Not exactly a glorious summer’s day for the second round of the CC, and amongst the women there was some lending of warmer and waterproof clothing required, but ultimately most were more likely to be driving home in rain rather than playing in it.

Women

After what must have been one of the lowest turnouts for a club championship, the 6 who made both rounds should be congratulated for doing so. Conditions not being great in either week.

They say the cream always rises to the top and after a struggle last week Silvia has prevailed, defending the Club Championship. She notched up 4 birdies in her round but also a couple of 8s to peg her lead back and rather surprisingly only beat Sheena by 1 shot in the gross. However, her 86 was 3 shots better than on Prince’s last week (89). Sheena’s almost the reverse with 89 today and 87 last week.

In the nett competitions, the first round leads were maintained through the second round with Susan on 142, 3 shots ahead of Sheena for the Handicap Cup and Doreen on 155 ahead of Jenny by 7 shots for the Pembroke Cup.

Men

In the net for the day, Ben Dickey crafted a well-deserved and consistent 64 with 2 birdies; chasing him 2 shots back was Richard I with a nice birdie at 18. Seymour followed with a fighting 68.

In the scratch senior division, Roger r maintained his first round form with 77 for a 36 hole total of 148 – 9 clear of nearest rival Chris S 154, Aidan was 3rd 157 and Richard O 4th 157. Well done indeed Roger Club Champ!!

The junior division resulted in a 3-way tie on 183 : Nigel W, Duncan and Brian R. They have a playoff over 18 holes to decide winner. [On 2nd September Brian won with 78 to Duncan’s 89 with Nigel NRing; well done indeed to Brian with such a super sub-80 score ] Julian and Cuneyt followed the threesome 185.

Following precedent from last year, the Handicap Trophy (net 2 rounds) has separate trophies for the divisions.
Well done again to Roger winning senior division 127 from Richard O 135; Duncan wins junior 139 from Seymour 140 and Tony K 141.

A mild, slightly humid day with just a 10 minutes spell of very light rain and very occasional sunshine. Recent rain earlier in the week provided softer fairways and more receptive greens.

The clear winners in the 2 best scores/hole team competition were the team comprising Veronica, Joan, Rannesh & Richard with 89 points. All team members played their part with individual scores ranging between 29 and 36 points, a very impressive 48 points on the front 9 (never less than 5 points/hole) but then a falling away on the back 9. Tied on 85 points in 2nd and 3rd places were two all-men teams, with Rob, Justin, John and Tom beating Bill, Colin, Barry and Bob on a back 9 countback.

Not far behind, on 82 points, were the team of Bill, Hilary, John and Adrian – they are mentioned in that order because Bill and Hilary scored 79 of the 82 points alone! Bill had the best individual stableford score in the competition (41 points) and Hilary came 2nd with 38 points. The Bill, Hilary, John and Adrian team also had the best back 9 (45 points). Sweep payout to the winning team and to Bill & Hilary.

It was fine and dry for playing the July Plate with rain not arriving until after play.

José emerged the splendid winner with 43 points which included a ‘blob’ on his front 9 22 pts; another fine round from Richard O 41pts edged on countback another level par round from Jay – they both scored 23 on front 9 and had 2 birdies. Henry and Alan K battled for 3rd place both 40pts; Alan’s front 9 19pts held mixed fortunes – 3 birdies and 2 ‘blobs’.
Brian R had best back 9 23 pts.

The men & women have their own CCs occurring concurrently with the first round always on the Prince’s course, In conditions vastly better than at Hoylake everyone stayed dry with just a gusty wind to contend with.

Women

We may have been a small group but there were some good (& some not so sadly) scores out there today. Playing in the first game with was our leader after the first round in both the gross and net Div 1. Susan had one of those days that you want to bottle up and repeat on a regular basis. The only bad drive she had was on the 16th but it didn’t do too much harm – WHS is dropping her a full shot tomorrow and after 3 close birdie attempts she waited to finish with a flourish on the 18th.

