at the par 5 ninth hole.
For division 2 there were some outstanding scores with Jonno McLean winning with 60, Abdullah Almasoud 61 Charlie Whiteman 62 and Seymour Laird 63. Well done indeed and there may be the odd handicap ESR overnight .
This was 5th round of the Grand Medal and with 5 rounds played each, First Division leaders are Oz Doyle 360 from Iker Lanzagorta 363; in second division it’s Nigel Ward 368 from Gerard Ouattara 37 and Rannesh Jansari 376.

5 Jul '25

Horton Park match, Home leg

Posted in Horton Park

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).

2 Jul '25

Founders Cup – J. Nicholas (6 of 6)

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Today we were playing the final round of the Founders Cup. Neither of the leading pair were able to play today but with their healthy lead over the rest of the field, it made no difference. Congratulations to Henry Lindesay-Bethune for taking the spoils with 154 points. Dave Cato was runner up with 151 and Mehmet Akdeniz just pipped Richard Owen for third spot (both with 149).

Many of us started our rounds in persistent light rain but fortunately, the skies lightened as the morning went on and the later groups finished in bright sunshine. The weather didn’t really affect the course conditions although the greens were notably slower than of late.

Winner today with an impressive 42 points was Val Panattoni (26). Val played a very solid round scoring 21 points on both 9’s. He scored 3 points on no less than 9 holes. In second place was Sheena Harrington (17) who scored 39 points (19 out, 20 back). Sheena’s blob on the 12th obviously inspired her because she parred the next four holes! Stephen Haworth (19) took third spot – also with 39 points. He had a superb front 9 (scoring 23 points) but came back down to earth somewhat with 16 points on the way in.

29 Jun '25

The Platinum Jubilee Trophy [For 70 yrs: 1924-1994]

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The sun eventually came out and as forecast it heated up to 30C for the Platinum Jubilee.

There were some outstanding scores on Duke’s. The winner with net 63 on back 9 countback was Tom Simpkins from the best woman Seema Sandhu; Tom was just 1 over par on the back 9 and best gross of the day 77. But many congratulations to Seema who started with a par, beginning a pattern for the day. Next were a couple of glorious 65s from Olav Bridie and Joan Mulcahy both with mainly pars or bogeys. Fantastic. Michael Hayden again did well with 69 and there followed 7 70s.
Most difficult hole proved to be 18th with 14 triple bogeys returned.

This was 2nd round of 5 for the Anniversary Cup which now sees Tom Simpkins leading 134 from Michael Hayden 139.

25 Jun '25

Midsummer Trophy

Posted in Competitions

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.

22 Jun '25

Round 3, Ballantyne 2025

The Richmond Park team entertained a very strong Tilgate Forest B team on the Prince’s course, on what was at times a breezy but very warm day.  The result was a 2.5 to 0.5 win for Richmond Park, who will now play Wycombe Heights B in Round 4 (the Area Final).  

Our first pair (Mark Bean and Brendan Sullivan) went 2 down after 9 and were still 2 down after 13. They then won holes 14, 15, 16, and 17 to finish 2&1 winners.  Club captain Brendan had a very strong all round performance and was the player of the day.  

Our second pair (Ray Esin and Mel Dunn) were also up against stiff opposition.  After trailing for long periods of time, they had to dig deep to finally draw their match demonstrating a never give up approach to their game against a strong pairing.

Our third pair was made up of Justin Wildman and Russell Stewart. They found themselves 2 down after 2 holes and despite one of the opposing players losing the head of his club on the second, his tee shot still ran to the back of the green from where he managed to win the hole.  Hanging on until the 7th Justin, got one back, then Russell got another back at the 8th.  From that point it was tight and the low handicap player from Tilgate had 4 birdies. However taking advantage of the shots given the Richmond park pair closed it out on the 18th, winning by 2 holes. 

The games were played in a very competitive but convivial atmosphere and the teams enjoyed drinks and pizza together on the veranda after play.