Golf roundup

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Poverty Bay

Dave Pirimona could count himself a little unlucky.

The NZ Warriors-loving Pirimona had his two best 18-hole rounds in nearly a year over the weekend, and neither was good enough to win.

Pirimona shot 82-16-66 in the qualifying round for the Reynolds and associated cups on Saturday.

He qualified second on countback behind Keith Marshall’s 80-14-66.

The next day, Pirimona posted 81-15-66 only to be denied on countback again in the Division 1 men’s stableford — this time by Mark Jefferson’s four-birdie 73-7-66.

Marshall will take the No.1 seeding into the first round of matchplay for the Reynolds Cup top eight. Waiting for him is James Situ.

Sunday also featured the Bull Cup men’s teams’ aggregate stableford competition.

What used to be a popular trophy held over 36 holes has become one round and there were only a small number of teams for the 2024 edition.

The winning score of 149, though, was impressive.

John Kerekere’s 41 points anchored his team of Cary Hensley (38), Colin Simpson (38) and Dudley Meadows (32).

They were eight points ahead of Mike Lewin (39), Craig Morton (35), Stefan Andreassen (34) and Kim Gunness (33).

Club captain John Van Helden is the early leader on the Sean Shivnan Pharmacy men’s shootout board.

Van Helden has a three-round net total of 207 (69, 68, 70), two ahead of Bill Simpson (72, 67, 70), with Kit Goldsmith third on 211 (72, 69, 70).

Those are certain to be surpassed as the likes of Jefferson (66, 66), Pirimona (66, 66), Marshall (66, 70) and Don Wright (71, 66) look to post a third qualifying score.

Vance Richardson had the round of the week last Thursday — a brilliant 1-over 73-8-65, for 43 points — to win the Division 1 men’s stableford. It was his lowest round at the Bay since a 73 in January of 2022.

WEDNESDAY — Women’s 18-hole stableford: S Eriksen 39, G Young 37.

Twos: B Whyte, G Young.

Sue Bunt 9-holers’ competition, Round 1: B Dickson 59-24-35, L Daniels 36, R Pettigrew 36.

MONDAY — Women’s bisque parL C Nelson from M Lane.

SUNDAY — Men’s stableford, Division 1:  M Jefferson 42, D Pirimona 42, J Kerekere 41.

Division 2: C Hensley 38, B Simpson 36, K Travers 36.

Twos: S Hihi, D Pirimona.

Approach: M Jefferson.

SATURDAY — Reynolds and associated cups qualifying round, top eight (net): K Marshall 66, D Pirimona 66, M Stewart 67, G Clapham 70, G Morley 70, M Christophers 71, S Andreassen 71, J Situ 71.

Twos:  M Callaghan.

Approach: D Mettrick.

ThursdaY (Feb 22) — Men’s stableford, Division 1:  V Richardson 43, M Thomas 37, S Andreassen 37, C Christie 37.

Division 2: H Williams 40, K Goldsmith 38, J Williams 37, D Atkins 37, S Willock 37.

Twos: H Williams 2, V Richardson.

Approach: C Poole.

Jackpot: H Williams.

The draw for round 1 of matchplay in the Reynolds and associated cups on SATURDAY, March 9, is —

Reynolds Cup top 8: K Marshall v J Situ, G Clapham v G Morley, D Pirimona v S Andreassen, M Stewart v M Christophers.

Willock Cup second 8: K Gunness v C Simpson, S Francks v J Holmes, A Hayward v C Hensley, K Goldsmith v C Poole.

Low Bros Cup third 8: B Simpson v J Van Helden, G Pellett v V Richardson, L Foster v P Goodwin, C  Dean v D Wright.

The Carl Spackler of the Poverty Bay greenkeeping staff - Collin Jeffrey - has a not-so-secret formula for his team’s sensational start to the Fulton Hogan Friday Ambrose Teams Series . . .“Nice, cold Waikatos.”

Jeffrey’s Team Turf appeared to have injected superphosphate into themselves, rather than “nice, cold” bottles of Waikato beer, as they produced a fertile score of 6-under for their six holes on the very fairways and greens they manicure.

Fellow greenkeepers Jeffrey, Rowan Clark and Brent Colbert — the three of whom would not look out of place on an episode of Last of the Summer Wine — combined with Clark’s son Brad to win Week 1 of the series with a net 14.34.

Their 6-under gross could have been one less. They missed a short putt for birdie on the fourth — having started on No.1 — but bounced back with eagle-3 on the fifth.

Team Turf’s performance had head greenkeeper William Brown concerned about his spot in the side — something Tairāwhiti No.1 Brown has never faced in his representative career — though after being unavailable for Week 1, he will be introduced to the side for Week 2 tomorrow as Colbert is away.

Brad is not yet a chip off the old block golf-wise — his dad Rowan is a former scratch handicapper and Poverty Bay-East Coast representative — but fortunately Brad got his mother’s looks.

Fulton Hogan made their not-here-in-naming-sponsorship-only intentions clear by finshing second on 15.50, followed by Lexi’s Swingers on 15.58.

The Swingers had Richard Foon’s hot putter to thank. His deadeye is attributed to an ancient family concoction of  broccoli and kumara juice.

Week 1 results (net) —  Team Turf 14.34, Fulton Hogan 15.50, Lexi’s Swingers 15.58, Floaters 15.84, BDO 15.92, Zach & The Hacks 15.92, Sugar Nightclub 16.0, 2 Lemon 16.08, Hook & Slice 16.20,  City Lights 17.0, G-Force 17.34, T-Rex 17.34, Up The Pars 17.42, Rock Apes 17.42, Draggnett 18.25, Gis Int (1) 18.50, Team Xtreme 18.58, White Haulage 18.59, Gis Int (2) 22.0, Pioneer Seeds no score.

