GOLF ROUNDUP

POVERTY BAY

TWO sexagenarians will take on two rising stars young enough to be their grandsons in the 2023 final of the Gisborne Motors Barns-Graham Cup men’s pairs.

Richard Owen and John Van Helden will be getting the shots but giving away decades in years when they face teen leftie machines Zach Rolls and Marcus Gray in the matchplay decider of a trophy dating back to 1951.

The combined ages of single-figure handicappers Rolls (18) and Gray (15) is nearly a quarter of their opponents’, and should they win, it is highly likely they would be the youngest in BG history.

The oldest combined age winners are believed to be Ian Nicklin (82) and Geoff Worsley  (70) in 2002 while 12 years later, Arthur Bacon, at 86, won it with Darryl Grant.

Shanan Gooch, also a leftie, was 15 when he combined with Bernie Rothshild to beat Tim Trowell and Eugene Crosby in the 1997 final.

Jamaine Turei was 13 when he and father Pera were beaten by Nicklin and Worsley in 2002.

Age aside, it takes consistently decent golf to survive five rounds of matchplay — six when it used to be a top 64 pairs qualification format.

Rolls and Gray, whose distance off the tee defies his size, produced the goods when it counted in their semifinal against Lee “Pikey” Hewson and Chris Taewa.

Trailing 3-down after eight holes, Gray’s up-and-down par, getting a shot on the ninth hole, made it two the difference at the turn.

Straight down the middle was their catchphrase on the back nine as the Gisborne Boys’ High School pair complemented each other.

Gray made a brilliant up and down on the 15th for par to square the match, Rolls did the same on 16 to put them 1-up, then Gray chipped in on the 17th for birdie to finish it.

A brilliant front-nine by Van Helden set him and Owen up for a 4 and 3 win over the “And-Ands” — Stefan Andreassen and Brian Anderson.

Van Helden, off a 12-handicap, shot even-par 36 to put them in control, and Owen, off 18, anchored the partnership on the back nine.

The date of the final is to be confirmed.

Rolls’ efforts means he remains in the hunt to achieve an interclub double — the BG Cup at Poverty Bay and the Te Kanawa Cup men’s pairs (teamed with father Steve) at the Electrinet Park course.

Should he achieve that, and there is a long way to go, he would join an elite club of double winners, which includes Nicklin.

The Bryan Cup — a subsidiary to the Barns-Graham — is at the semifinals stage.

Greg Hawea and Ross Chalmers got past Lee “Polly” Pollitt and Keith Daniels on the 18th in their quarterfinal, despite “Polly” playing six under his handicap.

Their semifinal opponents are Willie Mortleman and Pete Graham, Mortleman fattening his wallet with two twos and the jackpot in their quarterfinal win.

The other semi was being played today — Cliff Poole and Vance Richardson v Mark Gemmell and Tim Sherratt.

The BG Plate final held on Saturday went the full 18.

Mark Jefferson and Mike Callaghan beat Neil Mackie and Paul Mullooly, with Jeffo calmly making an up-and-down for four to seal the deal.

WEDNESDAY — LGU 6, silver division: A Witters 87-14-73.

Bronze I: M Colebourne 91-19-72.

Bronze II: S Kemp 113-39-74.

9-holers: L Daniels 50-15-35, N Johnson 56-19-37.

MONDAY — Women’s red tee stableford: M Colebourne 40.

Twos: Y Fletcher.

SATURDAY — Gisborne Motors Barns-Graham Cup men’s pairs semifinals, Bryan Cup quarterfinals and BG Plate final, twos:  W Mortleman 2, P Clayton, P Butler.

Approach: W Mortleman.

Jackpot: W Mortleman.

Thursday (July 13) — Men’s stableford, division 1: C Dean 35, I Murphy 34, A Hayward 32, N Mackie 32, A Kirkpatrick 32

Division 2: J Rowe 36, M Smith 34, J Aitchison 32, P Graham 32, C Poole 32, D Atkins 32.

Twos: I Murphy, A Hayward, C Dean, J Aitchison .

Approach: C Dean .

Patutahi

It was back to business as the course reopened on Sunday and Mike de Luze showed up to play.

He won the men’s stableford with 38 points while Abbie Davis’s 34 topped the women’s section.

SUNDAY — Men’s stableford: M de Luze 38, M King 36, P Johnston 35, W Stevens 34.

Women’s stableford: A Davis 34.

waikohu

Richard Reeves ran hot on the back nine on his way to winning the stableford on Sunday.

Reeves shot 37 to go with 43 for 71 points, three clear of Kahu Tamanui.

SUNDAY — Stableford: R Reeves 41, K Tamanui 38, L Green 35, S Ritchie 31, A Reeves 29, C Te Rito 21.

COMING UP:  SUNDAY, club competition.

mahia

The women’s 18-hole open scheduled for Saturday has been postponed due to course conditions.

electrinet park

Catch-up is the name of the game at the Park as the course dries out. Ominously, more rain is forecast for the weekend.

The Te Kanawa Cup men’s pairs has been the hardest-hit event but matches are gradually being completed for the popular title which was meant to be decided on July 9.

As of yesterday, four of the Te K quarterfinalists had been found  — Derek Craven and Josh Taylor; Ben Holt and Mike Christophers; 2022 runners-up Ian Loffler and Steve Webb; and father and son Anthony and Shaun Pahina.

Men’s club championship qualifying is also under way.

Players have up to August 13 to post a qualifying score (18 holes) and there will be a time period also for the first two rounds of matchplay to be completed.

Semifinals are scheduled for September 7 and finals are on September 14.

The women were back in action yesterday. Jean Foot won Round 5 of the Billie’s Cup putting while Tracey Ford won the stableford with 33 points.

Ford and Jo Kerr face Tai Aramakutu and Di Webb in the Benson Cup women’s pairs final.