A mixed day weatherwise with gusty wind offset by warm sunny intervals. The sun definitely shone on our team in home leg friendly versus Rickmansworth GC( ‘Tricky Ricky’) winning 6-0.

Women

No debate over today’s winner who finished a mere 6 shots ahead of everyone else. With a net 64 Lia is the clear winner of today’s medal and will receive a .6 reduction to her handicap index tomorrow.

Well played Lia!

Men

A ‘prile’ of 64s headed the field with Raymond Esin winning on countback* from in-form Julian James from a sparkling Richard Young. Dave Chilvers followed with a glorious 65. Best Scores Analysis report shows an extraordinary back 9 for Raymond 1 over par 34 with 2 birdies.
Best gross on the day – Ross Hood.

Divisional results confirm Raymond winning Senior medal from last week’s winner Joe Gonclaves 66 whilst Julian James and Richard Young both 64s separated by software on countback.

This was 4th round of Grand Medal Trophy which reveals Peter Harrington now 272 ahead of Paul Kamerling 274 and Julian James 279.

*An academic departure – for medal (regular strokeplay) countback gives hall handicap for last 9, 1/3rd for back 6, 1/6th for last 3 and 1/18th for last hole. For stableford or bogey (still strokeplay) the points/ holes won already takes account of handicap. Medal far less likely to give tie after 18 due maths involved. One-off report attached for those interested.

The field faced some variable conditions. Especially the winds became stronger during the course of the day. On top of that the winds changed directions more frequently for the 9am starters.

None of this takes away any credit of Jay’ performance. A stable front 9 (18pts) was followed up by a splendid back 9 (22pts – 35 gross). He needed this strong stretch to hold off 2 competitors. Tamas’s round as a mirror image of Jay: 22pts (out) + 18pts (in). But he will have some serious regrets about the 17th hole (no points scored).  Kevin (Prendergast) does know to chose the right moment to peak. Playing a good round of golf during a competition remembering someone called … Prendergast. You cannot make this up. He torched the front 9 (24pts). Unfortunately he didn’t record any points on holes 11-12. He then settled down. A final tally of 16pts on the back means he “only” finishes 3rd. The Men’s Secretary recorded 3 4-pointers en route to 39pts and 4th place. Early starter Paul Green and Jeremy Ryan also finish on 39pts. The countback rule awards them 5th and 6th place respectively.

Provisional Standings MW Founders Cup: Juho Lim (145pts), Richard Owen (143), Gina Jillett (140), Jeremy Ryan (139), KSC (136).

Threatened rain did not materialise for the Club’s Platinum Jubilee competition (coinciding with Queen’s Jubilee).

Richard Inglis was top of the leader-board for quite some time but a classy round [ and lowest gross] of 62 from Joe Gonclaves took the honours with Duncan Taylor putting in a splendid 63 albeit possibly rueing 8 at 12th. Richard’s 65 took 3rd slot.Reiko first woman 70

It was a good day for eagles attached with congrats to Paul Green at 12th and Richard at 17.

This was first Jubilee of year of 4 so associated Anniversary Cup (3 from the 4) reflects the result.

I guess it is fair to say that the 7am starters enjoyed the better weather.

It should come as no surprise then that Gina became leader in the clubhouse with a very tidy score of Nett 63 (but she will have some regrets over her score on the 18th hole). Despite the floodgates opening on the 10am starters 3 of them managed to beat Gina’s mark. Tamas and Peter H finished with Nett scores of 62. An excellent back 9 (36 gross) awards 2nd place to Tamas. Their scores were only bettered by yours truly. A solid start (a rather unlikely but welcome birdie on the 3rd and a solid par on the 7th stand out) ended with an ugly bogey on the 9th. I then came back with score of level par (gross) on the back 9. 2 birdies (a spike mark helped to slow down my putt on the 17th) and some excellent scrambling (I believe I recorded just 11 putts on the last 9 holes) were some highlights. Mayumi (that HI will keep coming down if she keeps playing this way) and Juho round out the Top6. Brett Colley had the best front 9 (38 gross) but ran into trouble on the 17th.

MW Grand Medal Standings: Juho (273), Jeremy Ryan (286), Peter Goodall (287). Other players have only recorded 3 scores at best.

The vernal nip continued with temperatures falling Saturday through Sunday.

Truly inspired golf from Brian McMahon won the Plate – Brian shot level par going out and a total of 43 points. Well done! Charlie Whitemam was back to form with 40 points just pipping Joe Gonclaves on the back 9. Best woman Katharina 38.

Well done indeed to Julian James on 17th with eagle; he clambers aboard the Eagle tree .

