A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Electrinet Park
DANIEL Collier proved right an old expression in winning the Carters Building Supplies twilight shootout final last Thursday . . . “the cream always rises to the top”.
The +1-handicapper turned on a golfing clinic under PGA Tour-like pressure to fend off nine other finalists and claim the $1000 first prize.
He had three birdies, including on the 18th hole (the final started on the 10th), as he fired a flawless 3-under 33 for the nine holes.
“It was great golf from Daniel,” referee Jo Kerr said. “He recovered really well from his drives that did not find the fairway, and his putter was on. He had the look and manner like it was his day to win.”
The shootout is a hole-by-hole elimination event played off handicap. The player with the worst net score is knocked out each hole. If there are two or more players with the worst net, a putt-off decides who goes and who blows.
Collier and Shannon Toa, knocked out on the 10th in the 2022 final, teed off the 18th hole with eight casualties in their wake.
James Witika was the first to go after a four-way putt-off on the 10th hole.
A lost ball on the 11th and a nine for net seven ended Mason Emery’s hopes.
Rough trouble saw Mike Christophers depart on the 12th.
Heath Tupara, who started the final with a net-eagle on the 10th, imploded with a 10 on the 13th.
Kino White — the only woman in the field — lost a three-way putt-off on the 14th.
Matt Henwood’s loose drive off the 15th tee resulted in double-bogey and goneburger.
Top qualifier Beau Toa’s day ended on the 16th in a putt-off with Collier.
Collier bombed his drive over the corner trees on the 17th to within 30 metres of the green but his par was not enough to escape a putt-off with John White.
Collier won the putt-off, but John and wife Kino had the consolation of a combined booty of $650.
That left Toa senior, off an 11-handicap, and joint course recordholder Collier and there was a sense it was going to take something special to split the two.
Collier obliged, putting his approach to 2½ metres of the pin and sinking the putt for birdie to Toa’s par.
The 2023 Handicap Cup finalists for men and women have been sorted.
Dan Collier and Matt Henwood will face off in the senior men’s final; Shannon Toa and Shaun Pahia the intermediate; and Darrel Gregory and Mike Bond the junior.
Finals are scheduled for Sunday, April 16.
Kino White and Carolyn Carpedale will decide the women’s champion on Saturday, April 15.
SUNDAY — Women’s stableford: S Maisey 41.
Women’s drawn two: P Johansen.
Women’s approach: T Aramakutu.
Men’s net: M Henwood 69, M Christophers 72.
Twos: D Mauheni.
Men’s approach: M Downie.
SATURDAY — Women’s Handicap Cup semifinals: K White def J Kerr; C Carpendale def K Papuni.
Poverty Bay
BEING at the helm of a school of nearly 700 students calls for the ability to step up when the heat goes on.
Which is what Gisborne Intermediate principal Andy Hayward did as he went one better than 2022 to win the Reynolds Cup top 8 men’s handicap matchplay title on Saturday.
Hayward blasted past Bruce Talbot in a final that was more one-sided than the 3 and 2 scoreline suggested.
Giving three shots off his 10-handicap, Hayward flew out of the gates, firing 1-over par 37 to be 3-up after nine holes, then winning the 10th and 12th holes for a 5-up lead with six holes to play.
Talbot won the 13th and 15th but put out his hand on the 16th after the pair exchanged matching bogey-5s.
“I played really well in the front nine, which made the difference,” said Hayward, who lost the 2022 final to Don Wright.
Talbot’s assessment was more Law of the Jungle brutal.
“He ripped me up like a shark eating a baby seal.”
Two other handicap trophy finals were played.
Two-handicapper Glenn Morley overcame giving Bill Simpson 21 shots to win the Willock Cup second 8 on the 17th.
Mark Jefferson (off 3) beat Neville West (16) on the 14th in the Lunken Cup final.
Sunday — Men’s stableford, division 1: S Harbottle 38, A Battistella 38, M Norman 37, C Simpson 37, D Gray 37.
Division 2: R Chalmers 40, R Young 37, J Willoughby 37, A Putnam 36, D Patumaka 35.
Twos: P Rickard, M Norman, A Lawler.
Approach: P Rickard.
Saturday — Men’s stableford, division 1: J Van Helden 38, S Francks 37, A Battistella 37.
Division 2: C Christie 38, D Pirimona 37, C Poole 36.
Twos: J Van Helden 2, M Stewart.
Approach: M Jefferson.
Jackpot: J Van Helden.
Thursday (March 30) — Men’s stableford, division 1: A White 37, A Battistella 36, M Higham 35, A Abrahams 35, I Murphy 35.
Division 2: J Rowe 39, J Williams 38, H Johanson 37, W Thompson 35.
Twos: I Murphy, A White, M Higham.
Approach: A White.
Te Puia Springs
MARK Higham was consistency personified as he topped the field on countback in round 2 of the Jo Hale Memorial Cup on Sunday.
Higham mixed 12 pars with six bogeys in his 72-9-63 to head off Ian Logan’s 76-13-63.
Best of the women was Iritana Ngarimu with 93-27-66.
SUNDAY — Jo Hale Memorial Cup, round 2, men’s net: M Higham 72-9-63, I Logan 76-13-63, P Ngarimu 86-18-68, D Cook 71, B Clark 71, J Puha 72, N Dewes 73, G Summersby 74.
Women’s net: I Ngarimu 93-27-66, P Summersby 94-22-72, R Ngatai 97-25-72.
Tolaga Bay
MURRAY Yates was a dominant force in the net competition on Sunday.
