Early drizzle petered out as per overnight forecast of front a further 20 miles south than previously anticipated. Sun increased as did warmth nudging 19C.

Women

A close result at the top of the table with Silvia winning the October medal by 1 from Katharina with her nett 71.
With the Barton Bowl however, results were reversed in a quirk of it being stableford rather than medal. Both Silvia and Katharina had 35 points but Katharina scored 20 of them on the back 9 compared to Silvia’s 17.

Congratulations to both.

Men

Best gross and net of the day went to Roger Rojas – 71 and 63; well done Roger! Roger wins senior division of day followed by Bernie Mc 64 with Kerry and Brendan returning glorious 65s.

The junior division was headed by Gregory 65 with Ed and Cuneyt following with 68s.

Special mention : Richard Back – level par back 9 33, Raymond for eagle at 9th.

This was last round in best 5 of 8 Grand Medal Trophy. Timing his form to perfection Kerry moved into first place in senior division with Brian M 2nd 338; Julian and Goran share junior division each 327.

For some reason players felt nervous on the first tee/didn’t warm up properly. How else can you explain that Hole 1 played as SI 6 today?

Stu Duncan passed the test on the first hole without any major glitches. That positive trend continued for a while. He posted the best front 9 of the field (22pts). A steady back 9 (except for a snowman on the 12th hole) rewards him with a total score of 40pts and victory today.

Oliver Khan used an excellent back 9 (21pts) to claim second place. The other money spots go to the early birds. Mike Jones was on absolute fire on the back 9 (24pts). May be relaxed after 2 snowmen on the front 9. Pat and Chris both record 37pts. But the countback rule awards 4th place to Pat. Mitch is the last player to earn some sweep money. On this rare occasion the Top 6 all get sweep money.

A chill start for the Silver Jubilee -slow warming with sunny periods/intervals; growth of grass greens fringes gave challenges to many.

Not a problem for the ‘Mr 59’ winner – Ben Dickey with consistent 40 out 41 back; well done Ben and EG have rewarded you with a -2.0 ESR with HI 20.2-> 16.4. Brendon had another excellent round – 66 with a cut in HI from 9.9 to 8.5. Brendon just beat Robin T on countback. Toby, Uli, John M, Monique and Wonil shared 67s.
Monique was best woman and earned sweep prize. First 8 in sweep got prizes.


This was the final (best 3 from 4) Jubilee in the Anniversary Cup which sees John Morris the winner 202 from 4 on 206: Mike S,Sheena, Paul K and Oz in the detailed report attached.

The Park (and the course(s)) changed quite dramatically over the course of 1 week.  Fairways were rock hard again. And the greens have been faster. The front tees on the 18th helped quite a bit (that hole played as SI 16 today).

Pat & Colm netted 3 birdies. That translates into 23pts on the front 9 and a remarkable 25pts on the back 9. The birdies were more than welcome to hold off Richard & Richard. They recorded the best front 9 (24pts). A “softer” back 9 means they finish second 1pt behind today’s winners. Tony and the Woman’s Captain used a very strong back 9 (24pts) to hold off Darren/Terry (23pts on front & back 9). The Gaelic/Iberian combination were the best of the teams on 45pts. But they miss out on sweep money. Yours truly and his partner in crime netted 3 birdies too. But a chip-in birdie by yours truly on the 18th was a tale of too little too late.

A distinct autumnal nip greeted competitors with an arctic wind blowing but gradually conditions warmed up with sunny periods.

Women

Today’s winners started off with a putt from front to back of the first green, straight into the hole for a par, promptly followed by another one on the 2nd hole. It is fair to say that Katharina and Sheena were surprised to find themselves only 2 points adrift of them after the front 9 and whereas they had 20 out things were reversed on the back 9 resulting in a finish just 1 point behind despite Jenny’s 3 for 4 on the long par 3 13th hole.
Monique was playing on her own but her score was included so she gets the recognition for her 2 birdies today – on the 12th and 15th, the only ones recorded today.

Prizes were awarded for the first 3 pairs today with vouchers for 1st and 2nd place being very kindly donated by Rannesh Jansari who runs Fushi.co.uk with his wife.

Men

Early starters Brendan Sullivan and Will Balakrishnan certainly gelled as a team to win with an astounding 46 points -23 in and out; they were chased hard by Nigel W & Tony K, Greg & Peter J [still flying the Treasurer’s flag – 52 pts last year] and Henry & Ross on 43 with last 9 countbacks decisive.

Joe G and son had best back 9 – 27 points.

Conditions proved tricky today. The rain of the last days rendered the fairways very lush. The green grass (of the fairways – not of home like Tom Jones would say) annihilated the bounce/roll that was ever present during the heat wave. On top of that the green keepers decided to punch/sand the greens.

