Competitions
Competitions
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.
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.