Hard to say if Japan’s victory over Germany during today’s round at the World Cup was a bigger surprise than the weather at the park. 24 brave souls teed off despite doomsday weather forecasts. But that courage (or foolishness) paid off. By some sort of miracle the rain stopped around 9.30. Guess that for once the 3 early starters experienced the worse conditions.

Only 2 women teed off. And the least that you can say is that they stretched the field. Sheena finishing first and Cheryl closing the leaderboard … The women’s captain used scores of 18pts (front 9) and 21pts (best score on the back 9) to leave everyone else far behind. Rob Dykes finishes 2nd but is the winner of today’s sweep. Julian is keeping up his good form with 3rd place and 36pts. Alan could/should’ve done better had it not been for 3 blobs. Wouldn’t be surprising if PCC are adjusted (only 5 players played to their HI today). Only 3 players get sweep payouts. But since quite a few of the better scorers today opted out of the sweep the sweep payouts reach as far 6th place.

Just to highlight what a weird day it was: hole 3 played as SI 5 and the 16th played as SI … 9. It may come as less of a surprise to  see the 17th play as SI 3. 

The early games caught the worst of the rain but it dissipated to give sunny periods.

Women

Hard to recall those summer days when the ball ran forever and we were clubbing down all the time. Now most of us don’t have clubs we can move up to on almost every hole. It’s definitely got wet and soggy underfoot with the 17th winning the worse condition by some margin. A whole host of men must have cancelled when they saw either the forecast or the rain this morning – but overhead it was a lovely day until the end when the clouds started to appear.

Congrats to Silvia who demonstrates the benefit of being able to hit the ball a long way and even though she played off 6 beat the rest of the field by 2 to win today and lead the eclectic by some 8 shots.

Men

This was first Duke’s Winter competition and an extremely tidy 42 points (23, 1 over par on the harder back 9) from Raymond Esin gave him overall victory for the day and Senior division. Indeed with an overnight PCC of +2 Raymond earned an ESR of -1.0 with his HI being chopped from 11.7 to 9.6.

Wil B took 2nd place in Senior division.

In the Junior division Julian emerged ahead on countback 35 from Paul Green.

In the Winter Comp round 2 Raymond and Will B share the Senior honours 76 points; Paul Green heads Junior 74 from Giovanni; in the associated Eclectic Raymond and Richard Back share lead with 76s

Recent rains made the course very wet. The early starters arguably faced the worst conditions.

Silvia managed to score 21pts on the front 9. Her back 9 was a bit softer. But a birdie on 16 allowed her to close with 17pts. Good enough to become leader in the clubhouse. Tamas looked to build on a strong result in R1 last week. And the least you can say is that he delivered. 20pts on the way followed by 19pts on the back 9 make him today’s winner. A closer look at his scorecard learns that he recorded no less than 7 3-pointers (Steph Curry would be proud of that – but we are talking different sporting disciplines). Alan matched Silvia’ score of 21pts on the front 9. But unfortunately for him he recorded 4 1-pointers (Steph Curry would call them free throws) on the back 9. May be the fact of not signing up for the sweep relaxes him and allows him to play well … Stephen and Angus both record 36pts. But a better back 9 moves Stephen into 4th. Suppose that Angus’ 3 birdies are only a small consolation for finishing in the last money position. Since there fewer sweep entrants than usual Richard O misses out on some cash despite finishing 6th.

MW Winter Comp
Tamas and Alan K lead the way.

MW Prince’s Eclectic
Silvia takes the lead here.

The rain of the last few days didn’t bode well for the playing conditions. But it has to be said that the course was in surprisingly decent state. Suppose that playing off the yellow tees for the men didn’t hurt either. Biggest complication at this time of the year is that ball hunting (off the fairways) is being seriously complicated by all the fallen leafs. 

Clear winner today is Jose Manuel Gomez. If does help if you have the best (stableford) score on front AND back 9 (20+22pts). Early starter Pralab had to overcome a few issues with his marker. He matched Jose-Manuel’s score on the front 9. But a softer start on his back 9 means he “only” records 20pts. Alan played one of his better rounds of his recent times. He too went out with 20pts. But his 3rd place can only make up a very tiny bit for his misfortunes on holes 16&17. Looks like victory slipped away from him on just those 2 holes (he had recorded 15pts on the first 6 holes on the back 9). Brett was one of a very select group of players to record 2 birdies. These were recorded on just the back 9. This set him up nicely for an excellent score of 22pts on the way in. Cheryl’s “good vibes” must have rubbed off on both Angus and Tamas. (Even though they could’ve played a bit faster) Their scores of 36pts set them up nicely for the rest of the MW Winter Comp.

MW Winter Comp: too early to go into these standings

MW Duke’s Eclectic: Rob Smyth takes the lead.

Today proved to be a tough day at the office for most players. Only 4 players played better or to their HI. Needless to say that the return of the fall means any extra toll on the fairways is totally wiped out. Although the greens were fairly receptive they also lacked a bit of speed. The biggest nuisance today was probably the swirling wind. The 16th hole in particular was vastly affected. That hole was only like 123yds long. It played as SI8 (!!!) today.

