Club Matches
Club Matches
Ballantyne Trophy, round 4 (Area 2 final)
On a very windy Sunday afternoon at Hoebridge (a neutral venue), the Richmond Park team played Easthampstead for a place in the national semi final of this men’s pairs matchplay competition. The course was in good condition and proved an excellent choice for the match. Our 3 pairs did the club proud by all winning their matches for a 3-0 result and we now look forward to a national semi-final against the Area 3 winners (either Huntswood or South Bucks).
With Uli away on holiday and Peter Goodall and Julian James unavailable, Roger Rojas and Mark Bean joined the team for the match. Our long hitting, low handicap pairing of Richard Back and Ross Hood were first to tee off and ground out a relatively comfortable 2&1 win (certainly more comfortable than their earlier, last-ditch 1up win at Birds Hill!). Richard Owen and Mark Bean were 2nd to go and, after halving the 1st hole, surged to strong position by winning the next 5 holes, and although Easthampstead fought back, the match was closed out with a 4&3 win on the 15th. Our final pairing of Roger Rojas and Tamas Ladacs had a close front 9 with both teams playing very well, however Easthampstead’s putting fell away on the back 9 and a comfortable 3&2 win was the result.
Surrey Fives East, Round 4
On a beautiful but very windy Sunday morning our Richmond Park Surrey 5’s B team welcomed Reigate Hill to the Park for their quarter final match in the Surrey 5s. The chosen course (Prince’s) was in magnificent condition with fast greens, penial rough and fairways firm and running. Strong winds made club selection extremely difficult with a premium on tee shots. An excellent performance by our team saw a resounding 5 – 0 victory, with Richmond Park progressing to the semi finals where we will meet the winners of Epsom v Surrey National. More details on the match below.
Will Balakrishnan led the team off and went into an early lead which he never relinquished before finishing his match with a effortless 2 & 1 victory to give the hosts a 1 – 0 lead in the match.
Brendan Sullivan’s 3 & 2 victory was quickly followed by Richmond’s super sub and first time participant in this year’s competition Toby Hunt, who produced some short game wizardry to dispatch the Reigate Hill player with a commanding 4 & 3 scoreline, to give the hosts a 3 – 0 lead and send them into the semi finals.
The evergreen Bernie McDermott with his trusty 25 year old Ben Hogan driver was demoralising his playing partner with fairway-finding drives and a short game to envy, before dismantling his opponent 4 & 3 to put the host 4 – 0 ahead.
Kevin Prendergast who was 3 down after 10 quickly got in on the action and birdied his way back into contention and finished his match with a 3 & 2 victory.
Clapham Common Round 3
It was a close match between Richmond Park and Wexham Park ‘C’, with RPGC posting 218 stableford points to Wexham Park’s 221 points. Our 3 home team pairs scored a combined 114 points, 10 more than Wexham’s away team managed on the Prince’s course; however our away team were outscored by 13 points at a shortened, tight Wexham course, which wouldn’t have suited the ‘long hitters’ that we sent there. Wexham admitted that they brought all their long hitters to Richmond Park and it looks like their strategy paid off. So we’ll try again next year.
Ballantyne Trophy, round 3
Richmond Park welcomed Hoebridge for their Round 3 match in this men’s 4BBB matchplay competition. In very hot weather conditions a 2:1 win was achieved with solid play on a bone dry Prince’s course and the team now moves to a Region final against Easthampstead.
Our first pair (Pete Goodall and Julian James) were up against two low handicappers, who played the course to an impressive 2 over par. They kept up with them till the 16th but were finally beaten ‘2 up’. Next up were Richard Back and Tamas Ladacs, who were up against two single figure handicappers from Hoebridge. After some back and forth, Richmond took command and closed the match out on the 16th with a 3 &2 win. Our final pair, Richard Owen and Uli Katte got off to a slow start, 2 down after 3 holes but clawed their way back to be 1 up at the turn. With Richard’s net birdies on the 10th and 13th, the lead was extended to 3 up and the match was closed out on the 16th hole, 4&2.
Surrey Fives East, Round 3
On a beautiful Saturday morning our Surrey 5’s B team welcomed the Wimbledon Common A team to the Park for their 3rd round match. The result was a 3.5:1.5 win for Richmond Park, who are now in the Quarter Finals.
The match was played on Prince’s which had fast greens and fairways but the rough was penial if your tee shot strayed off line a fraction.
