Women

Winter conditions duly arrived today with a return to the mud and 2 temporary greens. There is likely to be a PCC (Playing Conditions Calculation) adjustment overnight since only 3 of the men managed to play to par or better and for sure none of the women did.
Cheryl looks to have spent her time off the course well bouncing back with her 29 today to win by 2 from Nida who was ready to call it a day after 11 but came to life after that.
Good to see some of our newer members at the top of the list and hope that today’s conditions haven’t put them off too much.
An analysis of the results shows that between us we managed to record a whole 7 pars and 1 glorious birdie 2 on the 10th from Ellie.
This was the first of what should be 4 rounds of the Duke’s eclectic, however, there are just 4 with counting scores at present as everyone else picked up on one of more holes.

Men

Conditions = ‘Wintry’

Div 1
Winner was Laurence Armstrong (10), 20 out 18 in, for a superb 38 points. In second came Chris Mellish (09), 17 out and 20 in, one point behind on 37. Third was Suhail Salim on 35 points, fourth Mark Bean on the same score.

Div 2
Winner was Dan Ballantyne (15), 20 out and 17 in, for a excellent 37 points. In second came Richard Posser (15), 17 out and 17 in, for 34 points. Duncan Taylor came in third on 33 points.

Shout out to Gerrard for his birdie on the 12th.

A bright sunny day for the Charity Cup – and dry with a breeze.
Winner by 2 points was Richard Prosser with a skilful 39 points – and sharing front 9 honours of 21 with Jonathan Evans and Paul Green. Second with 37 was Joe Goncalves. Another good round from Paul Kamerling earned Paul 3rd place on countback from Lawrence Armstrong – both on 36 points.
Best back 9 was Gregory Jean-Baptiste on 20 points and best woman Jayne Maxwell 32.

With prizes for both the gross and net winners being awarded at the Annual Dinner the cards needed to be checked so it was only announced, as everyone tucked into their pizza, that the results had yet to be ratified. In a very unusual outcome, 2 pairs had incorrectly entered their scores at the Park with one having a major impact on the results.

Unfortunately for the clubhouse leaders, Rich & Doreen, this meant a downgrade to 2nd place in the net and a promotion to winners for Alex & Cheryl with a net 74. They had entered a 7 on the screen for their score on the 18th but both their marker’s and their own card showed a 4. They were the only pair to bookend their round with pars on both the 1st & 18th.

The gross winners (Paul & Sheena) remain unchanged but sadly the clubhouse pair in 2nd place had entered a score which did the opposite for the same values, resulting in a fall down the rankings and promoting Ray & Gina to runners-up.

Despite the speed of the greens seemingly catching most out, a look at last year’s results shows that today’s were better. Interestingly the 1st hole came out as second hardest today and seems most struggled to get a ball off the tee and into play on it judging from the scores.

Whilst the booking sheet for the public was full, those playing ahead of us were obviously going at a good pace as our rounds were only just over 4 hours, which while not good for an effective 2-ball were great for a Saturday morning.

Women

Such good timing on the weather front as the rain started for the last game of the day on the 17th & accompanied me all the way home.
Congratulations to Bella on her net 70 and another medal win for her. Despite her view that she played so badly on the front 9, and there were 10 shots difference between her front & back 9 scores, it was still good enough for a 4 shot cushion. Because we play at 95% of course handicaps, Bella’s net 70 translates to playing to 33.4 ie below her handicap and will result in a small cut tomorrow.

With conditions very different already from a few weeks ago, very well judged Bella!

Today’s comp is the first part of the women’s autumn meeting with prizes awarded after the 4BBB which takes place next month.

Men

A grey cloudy day for the September Medal but the predicted rain just held off.

The best scores came from the 1st division – 64 from Peter Needham and 65 from Iker Lanzagorta; in that division Gerard Ouattara chsed with 7 and Peter Harrison and Richard Smith with 71s.
In the second division the winner with a commendable 66 was Sean O’Sullivan who n turn led from Richard Prosser 67 and Mihael Pham 69

Front 9 honours were shared by Richard, Peter and Iker – 4 over; whilst Aidan Hurley secured back 9 with level par.
This was the penultimate (7 of possible 8) round of te Gran Medal which in the first division sees Iker the leader 339 from Richard Owen 345; in second division Rannesh Jansari maintains the lead on 350 from Gerard 355.

A few soggy cards in the pile today. It looked like the early crew got the best of the weather today and the results tend to indicate that to be the case (for some anyway). For the rest of us it was a day of heavy showers intermingled with some sunny intervals.

