2023
2023
Ballantyne Trophy, round 4 (Area 2 final)
On a very windy Sunday afternoon at Hoebridge (a neutral venue), the Richmond Park team played Easthampstead for a place in the national semi final of this men’s pairs matchplay competition. The course was in good condition and proved an excellent choice for the match. Our 3 pairs did the club proud by all winning their matches for a 3-0 result and we now look forward to a national semi-final against the Area 3 winners (either Huntswood or South Bucks).
With Uli away on holiday and Peter Goodall and Julian James unavailable, Roger Rojas and Mark Bean joined the team for the match. Our long hitting, low handicap pairing of Richard Back and Ross Hood were first to tee off and ground out a relatively comfortable 2&1 win (certainly more comfortable than their earlier, last-ditch 1up win at Birds Hill!). Richard Owen and Mark Bean were 2nd to go and, after halving the 1st hole, surged to strong position by winning the next 5 holes, and although Easthampstead fought back, the match was closed out with a 4&3 win on the 15th. Our final pairing of Roger Rojas and Tamas Ladacs had a close front 9 with both teams playing very well, however Easthampstead’s putting fell away on the back 9 and a comfortable 3&2 win was the result.
The Captains’ Day (Top Dog 4/7)
Unseasonably windy for July and first competition with red penalty areas on 17 and 18.
As with previous 2 years the Captains’ Day was won by a woman and this year women took first 5 prizes. Reiko came out top 6 from Mayumi and Ali 68s then Capt. Sheena and Doreen 69s; best men with 71s – Brian M, Paul McG and George T.
Aidan and Silvia had the best front9s whilst Raymond did the same on the back 9 – all in 39
Ed H added to the men’s Sunday eagle tally this year with first at 3rd.
For men this was 4th comp in the ‘Top Dog’ and as attached we find Brian M and Raymond on 18 leading the senior division from Toby. Dilip maintains his lead26 from Onursal. 18.
Women led the associated putting competition with Ali just edging Sheena with 27s [Sheena 2 ‘zeroes’]; Brian M took men’s with 26 putts.
Novelty prizes as below.
Nearest the pin in Two on
Hole No 6 – Men only Aidan Hurley
Hole No 18 – Men & Women Seema Sandhu & Sean O’Sullivan
.Longest Drive on the Fairway on Hole No 15 – Men only Andre Pelser/ Justin Wildman
Nearest the pin on Hole No 7 and Hole No 16 – Men & Women
Hole No 7 – Susan Smith & Sean O’Sullivan
Hole No 16 – Avi Murphy & Paul McGrath
Surrey Fives East, Round 4
On a beautiful but very windy Sunday morning our Richmond Park Surrey 5’s B team welcomed Reigate Hill to the Park for their quarter final match in the Surrey 5s. The chosen course (Prince’s) was in magnificent condition with fast greens, penial rough and fairways firm and running. Strong winds made club selection extremely difficult with a premium on tee shots. An excellent performance by our team saw a resounding 5 – 0 victory, with Richmond Park progressing to the semi finals where we will meet the winners of Epsom v Surrey National. More details on the match below.
Will Balakrishnan led the team off and went into an early lead which he never relinquished before finishing his match with a effortless 2 & 1 victory to give the hosts a 1 – 0 lead in the match.
Brendan Sullivan’s 3 & 2 victory was quickly followed by Richmond’s super sub and first time participant in this year’s competition Toby Hunt, who produced some short game wizardry to dispatch the Reigate Hill player with a commanding 4 & 3 scoreline, to give the hosts a 3 – 0 lead and send them into the semi finals.
The evergreen Bernie McDermott with his trusty 25 year old Ben Hogan driver was demoralising his playing partner with fairway-finding drives and a short game to envy, before dismantling his opponent 4 & 3 to put the host 4 – 0 ahead.
Kevin Prendergast who was 3 down after 10 quickly got in on the action and birdied his way back into contention and finished his match with a 3 & 2 victory.
Friday Sweep
Those that believed the weather forecast and decided to cancel were not disappointed – it really did rain almost the whole time we were playing, making it all rather unpleasant, although the bonhomie over drinks in the clubhouse afterwards was up to the usual high standards.
Our winner today, Brian Ransom (40 points), continued his recent good form and this time is ‘in the money’. Runner up, just one point behind, was Justin Wildman making the most of his school holidays. Bill Norman came with a strategy today – use a 6 iron instead of the driver – and his strategy paid off, as he came in 3rd with 37 points. Sweep payout to these top three (£9, £6, £3).
Claret Jug
The field enjoyed pretty decent golfing conditions. Still plenty of roll on the fairway. Looks like some greens on the front 9 were cut. The rough remains enemy number 1 for most players. But all in all the course seemed there for the taking. And that is what a lot of players did. Prime example was the 18th hole. On that hole in particular players did take full advantage of the white tees being (temporarily) moved up.
Best of the class today was Julian. He enjoyed a decent start. But he then went on to record birdies on 11 and 17. That was part of a 35 gross back 9 (aka 26 net). Just enough to finish as the best of 3 players on 62 (net). Today’s Runner-Up was on a Headingley high. Alison copied the JJ method: solid on the front 9 (48 gross – 33 net) and excellent on the back 9 (42 gross – 29 net). Last member of the 62 gang is Chris Rudkin. He finishes 46 (gross – 31 net) and 45 (gross – again 31 net). Very well played all 3.
