August 2023
August 2023
MW Club Championship/Hcap Trophy R2
A fair day for final round of Midweek Club championship; dry and bright.
Fine 65s from Naveed and Peter G won the nett for the day with Naveed 158 winner with a birdie at last hole. Russell followed with a lighting 66.
In the Men’s scratch senior division Jay shot an exemplary 73 gross with 3 birdies and 2 under par back 9; this built on his lead from first round to win with 145 from nearest rival Richard B 151. There were notable performances from Peter G 152, and Naveed 158..
Full credit to Patrick M winning with 2nd round 93 to give overall 180 from Adrian 182 and Julian 184.
The Handicap Trophy ( next 2 rounds) shows a 3-way tie on 135 – Peer G, Jay and Uli. Congrats to all.
And it’s congratulations to Gina for again winning the women’s gross 163 from Sheena 176.
Summer Bank Holiday Plate
A sunny start but it clouded over; a breeze for the late summer ban holiday plate.
An excellent front 9 of 22 points helped Sean O to victory in his 41 points.; Tony K pressed with 39 [21 back but a couple of 7s on front 9]; Raymond, Uli and Will B followed with 38s; a hghly commendable 37 points gave Seema best placed women’s position.
[Mel Dunn was play ing his 4th WHS qualifying round but player must have 6 WHS WHS round per RPGC rules].
Surrey Fives, Semi-Final
On a beautiful sunny Saturday morning our Richmond Park B team made the journey to Epsom to play the Epsom ‘A’ team in the semi-final of the East Section of the Surrey 5s. In their first ‘away’ fixture of the competition, our B team were victorious and now progress to meet the Epsom ‘B’ team in the East Section Final.
The Epsom course was in beautiful condition with perfectly manicured fairways and greens and with more slopes than an Austrian ski resort. An excellent performance by our team saw a resounding 3.5 – 1.5 victory for Richmond Park. The venue and date for the finals match against Epsom ‘B’ is to be confirmed by Surrey County Golf.
Will Balakrishnan led the team off and went down fighting for a 4 & 3 loss to give Epsom an early lead.
Word quickly came through that John Perkins was doing a demolition job on his opponent and levelled the overall score to 1 – 1 with a 7 & 6 victory.
Brendan Sullivan’s 5 & 4 victory established the overall lead in Richmond’s favour to 2 – 1.
Match 4 saw Bernie McDermott relinquish a lead of 3 up with 3 to play to give Epsom a glimmer of hope of winning the point and levelling the overall score to 2 – 2. Before Bernie and his opponent went down the 19th it was agreed to wait and see how match 5 was progressing.
Richmond’s smiling assassin Kevin Prendergast, who should be a ‘postman’ because he always delivers a winning point for the team, didn’t let he team down. His effortless 2 & 1 victory made Bernie McDermott a very happy man and sent Richmond Park into the finals.
Well done and well played everyone.
Friday Sweep
Very nice conditions out there today, not too hot and just a touch of breeze, which made a very pleasant change from the wind that seems to have become a regular feature. It all resulted in some good scoring today. Jose’s front 9 was nothing out of the ordinary (17) but an amazing 27 points on the back 9 let him amass 44 points to win by 2 from 3 on 42.
Richard N did it the wrong way round with 23 on the front 9 to put him in 4th behind PaulMc and Sheena – both 22 out & 20 back but Paul had the better back 6 to take 2nd spot.
With 30 taking part today the sweep paid out to the top 4 – which seems only fair since 3 had the same score!
Midweek Club C’ship/Hcap Trophy R1
Temperature ose as he sunrose; much humidity but a breeze.
Division 1
Jay shot 34+38 today (the 2 DB’s on the back 9 are the only blemish on his card today). Otherwise he played a steady round of gold. 1 shot back is Richard … Back (36+37). A DB on 17 killed his momentum. But hero of the day in Div1 has to be Uli. He recorded scores of 37+38 . Just like Jay/RB he too recorded a DB on the back 9 (the 14th in his case). Angus on 76 may be considered the last one with an outside chance next week. Peter G had the best back 9 of the whole field. But he may have left himself a bit too much to do next week.
Division 2
Adrian’s round couldn’t not have started in a worse way (9 on the 1st). But he steadied himself to 44 (front 9) and 41 (with a 7 on the 10th). Patrick M is 2 shots back and is the closest competitor on Div2. Susan recovered remarkably well from 2 snowmen on her scorecard. Seymour is clearly enjoying these golfing conditions: 49+42 and 4th place in Div2. Chris J and Kay M are a bir further back but could be dark horses next week.
