Competitions
Competitions
Kelso Hamilton Knockout
An RPGC team comprising Uli Katte and Richard Owen won their 2nd round match in this year’s Kelso Hamilton East, Surrey Golf competition against Dulwich and Sydenham Hill golf club. It was a close game, played on the Duke’s course, with never more than 2 holes in it (although RPGC were never behind). The final result, a 2&1 win, was clinched by Richard’s birdie on the 17th hole. The next game is away at Woodcote golf course in Coulsdon.
Midweek May Medal (MW GMT 3 of 8)
The highlight was Gina scoring her first ever hole-in-one on the 16th – hope everyone enjoyed their complimentary drink. That was only the start of quite an eventful day with 40% of the field playing better than their HI and Richard H, a late joiner to the competition, posting a stunning nett score of 59, which proved too much to beat for the rest of the field.
John Ahad, the club Captain, rounded up 10 very successful days: positive results in 2 NAPGC competitions now followed by individual success – 2nd place with a nett 62. Alvaro in 3rd had the best front and back 9, nothing spectacular (0 birdies) but solid golf over 18 holes. First Woman today is Ronnie; she was the best of large group with scores of 64 (Nett). She could’ve done better had it not been for an ugly 7 on the 1st hole. Toby ends up in the money again. Chris Rough is the last to receive some sweep money. A few players missed eagle putts on the 9th. Tamas recorded 3 birdies.
Peter Goodall takes the lead in the MW Grand Medal Trophy (207).
NAPGC Clapham Common Shield vs High Elms
Richmond Park won their first round match in this year’s Clapham Common Shield and Ellis Cup match against High Elms golf club. It was an extremely close match, 213 points each, with Richmond winning by 7 points on the back 9 countback.
It was a mild but cloudy day, with a few spots of rain over the closing holes for the away team of Jay Barker, Roger Rojas, Kim Chaffart, Henry L-B, Brian Ransom and Richard Owen. The High Elms course had largely wide generous fairways but the greens were small, sloped and incredibly slow, in fact all RPGC players had big trouble hitting the putts hard enough to reach the holes. Given the tricky greens and resulting 3-putts, the RPGC scores of 34, 34 and 37 points were respectable but it left us 10 points adrift of the High Elms home team (105 vs 115).
The home team of Uli Katte, Andy Watson, Justin Wildman, Brian McMahon, Ryan Jones and James Parker took longer to complete their matches on Duke’s and it was a nervous wait. All of our home team pairings scored 36 points (total 108) and it seemed that they had won their leg by 9 points, however it was noted that one of the High Elms pairs had claimed a handicap of 20, which should have been 19, so the match was tied.
Countback calculations revealed that all of the High Elms away team pairings had struggled on the back 9 of Duke’s, so RPGC won on countback.
May Bank Holiday Plate
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.
NAPGC Siemens Bowl, Round 1
The Richmond Park team of Cuneyt, Adrian, Sean, Paul, Gunnar, Julian, Justin and Colm convincing won their first round greensomes stableford match against Wexham Park 162 points to 148 points, principally due to a very strong home team performance on the Duke’s course.
Friday Sweep
It was a cold, overcast Spring day requiring extra layers. The course was ‘looking good’ but not playing that easily due to the prolonged dry spell and it was the final chance for players to take advantage of pick-and-place winter rules.
Our winner was James Deissler (40 points) who, like others returning from Turkey, found the conditions ‘particularly nippy’. James’s round was the model of consistency, apart from the 3rd hole, but nowhere near as good as the 44 points he recorded today for the club’s weekend competition. In 2nd place was Ryan Jones (38 points) who played very well but missed out on 3 or 4 putts. Veronica came in 3rd (37 points) with 18 points out and 19 points in – shame about the blobs on the 8th and 10 holes but well done on the others. Sweep payout to the top 3 (£7, £5, £3).
