Poverty Bay - East Coast golf roundup

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Poverty BayTHE pundits are picking a William Brown-Andrew Higham senior men’s club championship final . . . but there are a few players planning to defy the favouritism.

Glenn Morley, who qualified 14th, provided the upset of the champs so far, surviving a late charge from third seed Simon Jeune to win on the 18th in round 1 matches on Saturday.

Morley then disposed of Brent Colbert 4 and 3 in Sunday’s quarterfinals.

David Situ also moved into the last four with wins over Pete Clayton and multiple senior championship winner Hamish Douglas.

Brown and Higham, as the number one and two seeds, had first-round byes and due to representative commitments were unable to play their quarterfinals on Sunday.

They will instead play their matches tomorrow, Brown facing Jason Devery, who impressed in his round 1 win over course chief superintendent Jimmy Walker; Higham up against Dave Jenkins.

Defending intermediate champion Neil Mackie powered into the last four with 4 and 3 victories against Colin Christie and Andy Hayward.

However, No.2 seed Johnny van Helden is out. His Vintage Thistle football team won the Eastern League division 2 knockout final on Saturday afternoon and JVH was a no-show for his quarterfinal match on Sunday morning.

Richard Foon, Mike Dodgshun and Glenn Burnside filled the other three semifinal slots.

Ray Veall admitted he’s no morning golfer but he still underlined his junior division favouritism with a 5 and 4 pasting of Mark Stewart on Sunday.

He was joined in the semis by Don Wright, Dave Mettrick and Ron Young, who needed an extra hole to get past Bill Allen.

* All three top qualifiers are still alive in the women’s club championships.

Miracles do happen and it will probably require one to stop Tessa McDonald from winning the senior title.

But first she has to get past Miggles Shanks, who last year pulled off the upset of the champs in knocking out Skylah Pohatu in the semifinals before falling to McDonald in the final.

The winner of the McDonald-Shanks semi will face the victor of Gay Young’s clash with Jan Utting.

Intermediate top seed June MacKinnon is through to the final where she will meet Mary Allan.

Likewise for junior top qualifier Karen Crosby, who plays PM Jacinda Ardern’s mother-in-law, Peri Gayford, in next week’s final.

WedNESDAY — Women’s club championships, 9-holers, first round winners: B McIldowie, J Alderson, R Dymock, A Sutton.

9-holers’ net: J French 32, C Skuse 34 on c/b.

SUNDAY — Men’s stableford, division 1: R Gibson 41, A White 40, M Norman 37.

Division 2: D Wright 40, L Pollitt 39, L Gunther 38, B Bell 38.

Twos: M Dodgshun.

Approach: B Morgan.

SATURDAY — Men’s stableford, division 1: M Armstrong 39, B Payne 37, B Colbert 37, J van Helden 37.

Division 2: R Skuse 39, M Stewart 37, D Wright 35, H Williams 32.

Twos: G Morley, N Mackie, P Clayton.

Approach: N Mackie.

THURSDAY (Aug 23) — Men’s stableford, division 1: A Abrahams 40, C Christie 39, D Mettrick 37, C Poole 36, A White 36.

Division 2: B Proudfoot 40, D Atkins 38, B Payne 37, M Gemmell 37, R Third 37.

Twos: C Christie, A Kirkpatrick.

Approach: C Christie.

COMING UP: SUNDAY, Sept 9, Poverty Bay-East Coast Golf Association Fundraiser Golf Day, in support of rep teams, one-tee start from 8am to 12 noon, gross, net and stableford divisions, book a start time at the pro shop (867-4402).

Gisborne ParkNEW member Anuresh Chandra has quickly made his presence felt.

The former member of Christchurch club Harewood Woodlands top qualified for the men’s club championships at the weekend with a 3-over par 75.

Steve Phillips’ 84 was the best of the intermediate qualifiers while Dave Harrison’s weekend started with the high of topping the juniors (83) and ended on the low of a good old-fashioned matchplay hiding.

