A good turnout for New Year’s Day [44] with the gates opening 09:00 . It remained dry although due rain previous day(s) 2 temporary greens on 5 and 11 meant the round non-qualifying for handicap.

As with last Sunday, a clear leader emerged to win the plate -Rannesh with 42 points – 24 out and 18 back [with a ‘blob’ at par 3 10th so could have been even better] – well done indeed.. Will and Peter G challenged with 38s, then 34 from Adrian and 6 33s including best woman Gina.

A small field didn’t really enjoy the best golfing conditions. The apocalyptic rains didn’t materialise. But the wind created a serious chill factor.

Chris Newman is the runaway winner today. A blob on the 7th didn’t prevent him from recording 19pts on the front 9. His back 9 was even better. His score could’ve been outstanding had it not been for a bogey-bogey-bogey finish. 39pts in these conditions was a remarkable result. Only Alan finished within reasonable distance. An excellent front 9 (21pts) was followed by a more volatile back 9 (16pts). Thanks to an excellent score on the way in Susan is first lady today. Unfortunately she didn’t sign up for the sweep. Julian was able to increase his purse a bit thanks to a 4th place. Ray is the last to earn some credits.

Please find attached a PDF report of the results, Sweep payouts, Best Score Analysis, Competition Scoring Analysis (Today’s shockers: hole 14 played as SI 5 and hole 16 as … SI 3) and final 2022 rankings for Birdie/Eagle Tree.

Happy New Year

20 players took advantage of tee-times from approx. 09:00 negotiated with Glendale for a festive Boxing Day round.

Conditions proved more difficult to score with PCC settling at +1 – but this didn’t seem to impair the runaway winner Pier Maria Micucci with 39 points – 20 out and 19 back with 9 level pars; 3 33s chased with Oz leading on countback from Adrian Mancebo and Pat Barbour (all had 3 or more ‘blobs’ [so much in reserve].

Queen of the par 3s was Cheryl – 13 points for the 5 of them.

The club had placed a tab behind the bar which it is hoped was taken advantage of for a festive tipple.

After a week of polar temperatures and occasional snow the Duke’s course re-opened for the MW Pairs comp played as US Greensomes stableford, with 2 temporary greens (5th & 11th) on a wet course.  It was an enjoyable romp in mild, dry conditions with the bookies favourites posting a clear win (by 3 points) with drinks and mince pies in the clubhouse afterwards.

Cheryl/Richard took full advantage of the “generous” shot  allowance afforded all the teams with women (3 extra shots). On the 4 holes that they had 2 shots, they recorded a total of 10pts. Zoom out and we learn that they scored 23pts on the front 9 and 22pts on the back 9. An unbeatable target for the rest of the field. Gina/Jon Cooper had only one blemish on their scorecard. Both of their tee-shots on the 3rd ended up in quite a bit of trouble. But they still posted a solid score on the front 9 (20pts). An excellent score of 22pts made up for those soft opening 9 holes. Despite a couple of very close putts on the last 3 holes they were able to hold off 2 other pairs who also ended with 42pts.

Peter/Brian are the last pair to finish “in the money”. 

Courses closed due to snow.

The course is currently closed and competition cancelled due snow.

Looks like RPGC members clearly prefer summer golf. The field was smaller than usual. On top of that today’s scoring was sub par.

The notable exception was Julian.

Junior Division

Julian went level par-birdie-bogey on the par 3’s. He missed out best front and back 9 by a single shot. This all translates into a score of 84 gross. This becomes a fantastic score Nett score of 65. PCC got adjusted to +3 and a healthy cut in his HI. Richard was a distant second with a score of Nett … 76. Rob Dykes finishes on the podium as the best of the group on 77.

Also wishing a speedy recovery to Graham.

Senior Division

Angus used 2 birdies on the front 9 to record the best score on the way out. The back 9 was a bit more volatile. But he still managed to also top the whole senior division for the best score on the way in. 82 gross (73 Nett) is enough win the senior division. Steady eddy Brian narrowly misses out on victory.

No surprise that hole 17 came out as SI 4 today ….

A chill grey day with easterly wind and mud…

Women

After many changes in the booking sheet, we were left with 2 equally balanced teams – 4 playing off 17, 2 on 21 and 2 on 26. No doubt everyone expected the results to be close as indeed they were – but done in quite different ways. Cheryl, Jayne, Katharina and Sheena dropped just 1 shot on the front 9 but their approach shots and long putts failed them more on the back 9 which took them 6 more to complete than the front, whereas Alison, Joan, Lia and Susan had a very balanced round of 41 in and out. Festive treats were provided as prizes to C, J, K & S.

But what a chilly grey day it was and one of those where trolleys gathered as much mud as they could cope with – the mulled wine with accompanying mince pie and hot custard was most welcome

Men

Considerng it was Duke’s (but yellows) scoring was not bad and no PCC adjustment.

Well done to Kerry winning the senior -medal in 67 (out in 1 over) with HI trimmed 0.5 to 9.7; he was chased with excellent scores from Paul K 67 and Luke 68.

Junior medal went to Ian Burgess 66 from Jihum Kim 68 and Paddy Stone 71;

Spare a thought for Ross Hood standing on the 11th tee 1 under par; whilst tragedy befell him at 15 (NR-lost ball??}, Ross recovered his composure to score his 4th birdie at the 18th!

Sunshine broke through the gloom shortly after 8:00 on a chilly day. Many complained of losing balls amongst the fallen leaves.

Premier Cru went to Jim Deissler with 36 points to win the Midweek Champagne Chase Junior Division;

In-form Sheena put in yet another sparkling performance on countback for 2nd 35 points to take the win in the Senior Division from vintage performances from Chris N, Uli, Pier, Richard and Ross. Chris & Uli also getting bottles with the better back 9s. In the Junior Division, Richard H and Julian took the bottles.

Pat Barbour effervesced on front 9 – 20 points whilst Sheena and Ian B fizzed the back 9 20 points..

Sporadic showers petered out only to return for the late games; mild for early winter – 13C recorded per bottom of results. Turnout was good with 64 entrants

Pier Maria uncorked 41 points (22 on back 9) to win The Champagne Chase; vintage scores of 39 were settled on a back 9 countback with Toby having the advantage from Mark B. Bubbly 38s from Pete M and Oz followed with Pete winner on countback. Jay Barker NR first hole but normal service was soon resumed with 3 birdies in his round.

As is traditional, the women provided the prizes, this year 1st and 2nd place for each of the Senior (Toby & Mark) and Junior (Pier Maria & Giovani) Divisions, and 1st, 2nd & 3rd for the women – Pat, Susan & Sheena.

In addition to drinks prizes, sweep was paid out to 9th place. Kerry had best front 9 22pts, Paddy best back 23.