It was a disappointing end to this year’s challenge by the club to win the mixed greensomes Hawtree Trophy, with the Richmond B team coming 3rd at the Finals Day at Staverton Park on September 3rd. Once again the ‘local’ team of Rose Hill Golf Club won the trophy with an astonishing 169 points (more than an average of 42 points/pair), with Hoebridge in 2nd place (142 points) and Richmond Park B (140 points).

Richmond Park’s best scoring pairing were Peter Goodall and Joan Mulcahy (41 points); other players representing the club at the final were Veronica Mitchell (team captain), Silvia Bortoli, Cheryl Woodhouse, Roger Rojas, Tamas Ladacs and Richard Owen.

The Richmond Park ‘B’ team captained by Veronica progressed through to this year’s Area Finals with a win against Farnham Park. Unfortunately the Richmond Park ‘A’ team lost to Wexham Park, who now play Richmond Park ‘B’ in the Area Finals.

The Richmond Park ‘B Team’, captained by Veronica away and Cheryl at home, won their 2nd round match against Wexham Park A by the tightest of margins (back 9 countback after stableford points scores were level). They play Farnham Park B in the next round.

RPGC fielded two of the 4 teams who made it through to the final’s day of the Hawtree Trophy.  The other teams were from Huntswood and Cheshunt golf clubs.  The mixed greensomes competition was held at Staverton golf club in Northamptonshire.  The result was a win for Huntswood (145 points) with Richmond Park B 2^nd with 144 points.

Nigel Gaymond wrote:

Four teams assembled in Northamptonshire at Staverton GC and two of them came from Richmond Park.  The other teams were a B team from Huntswood and a team from Cheshunt who had defeated a perennially strong Rose Hill team from Birmingham in their regional final.  Most members of both our teams traveled up the day before for a practice round and then stayed at the course on the Friday night with everyone enjoying a nice dinner together before repairing to the bar for some close-fought pool matches!  The Saturday morning saw fair weather conditions and both teams raring to get out there.  Our A team of James Barker and Jayne Maxwell (32) Richard Inglis and Sheena Harrington (32), Captain Nick Rogers and Veronica Mitchell (34), and Pete Harrison and Gina Jillett (32) had performed fantastically on the run to the Finals but unfortunately on the day struggled for top form uniformly and ended up in fourth place with 130 points just behind the team from Cheshunt who struggled similarly to a score of 131.  In the end it was our B team and the Huntswood team that vied for the trophy.  We were led off ably by Cheryl Woodhouse and Angus Robertson with a very solid 36 points against a score of 34 for Huntswood, up second Susan Smith and Uli Katte did not have their best day with 31 against a great score of 40 from Huntswood, up third Caroline Stilwell and Luke Baker again produced a very solid 36 against 37 from Huntswood leaving only the final pair of Lia Donath and Captain Nigel Gaymond to come playing with the final Huntswood pair.  Despite a valiant effort and the top score of the competition with 41 points by Lia and Nigel, the Huntswood pair rebounded from a tough front 9 to score 21 points on the back 9 for a final score of 34 which proved just enough to give Huntswood the title with 145 leaving our B team the runner-up with a score of 144.  Once again our club has performed well in the Hawtree competition and, despite a lot of initial disappointment at coming so close, everyone agreed it had been a memorable occasion and a weekend everyone had enjoyed in great company.  Congratulations to Huntswood who finally had won the Hawtree Trophy after many years of trying and thanks to everyone who participated from the Club during 2021.  There is always next year……! 

Team captain Nigel Gaymond reports:

RPGC’s B team in the NAPGC Hawtree mixed competition travelled out to Basingstoke to play their regional final against Portsmouth at the “neutral” venue of Sherfield Oaks Wellington course. 

With the gauntlet well and truly thrown down by Nick’s victorious  A team the week before in their regional final at The Downshire against Wycombe Heights, the pressure was well and truly weighing on the “other” RPGC team! 

The first team out was Angus and Cheryl who once again acquitted themselves admirably in outscoring their opponents 39-31.  In the second game, Uli and Susan scrapped valiantly against a strong performance from their Portsmouth opposition, who included their captain, and trailed by 33-42 giving ‘Pompey’ a single point advantage at the half way point.  The match was essentially decided by an astounding effort from Luke and Caroline who bested their opponents by 46-34 leaving Captain Nigel and Lia to hold the fort in the last match which they duly did in a seesaw game that ended up honours even at 39-39.  The final score was 157-146 and the B team joins the A team leaving RPGC with two teams in the final four Finals, with Cheshunt and Huntswood B joining them, a de facto Surrey v Bucks competition! 

Well done to all and a proud day for the Club with both teams making the National Finals to be held on October 16 at Staverton near Daventry

In fine sunny weather, following the previous day’s continuous heavy rain, RPGC’s A team played host to Easthampstead. Both teams were captained by Zimbabweans, which made way for a lot of pre game reminiscing about the good old days. All four of our pairs performed well, resulting in a final score of 152 versus Easthampstead’s 145. The match was followed with a much appreciated selection of pizzas, courtesy of the club. Good luck to the team for the next match which will be against Huntswood A.

HAWTREE RICHMOND PARK B v SOUTHSEA

RPGC’s B team welcomed Southsea to the Park on a baking Duke’s course with the (over) abundant rough further challenging all the players, leading to a high number of reloads or ‘over to you partner’ comments becoming the norm for the day.  All four pairings outscored their opponents, as we ran out comfortable winners 146-115.  Caroline Stilwell and Luke Baker prevailed 32-30, Susan Smith and Armi Ingratta 35-26, Lia Donath and Nigel Gaymond 38-30, with pride of place going to the lead-off pair Cheryl Woodhouse and Damber Thapa who got things going with a hard-fought performance 41-39 over the Southsea captain’s pair in the lead game.  The team now awaits their next opponent in the regional semi-final in an anticipated home game against Hoebridge A.