Early starter Pralab was leader in the ckubhouse for a quite a while. The highlight of his 64 net was an eagle 2 on the 15th. Angus recovered in time from a demanding golf trip on Monday to shoot 74 gross (65 net). He probably could’ve challenged the group on 62 had it not been for 3 3-putts in the first 5 holes. PCC adjustment looks likely. So the HI adjustments could be more muted than anticipated.
Clapham Common Round 3
It was a close match between Richmond Park and Wexham Park ‘C’, with RPGC posting 218 stableford points to Wexham Park’s 221 points. Our 3 home team pairs scored a combined 114 points, 10 more than Wexham’s away team managed on the Prince’s course; however our away team were outscored by 13 points at a shortened, tight Wexham course, which wouldn’t have suited the ‘long hitters’ that we sent there. Wexham admitted that they brought all their long hitters to Richmond Park and it looks like their strategy paid off. So we’ll try again next year.
Monthly Medals
Early rain dissipated to give a sometmes breezy day.
Women
A select group of 6 today and seems the women found it a touch tougher than Joe G who has recorded a gross 70 (as per below), to match Lia’s net score today. A fair number of matches both internal and external reduced both fields, but the effect seemed to help the speed of play!
Pretty pleasant conditions for golf though think the rain of yesterday had softened things up a bit.
Congrats to Lia on her win by 1 shot today.
Men
Joe G (aka Mr. 59) shot a lifetime best net 59 to win the July Medal by 3 shots – well done Joe. Joe was 35 out and 35 in coming on top of a win at Coombe Wood yesterday and is set for an overnight WHS ESR of -1.0 to take his HI from11.2 to 9.2 and back to single figures.
Tamas shot an amazing net 62 [34 gross on back 9] for second place whist Jay shot level par 68 (net 63) and best gross of the day. Well done indeed – Joe, Tamas and Jay get the senior division sweep.
4th overall and junior division leader is Sean with excellent 64 with James Cridland and new member Craig. Most encouraging.
This was the 5th round from a possible 8 for the Grand Medal Trophy and Tamas is leader of senior division by himself being only player to have played all 5 rounds. In the junior division Duncan T leads with from Dilip 277 and Anthony W 279 – all after 4 rounds.
Friday Sweep
It was a swealteringly hot and humid day with temperatures peaking around 30 deg. C, so well done to all those who finished 18 holes. The SLOW PLAY by one of the early groups made it a frustrating day for those that followed and this must not become a trend – if you are not keeping up with the game in front, you must stand aside and let the group(s) behind play through.
It was tight at the top with Uli and Pete playing together and both scoring 37 points, Uli winning out on countback. 3rd and 4th places went to Russell (36 points) and Mitch (35 points), both playing in the cooler early morning conditions. Best front 9 (21 points) recorded by James and Lia and best back 9 (22 points) scored by Graham Swindells. George Taylor and Pete Goodall both had 2 birdies.
Sweeep payout to top 4 (£10, £8, £5, £3)
Midweek July Medal (MW GMT R5/8)
Yesterday’s rain made the greens a bit more receptive. But there was still plenty of roll & bounce on the fairways. The rough in certain places is just getting ridiculous. So staying on the fairways “doesn’t hurt”.
Winner of the day and 1st woman is Cheryl. She went steady on the front 9. But totally let it go (no reference to Frozen the movie) on the back 9. She managed to record a nett score of 30 (!) strokes on the way in. Nothing you can do against that. Yours truly’s round was a mirror image of Cheryl’s. I scrambled my way to a gross score of Level Par (30 nett) on the front 9. But I lost the plot on holes 13-16 (where I went +5). So a nett score of 36 on the back 9 means I finish second (but I do win the sweep – small consolation). Toby only finished 1 stroke back on 67 (Nett). The first early bird was Peppe (looks like the morning hour suits your golf game PM). Peter G had his 3rd eagle in the last month. He managed to chip in from 40yds on the 3rd. But surprisingly he lost his way on the 2 par 5’s today. Otherwise he would’ve challenged for the top prizes.
There are no more certainties at RPGC. “Ballantyne” Captain Richard O recorded another good score on Duke’s (his allegiance was clearly with Princes the last couple of years). Last year’s Women’s CC, Silvia, finishes in the last “Money Spot”.
Diamond Jubilee (60yrs 1924-1984)
Cool and blustery conditions for the second Jubilee (of 4 ) in the Anniversary Cup.
Doreen shot a glorious round of 65 and had the equivalent of 25 points on the back 9 to win on countback from John M whose round was consistently excellent.
A super 69 from Reiko gained Reiko 3rd place from Ian B.
Only 2 ‘Twos’ were recorded – Richard S 7th and Paul K 16th;again reflecting conditions for medal a third of the field NRd.
Women dominate places in this round and also in 2nd of Anniversary Cup where Cheryl’s 65 in the Platinum sees her leader on 139 from Lia 143. 4 further behind is leading man John P 147.