Saturday entrants enjoyed best of the sun and temperature per bottom of results report. Yet best on Saturday was 39.

Women

With the Committee Cup deferred to later in the year, there was just a sweep for the women today – though the prize pot of just £12 didn’t make for early retirement. ( A number were away playing Whitewebbs). For the Sunday entrants it was always going to be a longshot that you’d get anywhere near Gina who chose to play on Saturday and seems to have found a very purple patch scoring 44 points. With the bizarre workings of WHS her 8 below handicap score only cuts her by a shot where previously this would have been 8*0.3 = 2.4 cut.

Men

Some superb scoring on Sunday came from Colm Ivors to win 46 pts 23 out 23 in with a ‘blob’. Peter Goodall gave chase 45 – 21 out with a ‘blob’ and 24 back; Gunnar shot very consistent 44 with 22 out and in.

This was a qualifier for NAPGC – entrants in attached report.

Golfing conditions were not optimal. Dry fairways made bounces unpredictable. Even though the greens were a bit more receptive it was still very tricky to hold the greens. The gusting winds complicated things more. To round it all off the greenkeepers’ prayers were answered. Towards the end of play the floodgates opened. The later starters needed their waterproofs and umbrellas.

Richard Y had a steady round (18pts on the front and back 9). Other players ran either hot or cold over 9 hole stretches. So no-one was a match for Richard’s consistency. Juho had an excellent front 9 (20pts). After recording 36pts over 16 holes he looked a lock for a decent score. But unfortunately he didn’t record a singular extra point. 2nd place and the leader position in the ranking of the MW Founders Cup are his. Tamas was in the same game as Juho and also recorded 36pts. He and Richard H had an excellent score of 21pts on the front 9. Despite 3 blobs on the back 9 Tamas still beat Richard H on countback to take 4th. A strong back 9 (19pts) takes Jeremy to 5th place. Peter had an ugly front 9 but was on fire on the back 9 (22pts).

As mentioned: Juho takes the lead in the ranking of the MW Founders Cup.

Extended bounce and roll continued and there was some very brief ‘nuisance’ rain. Teeing grounds seemed to have a little better defnition.

Jim Deissler set an extremely challenging target for the May Bank Holiday Plate on Saturday of 44.

But 06:15hrs Sunday starter Russell Stewart was up to the challeng and shot 45! Jim holds honours for front 9 23pts and Russell back 23. Susan shot a commendable 42 with Robert C and Ed 41s.

The field enjoyed good weather. But the course was very unforgiving. The extra bounce and roll on the fairways was very helpful to gain extra distance. Since the greens didn’t hold rolling the ball onto the greens would have been a very wise strategy. But the various slopes on Prince’s rendered the bounces/rolls very unpredictable. An approach might look good at first but many players will have been confronted with unpleasant surprises  when walking upto the greens. Almost 30% of the field N/R’ed today.

Half of the Top6 were 7am starters. Pat Dalton wins today thanks to an excellent score of 65 (Net). Stephen beat out of few single figures handicappers in his flight to finish as runner-up. Yours truly birdied the 14th (just like last Sunday – but in a less dramatic fashion than 3d ago) and the 17th. That far better back 9 takes me into 3rd. Tamas also used a very strong back 9 to earn one of the “money” positions. Gina finishes 5th despite severe jet lag. Another early starter Thierry closes out the Top6. A more in depth analysis of the scores shows that Kevin would’ve easily won today if the comp was only held over 15 holes. He went +7 over the last 3 holes.

Juho takes the lead in the MW Grand Medal Trophy.

The field enjoyed some nice golfing conditions. Mild temperatures, a gentle breeze (but that breeze felt quite a bit stronger when teeing off on 14 …) and some generous roll on the fairways created nice scoring conditions. The early birds were at it again today. Places 1-2 go to the 7am starters.

Chris Newman followed a steady front 9 (2Up) with an outstanding back 9 (4Up). He didn’t lose a single hole on that stretch. Paul Green equalled that score. But unfortunately for him his coffee kicked in early on the front 9 (5Up). His streak continued with wins on holes 10 and 11. But at that stage the wheels came off a bit. Best of the rest and first Woman was Cheryl with an excellent result of 5Up (4Up out/1Up in). She may have given the Top2 a stronger run for their money had she not picked up on holes 15 & 17. 4 players end on a score of 4Up. Shout-out to the MW Captain Henry for birdieing 3 holes (finishing birdie-birdie will make him come back for more on Sunday). Yours truly was inspired by Rory McIlroy and Colin Morikawa and holed out from the bunker on the 4th for a birdie.