Timing your tee-time was a good recipe for success today. The weather forecast scared off quite a few players. So a reduced field of 33 players battled it out for the 2017 Midweek Charity Cup.

Team Sweden was still riding high after their victory in the Men’s pairs last Sunday. The rain didn’t even bother Tore Burman. He posted an excellent score or 39pts. Tony Bergqvist matched Tore’s score. But he arguably enjoyed better weather conditions. The team mates matched each other’s scores on front and back 9 (21pts out and 18pts in). So only the countback over the last 6 holes was able to separate them. At first glance Oliver Maskell made the wrong call by moving his tee-time forward. Perhaps the tricky weather conditions made the youngster focus harder. A superb front 9 (21pts) was followed by a solid back 9 (19pts). But truth be told he had a bit of good fortune in retrieving his wayward tee shots on the 17th and 18th hole. Oliver’s handicap gets cut to 13. Well done. Another 2pm starter Tamas missed his chance on the back 9 to finish higher than 4th. Cosmo LM put in a very decent round of golf to finish 5th on 37pts. Scoring better on the par 5’s on the back 9 should be help him to cut his handicap further in the not too distant future. 1st lady today was Habe Crocker. Results…

CSS: 36pts (Men & Ladies)

A big field enjoyed fantastic golfing conditions: very mild temperatures, generous sunshine and some added zip to the greens due to the early morning dew. Only blemishes today were the fallen leaves on some of the fairways. They made it a lot trickier to retrieve wayward tee-shots. All in all scoring proved more difficult than expected.

Most of the men had little trouble racking up the points on the front 9. The player who was able to deliver a strong back 9 would be in with a good chance. The ladies on the other hand seemed to have the opposite problem. In general they were able to score very efficiently on the back 9 but didn’t seem to have as much joy on the way out.

Shane McGillycuddy was able to match a good front 9 with an adequate score on the back 9. His score of 41pts could not be matched by any competitor. Shane’s new handicap drops by two full strokes and now stands at 24. Keith Cassidy (39pts) came close but probably lost his chance on the 17th hole. 1st lady today was Habe Crocker, still riding high from her win in the Mixed Pairs Final. Her score of 20pts on the back 9 (total score 38pts) helped on her way to 3rd overall. Habe’s handicap gets cut to 8. Brian McMahon’s excellent score of 38pts is good for 4th today. Joan Mulcahy and Henry L-B complete the Top6. Also note that Caroline Stilwell scored an impressive 23pts (!) on the back 9. Results…

CSS: 36pts (Men & Ladies)

Top Dog: Peter Osgood saw off his closest rivals and can no longer be caught.

Autumn has definitely arrived at the Park. Thick clouds generated intermittent but short showers. Adjusting to the slower greens tested the competitors’ patience too.

A lot of competitors scored well on the front 9. Julian James and Peter Osgood each totalled 21pts on the way out. Chris Jones, Chris Phillips-Jones, Eelco Snijders and Keith Cassidy managed to go out with 20pts. The back 9 proved a lot trickier for the field. Chris Jones and Eelco Snijders matched each other’s scores on the back 9. The countback rule awards victory to Chris Jones. Avi Murphy scored an impressive 20pts on the back to finish as 1st lady in 3rd position. Eric Lit, Jon Rampuhl and Keith Cassidy complete the Top6. Results…

CSS: 36pts (Men & Ladies)

Just an FYI: Darren won the closest to the pin for the men on the 16th. His beautiful tee-shot landed within a couple of feet of the hole. Unfortunately only two players recorded a 2 on that hole and Darren wasn’t one of them.

Two players get a new handicap. Please note the result for Mike “Mister 58” Shabani. +1 on his competition handicap in just 3 days.

A final note from the Midweek Commitee: had it not been for 4 late no shows (I believe Jon Cooper is protecting his handicap for his upcoming pairs final vs Team Abba) we would’ve had the biggest turnout ever for a Midweek Comp. As Midweek Captain (and back-up handicap secretary) I would like to thank the Committee members for their work and dedication (special thanks to Richard Owen, Chris Jones, Cheryl Woodhouse and Paul Grand).

Ladies

The weather for the last ladies’ medal of the year was glorious and encouraged some good scores – & some not so good! Fresh from her victory in the singles knock-out on Saturday, Val Riziotis continued in the same vein coming in with a net 66 to beat the rest of the field by three shots and earn herself a 0.9 cut to 15.7. As yesterday, Lia Donath was the runner-up. Results…

CSS remained at 69.