Brett Colley posted a score of 41 gross on front and back 9. His score of 68 (Nett) not only made him leader in the clubhouse. More importantly this target proved too much for the rest of the field. Yours truly finished second. Instead of playing extra-ordinary golf yours truly played consistent golf: my scores on all 18 holes were better than the average score of the field. First woman of the day is Mayumi. Unfortunately she didn’t sign up for the sweep. So she misses out on a small payout. MC John did sign up for the sweep. And since he finished 4th overall (2nd in the Jr. Division) he takes the biggest payout in Division 2. Looks like Angus is fully recovered. An excellent outscore (38 gross) was followed by a steady back 9. MWC Henry wasn’t suffering from any jet lag on the front 9. 37 (Gross) was the best score on the first 9 holes. May be the travelling took its toll on the back 9. Alvaro was happy with his result. Just don’t talk to him about his score on the 13th hole. Teddy Holt, Alex and Mike take the last money positions in the Jr. division. If you saw clubs getting airborne on the 7th hole just ask Ronnie the name of the culprit.

MW Grand Medal Ranking
Both Tamas and yours truly are on 335. Gina still has a chance thanks to her score of 339. Peter Goodall is a bit further back. (Seymour Laird has a pretty good shot to leapfrog everybody).

After the sad events of the second half of the week the attention turned to golf again. Remarkable what a bit of rain can do. Fairways were lush (taking divots became rather common). The greens offered grip/zip and some speed.

Div 1 Results

Brendan Sullivan put together a remarkable round of golf. +3 gross on the way out (1 birdie on the 3rd hole) resulted in 21pts. But his back 9 was better. He came back in level par gross. Add the 25pts of his back 9 (birdies on 11 & 15) to his score on the front 9 and you get an astounding result of 46pts. Needless to say that he takes the win today. He will also get an ESR. Well done. Best of the rest in Div1 was Richard Smith  who put together a steady round: 20pts on front and back 9. Adrian Wells had the best front 9 of the whole field (23pts). Even though he matched Richard’s total his “softer” back 9 moves him into 3rd place. Dodgy Roger finished the back 9 strong to take 4th place with 39pts. Best woman in Div1 was Gina with a solid score of 38pts.

Div 2 Results

Normally any player would be happy with a stableford score of 42pts. But today Sean the southpaw misses out on the overall win. He has to settle for the win in Div2. Goran takes 2nd place. 6’s on the last 2 holes prevented him from improving on a score of 41pts. With quantitative precision he keeps chipping away at his HI. Sarita put together the best score on the par 5’s on her way to 37pts. By doing so she is the last player to earn some sweep money in Div2.

Sunshine and varying showers were the order of the day for the challenging bogey format for Fred Hawtree trophy. Major shower just after 3 o’clock.
The oak tree between 4th and 16th had been felled- see attached photos.

I always think it is good golf to be tied (all square’ in old money) but some astonishing golf was played by those ‘Up’, notably winner Giles Rawlinson 7 up and Alan Cobb 6 up.
Very early starter Mitch Cohen was laeader in clubhous for some time 4 up from Rob Dykes.

Best woman was Julie Ryan – Tied

Peter Goodall with 2 birdies was 5 up on front 9 whilst Giles held honours on back 9 . again 5 up.

Very breezy conditions persisted for the 2nd round of the Midweek Club Championship; despite no rain in the last week green grass patches expanded.

In the net for the day, Richard Young put into action all recent tips to win with a marvellous 64. He was chased by José Manuel Gomez and Rob Smyth 65s (Rob shooting 2 over par gross 73 with 5 birdies); José had 2 10s but otherwise excellent round which earned him an ESR of -1.0 and a cut in HI from29.4 to 27.1.

The midweek Handicap Trophy was tied with 131s from Rob Smyth and Hilary Casey 131s. Mike Sands and Mayumi were amongst chasers with both sixties rounds on 134.

In the overall men’s scratch the deserved Senior division winner was Richard Back 147 from Rob Smyth 148; the Junior winner being Roland Godfrey 173 from Colin Price 175.

The women’s scratch was won by Silvia Bortoli 161 with Sheena runner-up 169.

The wind ran counter to normal direction; green shoots of grass recovery were evident and as on Prince’s seeded grass in new drainage channels had germinated with rain earlier in the week.

Brendan Sullivan off 12 was the winner of the Bank Holiday Plate with an excellent 43 points just beating Robin Thomas on the back 9. Excellent golf. Curiously, WHS awarded Brendan a -1.0 ESR but HI didn’t change [‘hard cap’ ?] whilst Robin cut from 18.5 to 17.5. George Taylor and James Parker followed with very good 40s.

Best woman was Jayne 37 with 22 points on back 9. In the last game the author scored most on the par 3s [9pts] whilst another Paul (Kamerling) joined Kerry Sargeant and Richard Back with a ‘Two’ – only Russell also had a Two on 10th.