Junior Division

Newcomer PM Micucci is not going to make a lot of friends by wining his first competition since joining. A few DB’s and the rare Triple prevented him from posting an even lower score. Ian finishes 1 shot back in 2nd. Bridget made the (brave) decision to enter the sweep. That boldness was rewarded with 3rd place. She could’ve finished higher if the first hole had been a bit kinder to her. Chris Jones matched Bridget’s score. But a softer back 9 forces him into 4th place.

Senior Division

Pralab may have picked the best time to complete his round. It is up for debate that the winds were not blowing so hard in the early morning. Nevertheless he recorded a tidy 66 (Nett) to claim the win. Richard confirms his reputation as the “Princes whisperer”. As per usual he carded a solid round on the P course. Closer examination of his scorecard learns that his solid back 9 played a big part in this success. Tamas was back at the park after a 2-week break. And to his own surprise he played one of his better recent rounds. He managed to record a 2 on the 16th. Angus played consistent golf: 39 (gross) and 38 (gross) on front and back 9 are a decent result on today’s conditions.

Morning showers abated but returned later in afternoon for the annual 3 clubs and a putter competition.

Over the years scores generally have compared with the normal 14 club allowance.

Well done indeed to winner Joe Goncalves on back 9 from Nigel Ward – 66s; 4 further scores in 60s from Sam,Brian M.Tony K and Paul Green. Joe shot 1 over par back 9 with his 3 clubs!!

Best woman Gina 72.

For the men, this was the last competition in the ‘Top Dog’.
In attached ‘friendly ‘ format Richard Owen is winner of The Senior Top Dog 29 points from Paul Kamerling 25 and Richard Smith 24 – after all JH Taylor KO matches results.

Also attached is the Junior Top Dog with Duncan T the narrow winner 25 from Goran K and Charlie W 24s – this after the 2 semi-finals of Two Courses Cup but the finalists have minimal/zero points so result would not alter Junior Top Dog.

Golf is already complicated enough. It doesn’t help when the weather conditions are pretty miserable. The recent rains had taken away all roll on the fairways. The biggest obstacle were the strong winds. As usual the winds were swirling pretty heavily.  Standing on the tees of the 5th and 14th it was pretty obvious that there was a headwind. How in earth is it then possible that you also have headwind on the 15th and 16th? One of the many mysteries of the park I guess.

Peppe battled through a painful knee to claim victory today. 22pts on the way out was a solid basis for a good round. 1-pointers on 13 and 18 were the sole blemishes on his card. 17pts on the back 9 were enough keep him clear of the chasing pack. Neil was one of the early starters. It can be argued that the winds were not as strong as later in the day. Despite a blob on the 14th Neil had an excellent back 9 (20pts) to take 2nd. Stu used the best back 9 of the day (21pts) to finish 3rd 1pt behind Neil. Places 4-6 all go to early starters. Tom Simpkins had the score on the way out (23pts). This pretty good enabled him to take the last “money spot”.

Just 2 other bits:

– the headwind on 15 and 16 was real. The 15th played as SI3 today. And there were no birdies on the 16th today. Only 4 (!!!) players parred that hole.

– Even though the tees were moved forward and there was a strong tailwind there were “just” 2 birdies recorded on hole 17.

Rain was the order of the day with early games catching the worse. The sun eventually shone but just before dusk the heavens opened with thunderstorms. As a consequence the field was reduced.

Full credit to Jihum off 19 returning 42 points [22 out 20 back] to win the Charity Trophy. 3 behind was Raymond with Will B 37..
Best woman was Silvia 31 off 7 with special mention to Mark Bean for 3 birdies on back 9.

The strong winds today must have caused a few headaches. How else explain the wide range of WITB (for the youtube neophytes WITB is an acronym for What’s in the bag)? The other most common remark after today’s round was: why do I carry 14 clubs in my bag? Think people overlook the fact we played Prince’s today. Playing this comp on Duke’s would be (even) more complicated.

Peppe put his brace on the correct knee today. He managed to record 26pts on the 12 par 4’s today (nobody matched that tally). His score on the 16th was not pretty (Triple Bogey). But it didn’t totally wreck his card. To his own surprise his score of 36pts (17+19) was the winning score today. Richard Owen recovered very well from 2 blobs on the front 9 (16pts out). His back nine was even better. A tap-in birdie more on the 18th more than made up for a blob on 12th (to be fair that was his only blemish on the back 9). Ian also recorded 35pts. But he had a softer back 9 to finish 3rd. Richard N and Brett finish 4/5th respectively. Brian was the best of the group on 32pts. His birdie on the 17th was a bit out of the ordinary: His tee-shot faded through the trees on the left and landed short of the road. That surgical precision was totally absent on his approach. His second shot went long (as Ross said to Rachel: really long). As karma would would have it he sank the mammoth birdie putt from off the green. This stroke (of luck) is not without importance: since one person ahead of Brian didn’t enter the sweep Brian slides into the last position that earns sweep money.

Shout-out to Gina and Ryan who finished their rounds this morning in 2h and 45 min.