If Karma played golf it would’ve made Kevin Prendergast winner today. But that script never materialised. After underwhelming scoring last Sunday on Princes things looked rather ominous for today’s field. The rough was still stupidly high. And the bounces on the fairway/fringes were extremely unpredictable. But it has to be said that the field outperformed (and that is putting it mildly). 3 of the players finishing in the Top 5 went out at the crack of dawn.

Gina’s brisk pace of play (she and Ross finished 18 holes in 2h37) translated into an excellent score of 37pts. But her mark was bettered by Vinny (39pts). Alan T had a remarkable eagle on the 5th. 18pts out and 24pts in are his final numbers. The 9am starters did have the final laugh. Richard Y picked up on 3 holes on the front 9 (17pts). But he blew everyone away with 25pts on the back to snatch victory from Alan. Chris R had an excellent round (19+22pts). But he will have regrets about the 18th hole (recorded a DB). It has to be said that the tee-shot on the 18th  from the white tees is becoming quite daunting. In a couple of years you will either have to use an 8 iron to just get on the fairway or (as Sam W does) bend/slice it around the trees. Finally Ross has to thank Gina for not entering the sweep. He is the last player to get a “positive purse adjustment”.

MW Founders Cup Standings
Chris Rudkin (132), KSC (131), Gina (128 – but she has a great opportunity to make up ground the coming weeks), PDH (124).

Similar conditions of late prevailed but warmth 23 C from sunshine was abated by wind.

Women

Men

The rough was not a place to be in, ruining a hole’s score; run on fairway sometimes ran unexpectedly into bunker and hard greens needing water wouldn’t hold pitches and were ‘fast’.
Additionally loose plastic liners at top of holes annoyingly lifted and needed replacing for next player. Greens having dried out since placing of liners.
Unsurprisingly PCC was again lifted to +1.

But there was some good golf. Winner by one point was Luke R 38 pts with good front 9 21 pts and a birdie at first. Chasing one point behind were Alan K and Duncan T. Duncan with an inspired back 9 24pts.

Sam Williams recorded 3rd men’s Sunday eagle of year at 17 [total eagles 5] – well done!.

It was a warm sunny day (20⁰C) with a refreshing breeze.  There was bounce and run on the fairways but it’s becoming more difficult to ‘hold’ the ball on the greens and there is real trouble in the rough, which is deep and at it’s most punishing this time of year.  Glendale had extended their 1^st cut mowing since the last club competition 2 weeks ago, which was some relief.

Scoring proved difficult for most of the field with more than two thirds of the entrants failing to score 30+ points.  Two of last Friday’s top 3 were again in the winner’s circle – Seymour Laird 2^nd with 36 points and Colin Price 3^rd with 35 points.  However, this week’s winner was early bird Mitch Cohen with 37 points.  Mitch’s round wasn’t looking too good after 6 holes – he only had 6 points, but he par’d 7 of the final 11 holes and had 22 points on the back 9. Sweep payout to the top four (£12, £8, £4, £2).

The field enjoyed links like conditions on a parkland course. The extra roll on the fairways was a welcome sight to a lot of people. But the thick/high rough and unpredictable bounces on the fairways caused a lot of problems.

To state the obvious: this wasn’t even close. Gina was the only player in the field to play better than her HI. She used an excellent back 9 (+2 gross – 22pts) to race to victory. Back to back birdies on holes 13 & 14 sure helped. 41pts and a ticket to UKPCC regionals represent a nice day at the office. Early starters also take places 2&3. Alan and Naveed both recorded 35pts. Alan had the better back 9 (21pts). Naveed had more birdies. An ugly DB on 12 dented Naveed’s chances. The first 9am starter comes in at 4th. Toby had a good front 9 (20pts). But 5 1-pointers on the back 9 were his undoing. Another early bird claimed 5th. Russell will regret the PU’s on holes 5,9 & 13. Final money spot goes to Jeremy P. His round could’ve been more rewarding had the unpredictable bounce/rolls from the fairways not made him lose tee-shots on 4 (!) holes.

MW Founder Standings: KSC (98), PDH (96), Toby (91), Gina (91)

It started bright and breezy but cloud grew and it became grey and not as warm as forecast, just nudging 20C.