President’s Putter (Top Dog 6/7)
Bright but dry for the President’s Putter.
Kerry pulled a round out of the top drawer to win with 43 points; he also won NTP and birdie on long par 3 13th –also back 9 honours. Nigel W followed with excellent 41 and front 9 22. Justin W 3rd with 40 . then 4 39s from Oz, Roland, Sheena and Jay.
Kerry earned another 12 pints in the men’s Top Dog and as attached now leads the senior division 24 points from Raymond 19 and Brian M 16; in the junior, Paul McGrath still leads 28 from Dilip 26 and Onursal 18.
Novelty prizes :
Nearest The Pin
2nd Cheryl Woodhouse
4th Craig Johnstone
11th Richard Owen
13th Kerry Sargeant
16th Aidan Hurley
18th (in 2) Aiden Hurley
Mitcham Friendly – 2nd Leg
This was the second and home leg of the women’s annual match. Injuries and holidays gave an opportunity for us to blood a rookie into matchplay. Seema who’d volunteered to play when our numbers got reduced was getting cold feet about this rash decision, but she bravely ploughed on and even admitted to enjoying it after the match!
After the away leg we were 2-1 down but fought back at the Park to reverse that score meaning that overall the match was drawn, but RP retain the trophy as last year’s winners.
It was a fairly slow Saturday morning’s golf but the weather decided to be kind to us and the company was good for each match as was evident by the level of chat afterwards amongst the women as we tucked into pizza and chips.
Thanks to the team of Sheena, Lia, Jayne, Susan, Doreen and of course Seema.
Friday Sweep
The weather forecast threatened a mid/late morning band of heavy, thundery rain which largely didn’t materialise (certainly no heavy or thundery rain), so the reduced field experienced dry conditions by midday and a lovely sunny, humid day from 12.30pm.
Our clear winner, Justin W (41 points), was the only player to truly master the conditions, finishing 8 points clear of Colin and James (33 points) , in 2nd and 3rd places respectively. Justin had 2 birdies (5th and 12th), best front 9 (22 points), equal best back 9 (19 points), best Par 4s and equal best par 3s – so pretty comprehensive !
There was some concern in the clubhouse after the round that groups 5 and 6 had been ‘lost in action’, however they eventually arrived to complete their 5+ hours rounds.
Sweep payout to the top 3 (£9, £6, £3).
Weekday Captain’s Day
Almost perfect conditions for golf at the park today. The greens are drying up rapidly. But the rough was not as bad as in previous months. he fairways were still very helpful for the “shorter” hitters.
Alan played like a King today. His numbers state the obvious: 4 birdies (1,5,11 and 12), 23pts + 22pts, 2 PU’s and 45pts walking off the 18th green. The 2 PU’s prevented from competing/winning (?) in today’s putting challenge. 2 other players are very grateful for that. After a rough couple of weeks Rob W played of a slightly higher HI. He took advantage of the extra shots. 2 birdies (5,17) and 20pts +23pts earn him 2nd place. Chris R had another excellent outing. “Only” 22pts on the back 9 and the countback rule force him to settle for 3rd. Peter G had no eagle today. But 20pts (out)/22pts (in) and 4th place represent a good day at the office. There is some more good news for him a bit later. Jose Manuel G’s round was the mirror image of Peter G’s round. 20pts on the back earn him the last “money spot”. A small shout out to Ed R. He had a better front 9 than Alan K (26pts). He even had 29pts walking off the 10th. The rest was a bit harsher.
Other results:
Putting Challenge:
Weekday Captain Brian R (25 putts – 13+12) edges Rob W (25 putts 12+13)
NTP
7th: Richard O
10th: Seymour
16th: Richard H
Team event
Peter G, Richard H, Elijah P 88
Alan K, Angus R, Joshua C 84
Rob W, George T, Justin W 80
Golden Jubilee (50yrs 1924-1974) (Top Dog 5/7)
Bright but breezy conditions for the Golden Jubilee.
Katharina Katte shot a consistently spectacular 44in 44out gross 88 net 66 to win. 2 chased with 68s -Paul McGrath just edging Gina on countback. Duncan followed with 69.
This was 3rd Jubilee from 4 in the Anniversary Cup and we see 3 women leading – Cheryl continues 1st on 210 now from Katharine 215 and Lia 217. Indeed, these are only players to have played all 3/ not NR’d to date (see breakdown of the scores lower down in the report).
For the men this was also the 5th competition in the Top Dogs:
Brian and Raymond continue to lead senior division with18 pints each; but making a late charge is Kerry who gained 12 points for 4th.
In the junior Paul M now leads on 28 from Dilip 26.