Week 2 draw (teams to report by 5.30pm  (earlier if requiring cars) for 5.45pm shotgun start) —  No.1 tee: T-Rex, Fulton Hogan.

No.2: Team Xtreme, 2 Lemon.

No.3: Rock Apes, Zach & the Hacks.

No.4: Pioneer Seeds, Up The Pars.

No.5: Floaters, G-Force.

No.10: Team Turf, Gis Int 2.

No.11: 2 Draggnett, City Lights.

No.12: Sugar Nightclub, BDO.

No.16: Gis Int 1, White Haulage.

No.17: Hook & Slice, Lexi’s Swingers.

Waikohu

The second of the men’s pairs finalists has been decided.

Percy Milner and Kararuia Ruru defeated Richard Reeves and Sonny Ritchie to set up a final this Sunday against Kahu Tamanui and Tom Smith.

Milner also won the men’s stableford on Sunday with 33 points while the same score was good enough for Ella Wynyard to win the women’s stableford.

SUNDAY — Men’s stableford: P Milner 33, I Ruru 31, S Ritchie 30.

Women’s stableford: E Wynyard 33, A Tamanui-Nunn 33, V Grace 32.

Men’s pairs competition, semifinals: P Milner/K Ruru def R Reeves/S Ritchie.

Flight final: T Ritchie/A Coker def L Green /T Brown.

COMING UP: SUNDAY, men’s pairs final (P Milner/K Ruru v K Tamanui/T Smith0. LGU stableford, putting.

Te Puia Hot Springs

Mikaera Aurupa has taken a stranglehold on the Jo Hale Memorial series with his second consecutive net 59.

Aurupa followed up 78-19-59 the previous weekend with 76-17-59 on Sunday.

He was four strokes ahead of Hiria McClutchie (83-20-63), with Daryl Goldsmith (84-20-64) a shot back in third.

The Jo Hale is a four-round series, with players counting their best three.

The Te Puia Hot Springs women’s open is on Saturday. A cup of tea at 9.30am will be followed by tee-off at 10.30.

Round 2 of the Poverty Bay women’s interclub pennants is being held in conjunction with the open.

Patutahi won Round 1 on their home course two weeks ago, with the Springs second.

Te Puia were without a couple of players for Round 1 but should be back to full strength on Saturday.

SUNDAY — Jo Hale Memorial, Round 2 (net): M Aurupa 59, H McClutchie 63, D Goldsmith 64, H Rasmussen 66, P Harrison 67, J Forrester 68, I Ngarimu 70.

Twos: J Forrester, D Goldsmith.

COMING UP: SATURDAY, Te Puia Hot Springs women’s open, Poverty Bay women’s interclub pennants, round 2.

Electrinet Park

The race is starting to heat up for spots in the 10-person Thursday twilight stableford shootout.

With four nights to go before the shootout final on March 28, 11 players are on a qualifying total of 184 points or better.

Craig Christophers is top of the table on 191, but only one point ahead of four others — Josh Adams, Bailey Matoe, Chris Fox and Shaun Pahina.

Steve Rolls and Jason Lloyd are 10th-equal on 184, with Matt Henwood on 182 and Ian Loffler 181.

The winner of the shootout final will fatten their wallet considerably while the Simulator Challenge final will also be held on March 28.

Sunday’s club competition was a hidden holes stableford. Nine holes were selected and Steve Johnson won on 20 from John Collier Sr (20) and Craig Christophers (19).

Janet Muir scorched her way to 24 points to win the Gordon’s Pharmacy twilight stableford last Thursday. Muir dropped just three shots in her 40-9-31 while Shannon Toa parred all nine holes to finish second with 36-4-32, for 22.

SUNDAY — Hidden holes stableford (holes were 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 16, 17): S Johnson 20, J Collier Sr 20, C Christophers 19.

Twos: C Nepe, A Pahina, D Collier.

THURSDAY (Feb 22) — Gordon’s Pharmacy 9-hole stableford: J Muir 24, S Toa 22.

Men’s long drive: M Henwood.

Women’s long drive: J Muir.

Approach: J Foot.

Monkey on the back: J Ovington.

Simulator challenge winner: C Fox.

Patutahi

Club president Tony Green’s best round of 2024 so far earned him top honours in the senior men’s net on Sunday.

But the 19th-hole talking point was second-placed Dwayne Russell, who fired a sizzling 5-under 65-0-65.

His round featured nines of 31, 34 and included birdies on the first, second, third, fifth, 13th, 17th and 18th holes.

Green carded 76-11-65 to deny Russell victory on countback.

SUNDAY — Men’s net, senior division: T Green 65, D Russell 65, P Molloy 66, C Parker 67, R Hindmarsh 69.

Junior division: B Pohatu 66, A Zame 67, M King 67, J Blair 69, K Harrison 69.

Twos: R Hindmarsh.

FRIDAY — Meat pack 9-hole stableford, senior division: M Owen 22, N Bunting 21, J Neilson 20, A Nimmo 20, D Russell 20.

Junior division: C Blumfield 24, B Tietjen 22, H Humble 22, D Skudder 21, L Kriel 21.

Tolaga Bay

The Tolaga Bay opening day  tournament is being held on Sunday, March 17.

Mixed pairs and men’s sections — 8am and 12 noon tee-offs.

Inquiries to Taine Lincoln.