A glorious summer day, for the 5th round of the Midweek Founders Cup!
Below the final result sheet and some additional competition related reports.

It was the first midweek comp this year on Dukes with a choice for the men about whether to tee off the white or the yellow tees.
The field split roughly half, with a slight majority on the yellow side.

Oliver made best use of the rapidly increasing firmness of fairways and greens, closely followed by Reiko.
The top five results are all in a range between 38 and 36 Stableford points and interestingly we had no ‘outliers’ in the 40s this time.

A good turnout of 73 for Captains’ Day – the odd shower/ spots early but otherwise sunny intervals and a cool wind for mid-June.

Best score came from new member David Grace with 46 points (22 out 24 back) but depicted as DQ since must have 6 completed WHS scores before can win comp under RPGC rules.
So Will Balakrishnan the winner on 37 points on countback from the in-form Kerry Sargeant; Will returned a fantastic one under 35 par gross on the difficult back 9 off whites whist Kerry kept a six off his card for his 37 despite 2 ‘blowouts’ .A steady 36 points from Joe Gonclaves edged Captain Uli Katte [3 birdies] on countback whilst Paul Kamerling shot 35 points and indeed was 1 under par gross after 6.

Of interest 38 men played off white tees with 21 yellow.

For the women there were indeed some good scores -with Sheena Harrington winning on countback 34 points from Gina Jillett and next fresh from foreign lands was Avi Murphy 33 points.

Thanks to Cheryl for the ‘libations’ on 10th tee….

Novelty prizes were as below (I think correct but original flags in white cupboard).

Junior
Gunnar Sundberg 18
Richard Inglis 1

For the men this doubled as round 2 of the ‘Top Dog’ by division.
Leaders per report below:
Senior
Kerry Sargeant 16
Mel Dunn 12
Will Balakrishnan 12

The course and weather combined to make very pleasant playing conditions. The greens were more like true greens that we could putt on with confidence.
Scores generally were good but not exceptional. Both Fhorkan Uddin and Alex Braun scored 22 points on the back nine with Fhofkan edging out Alex on a countback of the last 6 holes. Alex must rue not scoring on the first hole.
A similar story for third place with Russell Stewart taking it from Chris Rudkin on a last six hole countback.

Women

After many years of this event, the women of RP decided to participate in England Golf’s Ping 4BBB who award prizes to each club’s winners and runners-up.

Congratulations to the 2 random pairs put together for today’s competition who both finished on 42 points but with a pretty impressive 25 points on the back 9 Doreen & Katharina easily took it from Elisabeth & Reiko.
It’s not the easiest format to look at individual play but Katharina only dropped 4 shots on the back 9 and Doreen’s birdie on the 16th just added to their total.

Men

A sunny start but it clouded over and there was a noticeable cool northerly.

Tough conditions for the June Medal with thick rough just off fairway leading to lost balls and 17 NRs. Again a significant WHS PCC overnight expected as a result.
But there was still some very good golf.
In the senior division Kerry Sargeant carded an impressive 67 – starting with a birdie and with 2 more on back 9 for 38 out 36 back. Kerry had a convincing 5 shot lead from Joe Gonclaves and Wonil Son on 72. ,Paul Kamerling and Louis Dickey were a shot further behind with 73s – Paul with an impressive 38 back 9.

In the junior division the leading light was Dilip Mailvaganam with an incredible 64 chased by Bernie McDermott on 66 – including an eagle at 14 (only 4 Sunday eagles to date this year per attached)=well done! 5 behind was Gerard Outtara with 71. Special mention to Ben Fisher who had a purple patch of birdies on back 9 -3,3,2 at 14-16!

This was 4th in the Grand 1medal series and currently leading senior division is Tamas Ladacs with 4 rounds completed 286 from Paul Kamerling 207 (just 3). The junior division sees Nigel Ward the leader 285 from Tony Kopczack 28 (both 4 rounds).

Definitely a case of girls on top today! With Gina taking the Div 1 honours and Sheena the Div 2 with Jayne in 2nd spot in Div 2. The men had been moved forward to the yellow tees to help alleviate some of the pain of the rough on Duke’s, but it doesn’t appear to have helped much!

Looking at both Gina & Jayne’s cards it is evident that they kept out of the rough and hence their scores, but Sheena’s win included a hole matching 12 on the 12th courtesy of the rough.