The President’s Prize was decided on the back 9. Sookkyung (Seshi) and Michael’s cards being mirror images of each other with Seshi playing it the winning way round having her 22 points on the back 9 rather than the front as Michael did for their 38 points a piece.
Just 1 point further back was Kim followed by Elisabeth, Maher and Peppe on 36. Elisabeth had the best back 9 with 23 points.

There were 7 additional challenges for everyone today and probably contrary to most expectations 5 of the 7 were won by those playing off the white tees. Just because of the difference in the tee positions most impressive were Ben’s on the 10th with a tap in birdie 2 and Angus’ nearest in 2 on the 15th from the back tee. And of course Russell, who probably took the flags out with him in the first game who couldn’t be beaten on two of the holes.

Nearest the Pins (par 3s):
7th – Michael
10th – Ben
16th – Russell

Nearest in 2:
2nd – Russell
9th – Mehmet
15th – Angus
18th – Peppe

What a difference a few days make in conditions! Bit of a triple whammy today with the course having just re-opened following the scheduled maintenance, about an inch of rain in the previous 24 hours and a fairly gusty wind and then add in the format of a bogey comp.
Of the 36 booked players only 27 decided to brave the elements and for those playing after 9.30 it was relatively dry overhead except for one rather heavy squall though it doesn’t seem to have helped the scoring much!
Not sure at what stage Tom realised that his 1 up score was going to not only be in contention but would see him winning today, but it was close with Sookkyung (Seshi) topping the leaderboard for most of the day, tied with the course but was pipped by Kim Jabbour on the back 9 to take 2nd spot.
Dave Cato was so happy with his 1 down that he forgot to sign his card or he would have taken 3rd spot, which goes to Angus (2 down) with Andy (3 down) in 4th.

…. In comparison with last year’s Fred Hawtree, the winner was 5 up and through to 22nd place was still only 3 down. It was played on Prince’s so score might be expected to be better but not perhaps so extreme.

Women

A much nicer day weatherwise than we were led to expect; a touch breezy at times but very warm when the sun made it’s occasional break through the clouds that at times looked rather ominous.

Congratulations to Bella on her second outing with the Sunday group and making the most of it with her net 65 beating Jenny by 1 shot. Playing to 28.6 another good handicap cut beckons for Bella returning her to her lowest recorded handicap.
A few of us had cards marred by one or two rather large numbers – which WHS will probably cut back for many overnight.

Men

Manly cloudy and dry except for a little drizzle at end of play for the July medal.

Outstanding score of the day came from Rannesh Jansari with a net 54 playing off 17 at 3 over par – probably his best round ever. His round included an eagle 3 at the par 5 9th. WHS will apply an Exceptional Scoring Reduction overnight. Well done Rannesh! Behind him in Second Division was Richard Prosser with excellent 67 and then Secretary Peter Harrington with a glorious 65.
The First Division belonged to Jonathan Evans 64 with consistent 37s in and out. Tom Simpkins’ glorious 65 gained second place – just 35 back 9.; Greg Wright gained 3rd with his 66 which included a 1 over par back 9.
After 6 (of possible 8) rounds in the Grand Medal, Richard Owen leads First division 347 from Oz Doyle 348 and then Mel Dunn 349. The Second Division is now headed by Rannesh by 11 350 from Gerard Ouattara361 then Nigel Ward 362.

Women

Numbers which were never high were further depleted when we woke to rain and the prospect of showers continuing through much of the day. As is often the case all we experienced was the occasional light & passing shower much to the annoyance of those who cancelled..

The dowsing of the course in water yesterday definitely had an effect on how it played today but a quick look at last year’s scores for the first round show they weren’t that much lower (except for Silvia of course!)
Joan played a very consistent round with 2 pars, a birdie and a 4 (on the 13th) on the par 3s that helped.
She can probably expect a .4/5 cut overnight as one of her higher scores drops off and goes into round 2 with a 4 shot lead over Sheena with Susan just 1 further back and a commanding lead in the handicap cup.

Men

A little early rain but otherwise dry for first round of Club Championship.

In the scratch championship The First Division is headed by Will Balakrishnan 69 from Richard Back 71 and then Mel Dunn 76 and Greg Wright 77. Some excellent golf -Will was 1 under gross 34 for front 9 whilst Richard scored 5 birdies on the back 9 30. Will’s front 9 included an eagle at par 5 9th .
‘In the Second Division Nigel Ward leads from Robin Thomas 86 (Julian James 85 and Dan Ballantyne 85 ineligible for Club Championship (not booked for round 2/ not enough Sunday Comps played).

In the net results (for Handicap Trophy) Richard Back, Mel Dunn are tied for First Division with 65s. In Second Division Nigel Ward 69 leads from Robin Thomas 70.
Sweeps by division as per attached -special Championship rules not applicable.