OC Golf Report
GRAFTON MORRISH – Qualifying Round – Sunday 27th April 2025 – Royal Wimbledon
GRAFTON MORRISH – Qualifying Team
Summer had arrived with temperatures pushing 24 and very little breeze. We were short on numbers to start and did not have a reserve lined up. This became a bigger problem when a family member of one of the players feel ill during the night and he had to withdraw. We were unable to find another and only had five players at Royal Wimbledon, meaning only two counting scores.
Out first pair was Alex Edwards (SH 1988) and Josh O’Neill (WG 2014), it was hard to really focus as we knew qualification was almost impossible with only two counting scores. Josh admitted this knowledge may have caused them to leak a few more shots than they would have otherwise. In the end they finished with 23 points.
In the middle was Captain Micky Tudor (WG 1986) and Anuj Anand (HG 1986), who have had several good rounds as a pair in the past, mainly in the Hewitt and the Prince’s Plate. We got off to a very steady start with six tap ins for par before a birdie on the 7th. We were still at one under gross through 11. Despite a good tee shot on the 12th we were blocked by a large tree, which led to our first bogey. Another followed on the next due to rogue bounce, right by the edge of the green left us in an impossible position. We recovered to be par for the rest of the round, to shoot 35 points. An excellent round which tied the best round of the day, matched by one of the Charterhouse pairs.
As we were a man short, Luke Nokes (KG 2002) volunteered to play on his own in the last group. He was good tee to green but as he was not scoring he did not want to hold up play so picked up occasionally, once on the green.
A real shame we could not test ourselves against the opposition, due to being a man down. The team scoring overall was quite good, and we would have been in the mix if we had a third pair.
Alex Edwards & Josh O’Neill 23 points
Anuj Anand & Micky Tudor 35 points
Luke Nokes No score
Total 58 points
The table below shows all of the scores in the London qualifying round (qualifiers in bold and italics type):-
Spring Meeting at Hadley Wood Golf Club – Monday 28th April 2025
Another hot day in store following the Grafton Morrish qualifying the day before and once again practically no wind made for a great day for golf. Unfortunately the numbers were well down on the 20+ we usually achieve, as several meeting regulars were unable to attend. In the end we only had 12 players in the morning.
Scoring was tough as the greens were remarkably slow and bumpy. Like many courses the lack of rain in April has stifled the growth following early Spring course maintenance.
Once again we had some slow groups in front of us, so it was not a quick round, but that kept us close together and with only 12 players we all finished within 20 minutes of each other. In the Scratch division Anuj Anand retained the Spring Scratch Salver, despite a sub standard round of 80, once again Peter Langrish-Smith (MG 1970), was second this time only one shot behind. Peter was not happy as he three putted the last two holes.
In the lower handicap division, playing for the Merton Jones Cup, Peter Langrish-Smith was victorious winning on countback over Mark Walton (FG 1971). They both scored 32 Stableford points, showing that the course was not playing easy, which was mainly due to the greens.
In the higher handicap division, there were only two participants and again scoring was not stellar. David Monkman (NG 1971) retained the Tiger Cup ahead of Gordon Tindale (FG 1951).
Lastly the winner of the Stroke Less Age Cup would have been Peter, but it was awarded to Mark Walton as we only allow a player to win one trophy. Peter’s score was 14 shots, and Mark’s was 16.
Following lunch we had 10 players for the afternoon foursomes. The heat must have been a factor, as apart from the winning team of Graham Dunbar (MG 1970) and James Lloyd-Davies (NG 1975) the scoring was low. Their playing partners Tim Brown (WG 1985) and Kim Harris (GH 1969) did enough to take second place. Graham once again showed that he is a Foursomes specialist.
The trophy winners and runners up were:
Scratch Cup
Winner Anuj Anand (80 Gross) with Peter Langrish-Smith runner up (81 gross).
Merton Jones Cup (handicap Stableford, 12 or less handicaps)
Winner Peter Langrish-Smith (32 points), runner up Mark Walton (32 points)
Tiger Cup (handicap Stableford, 13+ handicap
Winner David Monkman (26 points), runner up Gordon Tindale (23 points)
Stroke less Age
Winner Mark Walton (18), however Peter Langrish-Smith was (16), but as he won the Merton Jones Cup, he was not eligible to win this.
HF Edwards Foursomes Cup (11 holes)
Winners: Graham Dunbar and James Lloyd-Davies (20 points)
Runners up: Kim Harris and Tim Brown (16 points)