Of the 43 entrants there were no fewer than 20 NRs since finding a ball was definitely more luck and stepping in the right spot than being able to see it. Not only did we have to deal with the rough but that cold wind didn’t help – there will no doubt be a PCC adjustment at midnight tonight on the handicaps (it was 2 shots)

After 4 rounds of the MW Grand Medal, Chris Jones leads the way by 3 (287) from Uli.

A very pleasant summer’s day for the Platinum Jubilee – first of 5 in the Anniversary Cup. Sunny with a breeze not cloudy with northerly wind of late.

Conditions on Duke’s proved very difficult with the thick rough meaning many lost balls and time searching etc. 12 hole scores of 10 or over were recorded and 22 ‘No Returns’. No doubt the WHS Playing Condition Calculation overnight will reflect this.

The winner was Chris Mellish off 12 with 72 – Chris went out in 35 but back in 49 inc. an 8 and 9; next were three 73s from Umran Ali (7 & best back 9), Mike Assender (12) and Robert Carlile (14). Next was early starter Bernie McDermott 74. Best woman Silvia Bortoli off 10 – 78.

Playing his 4th WHS round was Tom Laybourn with creditable 72 off 32. [6 needed for comp win eligibilty].

Someone said: A bad day on the golf course is still better than a good day at the office. The members who attended our Away Day at Coombe Hill probably agreed. They enjoyed a course in excellent condition. 2 things stood out: 1) the club is called Hill for a reason and 2) as advertised the greens are the best defence of the course. Placement of tee-shots/approaches was fairly important. If this event were to be repeated a course planner would be welcome. Although Richard N made some very thorough preparations.
Secondly the weather turned out be more than decent. Special thanks go to Caroline. She never took off her waterproofs out of fear that this would have a very adverse effect on the weather. She definitely took one for the club …
Finally let’s talk numbers:
Overall winner is Paul G. He managed to stay just clear of Caroline. Rannesh came 3rd. But he will rue the last 2-3 holes. A certain victory slipped away on that stretch.
NTP 6th: Sean O’S
Longest Drive 11th: Ed H

Special thanks to Kim as well, for coming up with the idea of a social event at Coombe Hill in the first place, for helping to organise the whole thing and for taking over command after Uli dropped off last minute due to illness!

The course was in good condition and the weather held fine with a modest breeze.

Jose Manuel Gomez had a steady round 18 out and 19 back for 37 with a no score on 16th. Kevin Prendergast headed the group of 5 players on 36 despite hitting the tee board on the first tee and almost rebounding into the pond in front of the club house and not scoring on that hole along with a blob on hole 9. Raymond Esin had a steady round but recorded a blob on 16th.

This was the 4th round (of 6 ) in the Founders’ Cup which sees Gina Jillett the leader 127 from Peppe Monterosso 116 with Peter and Sheena Harrington now both 115.

Mainly dry with a stiff breeze and sunny intervals. Fairways had been cut wider but balls still difficult to find/hit just in the rough. Good turnout of 52 for the Spring Bank Holiday Plate.

Women

Alongside the plate, the women were playing the second leg of the Committee Cup which had to be re-scheduled after rain closed the course for the original first round.

Sheena and Jenny were a few shots ahead of Cheryl after the first 18 and they extended that difference in today’s round. Commentary below shows Sheena’s round was enough to keep her at the top for most of the day so no surprise that she ended up 9 points ahead of Jenny to win the cup.

Mixed

‘Birthday Boy’ Gunnar Sundberg celebrated with 41 points to win and secured best front and back 9s [back shared with Alison Chadwick] – 20 & 21 points respectively in spite of a ‘blob’ at 14th. He overhauled the long-time clubhouse leader Sheena Harrington who had the better back 9 [20] on countback for 36s from Serhat, Suhail and Paul Kamerling.. Birdies proved hard to come by so well done to Aidan and Louis for scoring 2.

Competition played on a perfect summer’s day with all greens open and the Prince’s course in good condition (and new sand being put in the bunkers by the greenkeepers)

From the field of 26, winner with 20 points out, 20 points in, was Pralab Barua, playing early morning. Second was Peter Miller one shot adrift with equally steady scoring front and back nine. Third, on 38 points was Charles Haines who parred the seventh in an exceptional first seven holes (before falling back to earth somewhat).