Barry Cox (91) was the best of the endeavour section and followed that up on Tuesday with 83 off his 20-handicap.

Having tiptoed his way through a minefield of matches to make Sunday’s Men’s Handicap Cup final, Harrison stepped on a landmine just short of the safety zone in the form of Peter Koorey.

Koorey was in impeccable form and Harrison could not find a way through his armoury, the match ending on the 13th.

It was a contrasting division 2 final between rising star Zach Rolls and the significantly more worldly Johnny Charles.

Rolls led 3-up at the turn but, in Charles’ words, “the body-snatchers took over” and he “found something”.

Charles squared it on 13 and ended up winning on the 18th, but was quick to deflect the praise Rolls’ way.

“Kudos to Zac; he’s going places.”

Karen Hay and Ann Richardson won the Meg Gordon drawn women’s Canadian foursomes on Sunday.

They posted a net 70, half a stroke ahead of Jo Kerr and Alayna Watene.

Meg Gordon was the first woman to get a hole-in-one at Gisborne Park, achieving the feat in 1938.

Electrinet Park results, SUNDAY — Men’s net: T Teneti 69, W Tamatea 69, B Cox 70.

Twos: P Cameron.

Women’s stableford: J Foot 39.

Women’s drawn two: P Johansen.

Men’s Handicap Cup finals, division 1: P Koorey def D Harrison.

Division 2: J Charles def Z Rolls.

SATURDAY — Men’s net: D Harrison 66, A Chandra 73, C Palmer 73.

Meg Gordon women’s Canadian foursomes net: K Hay/A Richardson 70, J Kerr/A Watene 70.5.

The first matchplay round of the men’s club championships is on SATURDAY and SUNDAY. The draw is – SATURDAY, No.1 tee, 9am: M Hutton v P Wellard.

SUNDAY, No.1 tee, 9am: R Callaghan v Z Rolls, Z Boyle v R Taylor. 9.06: S Peneha v R Moore, T Donovan v G Hill. 9.12: C Palmer v R Walford, P Hogan v T File. 9.18: Q Peneha v G McKinnon, A Pahina v T Reynolds.

All other players have a bye.

Tolaga BayDEFENDING senior men’s club champion Neil Hansen is a win away from retaining the title.

Hansen thwarted a potential all- Lincoln whanau final by beating Tere Lincoln in the semifinals on Sunday.

He faces Tere’s nephew Taine in the 36-hole matchplay final after he beat Bruce Yates in the other semi.

Trent Higgs and Rongo Pomana are in the intermediate final while Joe Lincoln — the patriarch of the Lincoln clan — faces Tony Sharp in the junior final.

John Hale ran away with the men’s stableford on Sunday, rattling off 43 points to finish seven clear of a group of four players.

SUNDAY — Men’s stableford: J Hale 43, J Murphy 36, B Yates 36, R Pomana 36, Taine Lincoln 36, N Hansen 35.

Twos: Taine Lincoln.

COMING UP: SUNDAY, club competition.

Te Puia SpringsBILL Clark remains in the hunt to go one better than last year’s intermediate men’s club championship final. Clark, beaten by Mark Higham in the 2017 final, faces James Forrester this weekend in the semifinals.

Henry Rasmussen and Peter Ngarimu will fight it out for the other final berth.

Clark appears to be peaking nicely, winning the men’s stableford on Sunday with 35 points while Frances Walker won the women’s competition with 39.

SUNDAY — Men’s stableford: B Clark 35, J Babbington-Welsh 35, I Sykes 34, P Harrison 31, P Ngarimu 30, J Devery 30.

Women’s stableford: F Walker 39, I Ngarimu 35, H McClutchie 30, R Ngatai 30.

The intermediate men’s club championship semifinals are on SUNDAY. The draw is – H Rasmussen v P Ngarimu, J Forrester v B Clark.

Finals for men’s and women’s intermediate and junior divisions are on Sunday, Sept 9.