Women

It’s strange how the back 9 on Duke’s which on paper looks tougher often yields good results & whilst not so for everyone most scored better on that half.
Scoring looks to be a little hard going which is fairly normal for this time of year, but very frustrating nonetheless.
It’s pretty much all to play for next week though Cheryl does hold a 2 shot lead on the rest of the field.

Men

John Morris shot an outstanding front 9 of 27 points [avg 3 per hole] to win the Summer Cup on 41 points. Overall conditions proved tough and PCC was + 2 meaning John was cut from 21.2 to 20.0. 4 shots behind was Suhail 37, Giovanni 36 and Charlie W 35.
Suhail started off with 6 bogey 5s whilst Giovani had a cracking start – 12 points after 3 having birdies at 1 and 3 (each worth 5 points). Charlie picked up honours for the more difficult back 9.

A fine, warm sunny day with bounce and run on the fairways and much faster greens due to the recent dry spell. The rough and 1st/2nd cut were very penal though and ‘to be avoided’ as much as possible.

It was tight at the top with Colin Price taking his first ever 1st place in a singles competition with the club – well played Colin. He pipped early bird Russell Stewart on countback, both with 34 points. Close behind on 33 points were 3 players, Seymour, Peppe and Will, with Seymour taking 3rd place with his 19 points back 9 countback (the best of anyone in the field). Sweep payout to top 3 (£8, £5, £4).

Another week but the bottom line remains the same: scoring proved to be tough. The rough was lush and very long. Quite surprisingly the 16th played as SI18 today. The 5th was the 3rd most difficult hole today. And quite a few dreams were shattered on holes 17 & 18 (SI 6/7 respectively).

Hip surgery seems like a distant memory now for Angus. His golf game is starting to click quite nicely. 4 birdies today are no mean feat. Despite a chip-in birdie on the 2nd he had 4 1-pointers on the front 9. That resulted in “only” 16pts. But birdies on 11,14 & 15 (note that he lost a bit of momentum with a bogey on 16) set him up for 22pts on the back 9. Darren’s round was the mirror image of Angus’ 18 holes. 22pts going out (thank to a nice birdie on the 7th) and 16pts on the way home. So the countback rule sides with Angus. Graham had the best back 9 of the entire field (23pts). That was needed to hold off Richard Norden. Early starter Pralab takes 5th. 1st woman of the day is Cheryl.

Just as the grass gets ever longer on both fairway and in the rough with the rain, the first monthly medal of the year to be played with no winter rules

Women

Seems a long time since the last women’s medal, & indeed it was with the November one being cancelled due to flooding on the course. Judging from the results it doesn’t look to have been an easy day for anyone apart from Sali who won by 4 shots on 67 from Silvia.

With a PCC of 1 for yesterday – the men found it no easier, and the way WHS changes, Sali’s handicap has dropped to 23.6

Men

The continuing thick rough made ball-finding/striking difficult esp. for short hitters off the tee and PCC of +1 reflected this.

But there was some very good scoring. In the senior division John Perkins shot a net 63 to win medal – with a finishing 35 (John earns full hcaps hot cut); he was followed by 68s from Hieu and Kerry who could both have had much better but for trouble at a few holes.
In the junior division Seymour’s consistent 64 won the medal from Duncan 68 and Dilip 69.

Lowest gross came from Pete Harrison making a welcome appearance (76).

This was 3rd round in the Grand Medal Trophy which now sees Kerry 212 the leader in senior division from Tamas 214; in the junior Duncan 202 leads from Dilip 207.

It was a chilly and overcast morning, which then got wet and windy and by early afternoon it was pretty miserable conditions for golf – no wonder some players ‘went home early’ and well done to those who stuck it out.

Richard Norden was our winner (36 points, 20 on the back 9) separated only by countback from Bill Norman (also 36 points but 19 on the back 9). Pralab came in 3rd (34 points) and will have had the ‘best’ of the weather – his round only really got going towards the end, with 4 pars on the final 5 holes. Rumour has it that Seymour beat Rannesh comfortably in their ‘friendly’ matchplay, helped by a couple of chip-ins. Sweep payout to the top 3 (£10, £7, £3)