Gordon Forster Bowl Final
Richmond Park’s team (Charlie, Sean, Adrian and Kim) won the NAPGC 2021/22 Gordon Forster Bowl trophy at the National Finals held at the Gaudet Luce golf club in Droitwich Spa. In the final, the team scored a combined 119 stableford points to beat the other 4 finalists from Wimbledon, Tilgate Forest, Huntswood and Wycombe Heights. This is the first time that the club has ever won this NAPGC competition.
Cuneyt and Captain John, who both played in the earlier rounds but were unavailable for the final, celebrated the result with other RPGC members while enjoying the Chinese restaurant on the Belek golf trip in Sirene Hotel- Antalya – Turkey.
Richmond Park team’s journey to Gordon Foster Bowl Finals took over 2 years, as summarised below:
In December 2020 a Richmond Park team comprising Cuneyt Sazer, John Ahad, Charlie Whiteman and James Deissler was prepared to play against East Hampstead. The bookings were made at both venues for Sunday 20th, however Cuneyt had a call from the Hampstead captain on Saturday 19th informing him that the golf course was flooded and would have to be postponed. This was then followed by the introduction of “ Tier 4 “ COVID 19 restrictions. NAPGC cancelled the competition on 27.January 2021 due to COVID 19 and our team had to wait many months for the next competition.
For the 2021/2022 winter competition, Richmond Park “A” team had a bye in the first round. The second round was scheduled for 12th March, 2022. Cuneyt was keen to keep the same players against Stevenage and three players from the 2020 team ( Cuneyt, John and Charlie ) were ready for the match. Charlie ( 25 pts) and Sean O’Sullivan ( 31pts) was four less than Stevenage’s away team who scored 30 points each on the Prince’s. course. However away, Cuneyt ( 38 points) and John ( 34 points) had outstanding games to beat opponents who scored 64 points at home. Richmond Park “ A “ therefore qualified for the next round with a total of 128 to 124 Stableford points.
The next game was scheduled for Sunday 10th of April which coincided with the club’s Ladies’ away weekend in the Essex golf club. Cuneyt had a long journey from Colchester to Hoebridge with strong motivation from Richmond Park golfers. Cuneyt and two opponents each scored 31 points in the long Hoebridge course on a sunny and dry afternoon. John had a bad day and had 25 points. Sean ( 36 points) and Charlie ( 30 points) outscored James & Tom from the Hoebridge team who had total of 57 points. Richmond Park “ A” team beat Hoebridge 132 to 129 which paved the road to the Gordon Forster Final at Gaudet Lace on Sunday 24th April.
Friday Sweep
The weather was pretty good although the dry, hard fairways and greens made good scoring difficult for most of the field.
The clear winner, Ryan Jones (40 points), never missed a fairway (or green) with his tee shots on the first 16 holes but then rather made a mess of the 17th and 18th holes (7 on each). Ryan had 19 points out and 21 points back in. In 2nd and 3rd places, both with 36 points, were Juho Lim and Jeremy Prescott, respectively. Both also had 19 points out and both had 17 points back in (so very close). Sweep payout goes to these top 3 (£8, £5, £3).
Midweek April Medal (MW GMT R2 of 8)
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.
Good Friday Texas Scramble
Excellent scoring was achieved by all 6 teams on this sunny, warm (23 deg C) Spring day. The recent dry weather had produced very firm fairways with lots of run; however stopping the ball on the greens was difficult, as they didn’t appear to have been watered.
The final 3-ball team of Paul Green, Marnix and Peter Goodhall posted the winning score of 55 net (51 stableford points). They had 4 birdies on the front 9 and an eagle and 1 birdie on the back 9 – their only blemish being a bogie on the 18th hole. In second place, on countback, with 57 net (49 stableford points) was the team of Adrian, Chris, Shaun and Julian, who had 5 birdies and one bogie in their round. In 3rd place, pipped on countback, were Kevin, Justin and Ryan who had 4 birdies and one bogie on the front 9 and an eagle, one birdie and one bogey on the back 9.
Sweep payout goes to the winning team (£7 each) – some small consolation for missing out on the club-sponsored post match drink.