Yates won by five shots with a round of 83-17-66, including a two.
SUNDAY — Net: M Yates 66, T Lincoln 71, B Yates 71.
Putting: T Higgs 26.
Twos: M Watts, W Yates, M Yates.
Approach: W Yates.
Patutahi
THE golfing gods were on the side of Lindsay Jamieson when it came to the last two standing in the men’s shootout final on Saturday.
Jamieson knocked out Jace Brown on the 18th to clinch the title . . . with a little help from a fortuitous ricochet.
Getting a shot on the short par-4 18th in the hole-by-hole elimination final, Jamieson watched as his approach flew over the fence into the out-of-bounds maize paddock only to rebound off something hard and back into play.
His ball ended up on the fringe of the green about four metres from the flagstick and the man clubmates call “Noise” two-putted for a net-birdie and victory.
John Neilson’s final did not last long. He was the first to go followed by Jon Priestley (No.2); Chopper Summersby (No.3); Butch McKenzie (No.4); Charlie Taylor (No.5); Graham Holland (No.6); Mason Smith (No.7); Andy Nimmo (No.8); Hamish Harris (No.9); Dwayne Russell (No.10); Rocky Pardoe (No.11); Ashley Hindmarsh (No.12); top qualifier George Brown (No.13); Joe Blair (No.14); Tom Hindmarsh (No.15); Cecil Brown (No.16) and Chris Beattie (No.17).
It was a memorable week for Jamieson, who finished second in the Wednesday 9-hole shootout final.
Ashley Hindmarsh sank a 7-foot putt on the last hole (the 18th) to seal victory.
SUNDAY — Men’s stableford, senior division: S Long 37, C Beattie 37, D Pohatu 35.
Junior division: C Brown 39, M King 39, M de Luze 38.
Women’s stableford: J Smith 41, J Winiata-Beattie 36.
Friday — Meat pack 9-hole stableford, senior division: M Smith 23, D Russell 22, A Nimmo 21, P Malloy 21, T Hindmarsh 20.
Junior division: J Tietjen 23, P Jex-Blake 23, M Greene 23, C Newman 21, D Maloy 20.
Waikohu
WAIKOHU stalwart Terry Rutene will be warmly remembered at an annual tournament that bears his name this weekend.
Rutene was a top player in his day and it will take consistency and skill to win the Terry Rutene Memorial 4x9-hole matchplay title, as granddaughter Toni showed when she beat Larry Green in the final last year.
SUNDAY — Men’s stableford: P Milner 33, D Reeves 32, K Tamanui 30, S Ritchie 30.
Women’s stableford: C Te Rito 32, P Rutene 31, A Tamanui-Nunn 29.
COMING UP: TOMORROW, working bee; SATURDAY/SUNDAY, Terry Rutene Memorial 4x9-hole matchplay tournament, 10am tee-off.
Mahia
COUNTBACK decided the Canadian foursomes net competiton on Saturday.
Roger Bremner and Viv Kyle got the nod over Dave Waihaki and Renee Hiko after both pairs posted 64.
A back-nine holes of 42 off the stick propelled Rusty Smith to victory in the stableford on Sunday. He shot 91-23-68, for 40 points.
SUNDAY — Stableford: R Smith 40, R Bremner 39, D Waihaki 37, K Solomon 37, P Denigan 36.
SATURDAY — Canadian foursomes net: R Bremner/V Kyle 64, D Waihaki/R Hiko 64, M Wesche/T Smith 67.5, I Parker/E Westwood 71.5, J Thompson/G Hornblow 72.
COMING UP: SUNDAY, Ormond mixed foursomes.
Veterans
LARRY “Steros” Foster showed glimpses of the Spanish great in winning the men’s section of the Gisborne East Coast veterans’ stableford in their trip to Patutahi on Tuesday.
Poverty Bay member Foster fired 79-13-66, for 40 points, to head off Electrinet Park’s John White on 38, with Peter Harrison (Te Puia Springs) and Ron Young (Poverty Bay) a point back.
Kino White (coached by husband John, according to John) won the women’s section with 35 points from Park clubmate J Foot.
TUESDAY — Gisborne East Coast veterans’ stableford, men’s division: L Foster 40, J White 38, P Harrison 37, R Young 37, J Aitchison 35, M Smith 34, W Carpendale 34, C Poole 34, N Jones 34.
Women’s division: K White 35 from J Foot, L Haisman, C Carpendale, R Burgess.
Secondary school
LIAM Beattie was top of the class as Gisborne Boys’ High School warmed up for the Super 8 golf tournament with an exchange against Tauranga Boys College this week.
The schools met on neutral territory at the Ohope Beach Golf Links in an eight-man team aggregate stableford over 18 holes.
Beattie was the stand-out as Gisborne, coached by Poverty Bay-East Coast Golf Association president Anaru Reedy, beat Tauranga by just five points — 261-251.
Off a 20-handicap, Beattie fired 83 for a personal haul of 44 points.
Three other team members played to handicap or better.
Te Reimana Gray shot 88-17-71, for 38 points, in a round highlighted by an eagle-2 on the 286-metre par-4 16th hole.
Riki Reedy shot 88-19-69, for 38 points, and Ruan Ludwig 85-13-72 for 36.
The other Gisborne team members were Luke Bidois, Zach Rolls and Marcus and David Gray — brothers of Te-Reimana.
The Super 8 was originally to be held in Gisborne but was postponed due to Cyclone Gabrielle. It is to be played in New Plymouth next term.
Patricia Corson was ever-present in results from Friday to Thursday.