In the game behind Doreen was continuing her current in form play and leads the Div 2 net comp which has shrunk for next week with a couple of NRs.

Men

Bright and breezy conditions for round 1 of Club Championship – the courses benefitted from the rain of yesterday. 7.3.

Indeed, there were superlative performances. In the net (handicap) result Gregory shot an amazing net 57 from a miracle net 58 from Roger R. Well done!! Gregory’s 12.8 difference to handicap generated an ESR of -2.0 and a reduction in HI from 32.8 to 29.7; Roger had ESR -1.0 and his HI drops from 9.5 to 7.3. Richard O shot a fantastic net 63 with birdie at last being icing on cake.
Roger’s level par gross took front and back 9s .

In the scratch (gross) , Roger leads senior division first round 68 from Chris Saloway 72 and then Richard O and Joe G 76s. Brian Ransom 86 leads the pack in junior division from Nigel W and Duncan 87s

A sunny morning clouded over with a strengthening breeze but fortunately it stayed dry.

The early morning two ball of Paul McGrath and Naveed Manazir set the pace, Paul posting an impressive 43 points and Naveed posting the best gross score of the day (77 strokes). It looked as though Paul had held off all challengers, until the final group submitted their scores and Colin Price entered his 44 points. Then there were three very creditable 39 pointers, Julian, Lia and Gerard in that countback order. The Best Scores Analysis report shows that both Paul and Gerard had great front 9s (25 points each), whereas Colin had the best back 9 (24 points). Richard Owen had birdies on the 3rd, 17th and 18th but too many putts on the other holes. Sweep payout to the top 4 (£3, £5, £8, £10).

A very early shower but it brightened to sunshine. First Wednesday comp with red penalty area right of 17 and 18.

The very early clubhouse leader Gina held the position throughout and started and finished with birdies for 43 points. Well done Gina!
Richard Marriott challenged with 41 points and another good round from Capt Sheena gave her 3rd place. Secretary Peter H had super back 9 – 21 points but with blob at 18.
This was final round of the Founders’ Cup and sees the winner Gina leap-frog Chris R to win Cup on 153 points -9 clear of Chris with Peter H a further 7 behind.

Unseasonably windy for July and first competition with red penalty areas on 17 and 18.

As with previous 2 years the Captains’ Day was won by a woman and this year women took first 5 prizes. Reiko came out top 6 from Mayumi and Ali 68s then Capt. Sheena and Doreen 69s; best men with 71s – Brian M, Paul McG and George T.

Aidan and Silvia had the best front9s whilst Raymond did the same on the back 9 – all in 39
Ed H added to the men’s Sunday eagle tally this year with first at 3rd.

For men this was 4th comp in the ‘Top Dog’ and as attached we find Brian M and Raymond on 18 leading the senior division from Toby. Dilip maintains his lead26 from Onursal. 18.

Women led the associated putting competition with Ali just edging Sheena with 27s [Sheena 2 ‘zeroes’]; Brian M took men’s with 26 putts.

Novelty prizes as below.
Nearest the pin in Two on
Hole No 6 – Men only Aidan Hurley
Hole No 18 – Men & Women Seema Sandhu & Sean O’Sullivan

.Longest Drive on the Fairway on Hole No 15 – Men only Andre Pelser/ Justin Wildman

Nearest the pin on Hole No 7 and Hole No 16 – Men & Women

Hole No 7 – Susan Smith & Sean O’Sullivan

Hole No 16 – Avi Murphy & Paul McGrath

Those that believed the weather forecast and decided to cancel were not disappointed – it really did rain almost the whole time we were playing, making it all rather unpleasant, although the bonhomie over drinks in the clubhouse afterwards was up to the usual high standards.

Our winner today, Brian Ransom (40 points), continued his recent good form and this time is ‘in the money’. Runner up, just one point behind, was Justin Wildman making the most of his school holidays. Bill Norman came with a strategy today – use a 6 iron instead of the driver – and his strategy paid off, as he came in 3rd with 37 points. Sweep payout to these top three (£9, £6, £3).