Men

Golfing conditions proved ok. And the field delivered. Prince’s was ripped apart today (7 birdies on the 4th hole!). Lee Marshall kept up his good recent form. A score of 62 (72 gross) made him leader in the clubhouse. To his (and a lot of other people’s) amazement this wasn’t enough to claim victory today. Mike Shabani played the round of his life. Solid ball striking, more than a few good bounces and steady nerves allowed him to return an unbelievable score of 58 (72 gross). Par golf was the way to go. His score was made up of just (!) one birdie and 12 pars. Mike sees his handicap cut to 11. Well done. Lee Marshall’s good form gets rewarded with an ESR: his new handicap now stands at 8. Julian James finished 3rd but probably missed a chance to finish higher on the last two holes. Tony Bergqvist’s score of 65 (net) has a positive (4th place today) and a negative (one shot less to play with in his upcoming pairs final vs Team GB). Seong Lim (5th) and Nigel Gaymond (6th – but he also loses a shot on his handicap – a negative for the pairs final vs Team Sweden) complete the Top6. Results…

CSS: 67

Thanks to his heroics today Mike Shabani was able to overtake Keith Cassidy and win the Grand Medal Trophy (best 5 out of 8 scores):

1  Mike Shabani  331
2  Keith Cassidy  334
3  Toby Hunt  339

Competitors faced some nasty conditions today. Temperatures felt really cold because of the gusting winds. Because of those winds some holes played really long (I have never ever played the 15th hole with the wind in the back …). The fact that the greens were more unpredictable than normal didn’t help either.

All those factors didn’t bother Jeremy Ryan one bit. A steady front 9 was followed up by a superb back 9. Birdies on the two par 3’s set him on route to gross score of 37! Jeremy’s final tally finishes at 64 (76 gross) – a whopping 7 strokes better than CSS. His new handicap drops to 10 (potentially setting himself up for an ESR over the last two months of the year). 2nd place goes to Jack Evans with an excellent score of 68 net. Jack’s consistent round (44 out and 43 in – gross) earns him a new handicap of 18. 1st lady today is the back-up treasurer Lesley Mason with a score of 69 net. Kim Chaffart’s decent front 9 was offset by a disappointing inward 9. Jay Barker used up 3/4 of his handicap on the front 9 but still managed to record a net 71. Early starter Darren Enthoven completes the Top6. Also note that none of the players in the 3-ball that went out at 2.00pm returned a score. Results…

CSS: 71 (Men) – 73 (Ladies)

In the final standings of the Midweek Grand Medal Trophy Jay Barker managed to hold onto 1st place. But thanks to his score of 64 today Jeremy Ryan finished just one stroke behind!

Golfing conditions proved tricky today. The rain of the last couple of days negated any roll on the fairways. Greens had a bit more zip. So good lag putting and short game control were required. Finally the wind and the light showers required extra ball flight control. So it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that the single figure players did well today.

Mike Assender proved again that playing a medal round on Duke’s is no challenge for him. Consistent golf (38 out and back) result in a net score of 67. More than enough for 1st place today. His solid golf gets rewarded with a handicap cut of 0.8 strokes and an ESR of 0.5 Mike’s new exact handicap stands at 7.9. Very well done. James Barker finishes 2nd with a net score of 68 (73 gross). The only blemish on his scorecard was the double bogey on the 4th. 2nd place and a new handicap (exact handicap 4.4) should make up for that. Dennis Pellerin had an excellent day: a net score of 69 drops his handicap to 21. Roger Rojas came into this round defending his lead in the Anniversary Cup. Looks like the pressure got to him a bit on the front 9 (+7 gross). But the assurance that his closest followers (Peter Osgood and Tamas Ladacs) couldn’t mount any serious challenge helped steady the ship. An excellent back 9 (highlighted by a pitch/chip-in from 50 yards for birdie on the 14th) helps him into 4th place. Peter Osgood even went so far as to walk from the 7th tee over to the 10th green to (hastily) concede defeat to Roger. Liam Bridger and Henry L-B complete the Top6. 1st lady is Susan Smith with a net score of 73. Results…

CSS: 71 (Men) – 73 (Ladies)

Final Standings Anniversary Cup

1  Roger Rojas 207
2  Tamas Ladacs 210
3  Peter Osgood 212

The field enjoyed mainly decent conditions to finish their round. Although the late afternoon starters arguably faced the worst conditions (threats of rain and a wind that became stronger during the course of the afternoon).

