Richard Owen

Richard Owen

12 May '23

Friday Sweep

Posted in Competitions

It was a chilly and overcast morning, which then got wet and windy and by early afternoon it was pretty miserable conditions for golf – no wonder some players ‘went home early’ and well done to those who stuck it out.

Richard Norden was our winner (36 points, 20 on the back 9) separated only by countback from Bill Norman (also 36 points but 19 on the back 9). Pralab came in 3rd (34 points) and will have had the ‘best’ of the weather – his round only really got going towards the end, with 4 pars on the final 5 holes. Rumour has it that Seymour beat Rannesh comfortably in their ‘friendly’ matchplay, helped by a couple of chip-ins. Sweep payout to the top 3 (£10, £7, £3)

5 May '23

Friday Sweep (team competition)

Posted in Competitions

We were fortunate to very largely dodge the heavy showers and it turned out to be a warm and sunny Spring day. The recent drier weather has allowed Glendale to extend their fairway and 1st cut mowing and the Duke’s course was in good condition for golf, with decent run.

The clear winners with 90 points were the team of Bill Norman, Brian Ransom, Richard Norden and Graham Cull (in order of points contribution !). In 2nd place, and not too far behind (85 points) were the team of Julian James, Seymour Laird, Alex Braun and Adrian Wells, and in 3rd place (82 points) were John Ahad, Mayumi, Ian Burgess and Charles Haines.

Sweep payout to the winning team but if it had been an individual competition today the leading scores were:
39 points : Bill & Cuneyt (with Bill winning on countback)
37 points : Julian & Brian
34 points : Richard Norden, Seymour and John Ahad.

Best front 9 was John Ahad (22 points); John par’d five of the first 6 holes and at that stage the team must have felt they were in with a real chance.

30 Apr '23

Surrey Fives Round 2 contd

Posted in Surrey Fives

The Richmond Park B team unfortunately lost their round 2 match against Epsom B 3&2 on the Duke’s course, Uli and Tamas both winning their matches.

29 Apr '23

Surrey Fives Round 2

Posted in Surrey Fives

The Richmond Park Surrey B team welcomed  the Woodcote Park A team on a beautiful Saturday morning. The match was played on Prince’s which was in magnificent condition with fast greens and fairways manicured to perfection. 

Will Balakrishnan led the team off and went down fighting to a narrow 4 & 2 loss to give the visitors a 1 – 0 lead in the match. Brendan Sullivan started the fight back with a commanding 8 & 7 victory which was quickly followed by Richmond’s Pete Malla winning 7 & 5 to give the hosts a 2 – 1 lead. 

Richmond’s Ryan Wilson was beaten 5 & 4 to set up a tense and nervy finish, as it stood at 2 – 2 with one match remaining on the course. Those nerves were quickly banished when Bernie McDermott displayed some excellent short game wizardry to prove it’s not all about hitting it 300 yards off the tee to win 5 & 4, ensuring that Richmond Park B team progressed to the third round and another home match against the winners of Wimbledon Common vs Walton Heath.  

28 Apr '23

Friday Sweep

Posted in Competitions

Heavy cloud and a little misty rain in the air were present for the opening holes but it soon turned into a sunny and much warmer day.

Early starter Pralab Barua set the standard on the leaderboard with a commanding 40 points, which the rest of the field just couldn’t match. Pralab’s front 9 was ‘steady’ (17 points) but he really put his foot down on the back 9 (23 points), with 4 pars and a birdie over the final 5 holes. Paul McGrath’s 2nd place (36 points) seems to have been a combination of extremes with 3 blobs and 2 ‘7s’ but birdies on the 4th and 15th and 14 points scored on the five Par 3s.

The Richards took 3rd and 4th places, both with 35 points. Richard Owen had the better back 9 (19 points), whereas Richard Back’s front 9 included 2 birdies and an eagle (on the 9th) making it the best front 9 (20 points) in the competition.

Sweep payout to top 3 (£10, £6, £3)

21 Apr '23

Friday Sweep

Posted in Competitions

It was another very wet Friday and only the hardiest came out to play.

When the cards were ‘recovered’ from the Green Box on Sunday morning, there were very definite signs that they had only just dried out. There seemed to have been some remarkable scoring, most remarkable was Alex’s 5 points birdie on the SI1 14th, presumably a pitch in from distance. Adrian’s birdie (4 points) on the SI4 4th must have been a similar type of shot, although perhaps a chip rather than a pitch (?) and he also par’d the 14th.

Alex’s 34 points total earns him the £6 sweep money, beating Adrian’s 32 points and respectable 30 points scores by Charles and Richard.

14 Apr '23

Friday Sweep

Posted in Competitions

10 hardy souls braved the heavy rain on the Prince’s course and submitted respectable scores.

Top of the pile was Peter Goodall (37 points), closely followed by Pralab on 36 points, Richard Norden on 35points and Alex Braun on 34 points. Sweep pay-out to 1st and 2nd (£7 & £3).

9 Apr '23

Gordon Forster Bowl, Round 3 contd.

The club’s Richmond Park ‘C’ team, captained by Paul Green, were soundly beaten by Wimbledon Common who now progress to Finals Day. This defeat marked the end of what had been a strong challenge by the club to get to Finals Day and again bring back the trophy.

8 Apr '23

Gordon Forster Bowl, Round 3 contd

On a cold and wet April 1st, the Richmond Park “Early Birds” team welcomed Wycombe Heights to the park for their 3rd round Gordon Foster match. Conditions at Wycombe Heights on Friday night resulted in the closure of the course due to waterlogging and the rescheduling of the away leg until Saturday April 8th. A slender lead was established at home on April 1st, however our away pair suffered a 17points defeat on April 8th meaning Wycombe Heights progress to Finals Day.

Although there was lots of water on both greens and fairways at the park on April 1st, John Perkins scored a excellent 20 + 20 for 40 pts and Brendan Sullivan had 17 + 15 for 32 pts. Our opposition had 32 pts and 37 pts respectively, so Richmond Park 72pts – Wycombe Heights 69pts. Will Balakrishnan and Ryan Wilson made the journey to Wycombe on the 8th and both scored 21pts for their respective 18 holes against Wycombe’s 35pts and 24 pts.  

We wish Wycombe Heights all the best at the Finals and captain Brendan says a big thank you to everyone who represented Richmond Park and volunteered to travel to play the away legs at short notice.

7 Apr '23

Friday Sweep

Posted in Competitions

A slightly chilly start turned into a lovely warm Spring day, with players progressively ‘stripping off’ during their rounds. The course was packed with ‘weekend golfers’ and Glendale finally had their new Halfway House open for business.

Scoring conditions proved difficult for most of the field, with not much run on the course, due to yesterday’s heavy rain, and small fairways reducing the benefit of ‘pick and place’. Also, for the men, playing off the white tees made the course considerably longer.

Our winner, John Ahad (36 points), coped best with 16 out and 20 points in, finishing strongly with 3 pars and blobs on the 8th and 12th. Sam Williams (35 points) was second playing a very steady round, 20 points out and 15 in, with just one blob on the 10th. Uli was third (33 points), 17 out and 16 points in – could have challenged more strongly but for 2 blobs in the last 5 holes. It was good to have the men’s and women’s club champions, Richard Back and Sylvia Bortoli, playing with us – both had 2 birdies.

Sweep payout to the top 3 (£13, £8, £4)