Will Balakrishnan let the team off and went down fighting to a narrow 2 & 1 loss to give the visitors a 1 – 0 lead in the match. Brendan Sullivan got things back level with a 2 & 1 victory which was quickly followed by Richmond’s john Perkins commanding winning 4 & 3 to give the hosts a 2 – 1 lead. As Richmond’s Bernie McDermott was putting out on 18 to finish all square, news filtered through that new debutant Kevin Prendergast had demolished the Wimbledon Common club captain 4 & 3 to put Richmond Park over the winning line and into the quarter finals where we will meet either Reigate Heath or Reigate Hill.
Clapham Common Shield & Ellis Cup
After a bye in the 1st round, the club played this 2nd round men’s greensomes match home & away against Hoebridge on a lovely warm and sunny day. The overall result was a narrow victory for Richmond Park 220 points : 218 points but it took over 4 hours after play finished for the result to be confirmed/agreed! Next round is against Wexham Park.
The 3 pairs at Richmond Park (Brendan Sullivan & Bernie McDermott, Kerry Sargeant & Alan King and Uli Katte & Richard Owen) teed off an hour earlier than those at Hoebridge. All of the Richmond Park pairs outscored their Hoebridge playing partners on the Prince’s course and together amassed what we believed to be a 16 points advantage. Was this enough ? There was a long wait to see how our away team (Roger Rojas & Mike Shabani, Ross Hood & Pete Malla and Kim Chaffart & Tamas Ladacs) had got on. News trickled through from team captain Roger that “it might be a draw” and copies of the RP cards and back 9 countback scores were requested. Together all the information was ‘audited’ by Roger and the Hoebridge captain and it was found that Hoebridge had mis-calculated some of their team handicaps both home and away, resulting in a 2 points swing to Richmond Park, who won by 18 points at home and lost by only 16 points away. Phew!
Ballantyne Trophy, round 2
Three men’s pairs played away against Bird Hills Golf Club in this 4BBB NAPGC matchplay competition and were winners 2:1. Our 3rd round match will be against the winners of Hoebridge A and Tilgate Forest B.
It was an overcast and chilly 9am start but fortunately not raining, as the Bird Hills course was already extremely wet with County dispensation granted for Winter Rules to still be in force. Our first pairing of Peter Goodall and Julian James played well but could not overcome the ‘local knowledge’ of their opponents, who won 2&1 on the 16th hole. Our 2nd pair of Uli Katte and Richard Owen won their first hole but were one down after 3 holes; they then clawed their way back to 2 up at the end of the front 9. Their lead was extended with good interplay by Uli and Richard and they closed their match out for a 4&2 win on the 16th green. Our low handicappers, Richard Back and Ross Hood, represented us in Game 3, Richard giving 10 shots and 16 shots to their 2 opponents. Things were not looking good for them when they were 4 down with only 6 holes left and (knowing this) our first 2 pairs waited in the clubhouse for the seemingly inevitable team exit from the competition. However, Richard and Ross achieved ‘mission impossible’ by securing a 1up win with a combination of closing birdies and pars.
Surrey Fives Round 2 contd
The Richmond Park B team unfortunately lost their round 2 match against Epsom B 3&2 on the Duke’s course, Uli and Tamas both winning their matches.
Surrey Fives Round 2
The Richmond Park Surrey B team welcomed the Woodcote Park A team on a beautiful Saturday morning. The match was played on Prince’s which was in magnificent condition with fast greens and fairways manicured to perfection.
Will Balakrishnan led the team off and went down fighting to a narrow 4 & 2 loss to give the visitors a 1 – 0 lead in the match. Brendan Sullivan started the fight back with a commanding 8 & 7 victory which was quickly followed by Richmond’s Pete Malla winning 7 & 5 to give the hosts a 2 – 1 lead.
Richmond’s Ryan Wilson was beaten 5 & 4 to set up a tense and nervy finish, as it stood at 2 – 2 with one match remaining on the course. Those nerves were quickly banished when Bernie McDermott displayed some excellent short game wizardry to prove it’s not all about hitting it 300 yards off the tee to win 5 & 4, ensuring that Richmond Park B team progressed to the third round and another home match against the winners of Wimbledon Common vs Walton Heath.
Gordon Forster Bowl, Round 3 contd.
The club’s Richmond Park ‘C’ team, captained by Paul Green, were soundly beaten by Wimbledon Common who now progress to Finals Day. This defeat marked the end of what had been a strong challenge by the club to get to Finals Day and again bring back the trophy.