The day’s winners were Elaine Elborn and Jon Curry. Their consistent round of golf sees them take 1st place with 45pts (22pts out and 23pts in). Well done to them! Ronnie Mitchell and Brett Colley matched Jon & Elaine on the front 9 with 22pts. But it looks like they missed their chance with a softer start on the back 9. That means that they finish 2nd (just 1pt behind the winners). Richard Owen and Chris Jones saw their strong outward 9 (22pts) offset by a softer return on the 16th. Their score of 43pts puts them in 3rd place. Peter Osgood and Henry L-B did deliver on their promise that they would score at least 40pts. But it was quite clear that they were expecting to finish at least on the podium with 42pts. Peter was so desperate to get a birdie on the last hole that he 1) took forever to line up the putt and 2) went flat on his belly (Google Camillo Villegas to you get the idea) to try and read the line of his putt (BTW: he did miss the birdie putt). Four other pairs managed to score 40pts but missed out on the Top3. Results…

Ladies

Report due soon. Results…

Men

Hard to believe that summer came to an official end this week. The field enjoyed some nice weather (minus the wind) for the September Monthly Medal round on Prince’s. As usual Greg Saunders went out (very) early. His net score of 68 (his score on the 7th hole will haunt him though) made him leader in the clubhouse. Nigel Ward overtook Greg with a net score of 66. His score was matched by Charlie Whiteman. But the countback rule means that Nigel edges out Charlie. Peter Harrington came in with the very last game. He managed to record a fantastic net score of 61 (85 gross). Peter’s handicap gets a massive 2.8 stroke cut and he now plays off 21. Looks like marking all these cards for handicap does improve your golf after all … If you take into consideration that his better half may have won today’s Ladies Better Ball comp (with an unconfirmed stableford score of 48pts!) it is safe to say that today represented a good day at the office for the Harrington household. Simon Malin (net 67) and Alan Cinnamond (net 67 – lowest gross score 73) complete the Top6. Well done to Rick Smith for his birdie on the 16th hole! Results…

CSS: 68

Keith Cassidy retains the lead in the Grand Medal Trophy (best 5 out of 8 scores):

1  Keith Cassidy  338
2  Nigel Ward  341
3  Toby Hunt  343
4= James Barker  347
4= Mike Shabani  347
4= Brian McMahon  347

The Autumn Mixed Foursomes was played on the Duke’s course, another fine day. The format for the Autumn event is medal and the winners were Susan Smith partnering Nick Rogers with a net 72.5. Runners up were Sheena Harrington with Tamas Ladacs who returned a net 74. For the Autumn event we also have the Stratford trophy for the best gross and on a countback the lowest gross winners were Sheena and Tamas.

The iffy weather didn’t inspire today’s field to great golf. David Vines was the only competitor shooting below his handicap. Only the Top6 managed to play their handicap (aka remain within the buffer zone). Two Birdies on the front 9 set David up for a good round of golf (39 strokes in & out). A net score of 68 is more than enough to win today’s comp. David’s handicap gets cut 0.8 strokes to 9.5. John Curry recovered from a slow front 9 and came back in 39 strokes. His score of 72 (81 gross) puts him in 2nd. Jon Cooper matched John C’s round but is pushed into 3rd by virtue of the countback rule. Ronnie Mitchell didn’t ace the 10th today. But she put up a valiant effort to topple Gina Jillett, the leader in the Midweek Anniversary Accumulator Competition after 3 rounds. In the end she came a bit short (see below) but 4th place today will serve as some sort of consolation. Eelco Snijders and Chris Phillips-Jones complete the Top6. Results…

CSS: 72 (Men) – 74 (Ladies)

Finally congratulations to Gina Jillett for winning the overall Midweek Anniversary Accumulator Competition. Her lead over Ronnie Mitchell was large enough that today’s sub par round didn’t dent her chances. Final standings are as follows:

1  Gina Jillett  211
2  Veronica Mitchell  213
3  Eelco Snijders  220
4  Jeremy Ryan  220
5  Richard Owen  223
6  Chris Phillips-Jones  224