PatutahiNO prizes for spotting the odd man out . . . Brown, Brown, Brown, Akroyd.

Tony Akroyd is looking to continue his comeback from a serious finger injury by preventing an all-Brown final in the senior men’s club championships.

Akroyd faces Hukanui Brown in one semi. William Brown is up against Hukanui’s older brother Eddie junior in the other.

The intermediate semis pit Selwyn Pohatu against Chris Beattie and top seed George Brown against Pat Molloy.

Beattie got to the last four via a 20-hole battle with second seed Tony Green on Sunday, Green’s senior men’s stableford-winning 42 points not good enough to win the match in regulation holes.

In the junior semis, Tom Brodie will play Sijtze Mohlmann and Ashley Hindmarsh takes on Tony Cave, who won the junior men’s stableford on Sunday with 42 points.

TUESDAY — Women’s stableford: M Philip 103-26-77, 32; L Haisman 101-26-75, 32.

SUNDAY — Men’s stableford, senior division: T Green 42, G Brown 41, C Beattie 40, M Pohatu 40.

Junior division: T Cave 42, J Blair 40, S Pittar 39, A Hindmarsh 39.

Women’s stableford: D Johnston 36, H Humble 35.

Twos: T Green, G Brown.

FRIDAY — Meat pack nine-hole stableford, senior division: T Brodie 24, J Brown 22, Whata Brown 20, S Pohatu 19, William Brown 19, H Brown 19.

Junior division: J Brodie 22, S Pittar 21, M Smith 20, J Kingdon 20.

TUESDAY (Aug 21) — Women’s LGU and putting: M Winiata 106-27-79 (31 putts).

MahiaMATCHING nines of 46 earned Anthony Steel victory in the men’s stableford at the weekend.

Steel shot 92-28-64, for 44 points, with Wayne Wesche second on 41.

Renee Hiko beat Ali Maru on countback in the women’s stableford. Both posted 38 points.

New members are welcome at Mahia. Women’s playing days are Thursday and Saturday, teeing off at 9am, and Sundays from 12 noon.

The men play on Sundays from 12 noon.

For more information, contact secretary Maraea Wesche on (06) 837-8755.

Weekend stableford results, women: R Hiko 38, A Maru 38, J Thompson 35, A Campbell 35, L Morgan 34.

Men: A Steel 44, Wayne Wesche 41, T Hema 38, K Ellison 38, G Pitman 34.

TahungaThe Tahunga open closing day tournament, featuring the Noonan Cup, is on Saturday.

The Noonan Cup is a mixed pairs stableford — arrange your own partner — and there is also a men’s stableford.

Tea/coffee at 10.30am will be followed by tee-off at 11am.

A dinner will follow.

Inquiries to Tom Sherratt at 867-0807 or email tahunga@golf.co.nz

WaikohuAUDREY Tamanui-Nunn, Valerie Grace and Ella Wynyard are the women’s club champions for 2018.

Tamanui-Nunn defeated Margy Tuapawa in the junior final, Grace beat Cheryl Te Rito in the intermediate final and Wynyard won the senior title by default.

The men’s finals are on Sunday.

Larry Green and DJ Baty will fight out the intermediate title while Uma Chambers and Kahu Tamanui decide the junior championship.

There was no senior division this year.

SUNDAY — Men’s stableford: P Milner 40, U Chambers 37, DJ Baty 36, Aaron Coker 35.

Women’s stableford: M Tuapawa 41, A Tamanui-Nunn 37.

Twos: A Tamanui-Nunn.

Women’s club championship finals, junior: A Tamanui-Nunn def M Tuapawa.

Intermediate: V Grace def C Te Rito.

Senior: E Wynyard won by default.

THE men’s club championship finals are on SUNDAY. The draw is – No.1 tee, 10am, intermediate final: L Green v DJ Baty.

12 noon, junior final: U Chambers v K Tamanui.