William Brown Poverty Bay-East Coast's shining light

Almost perfect . . . Poverty Bay-East Coast No.1 William Brown had two wins and a half in the weekend’s interprovincial quadrangular on the course he produced as head greenkeeper at the Awapuni Links. Gisborne Herald file picture

William Brown underlined his genuine No.1 status with an almost perfect record at an interprovincial fixture on the Awapuni Links course over the weekend.

The course’s head greenkeeper proved familiarity breeds success as he won two matches and halved the other in the matchplay quadrangular involving the Poverty Bay-East Coast interprovincial squad and three Masters rep teams — PBEC, Wellington and Hawke’s Bay.

Playing at No.1 for the PBEC Interprovincial eight-man side, Brown defeated Wellington’s Jonno Cane 2 and 1 and former Hawke’s Bay professional Doug Holloway 3 and 2.

His only blemish was against PBEC Masters’ Anaru Reedy who won the last two holes to snatch a half.

Brown was the shining light of the two PBEC sides, who were well beaten by the visiting teams who were using the trip to familiarise themselves with the Awapuni course which is hosting the Freyberg Masters (over-40s) national interprovincial in November.

PBEC Interprovincial won the “local derby” — beating PBEC Masters 4½ to 3½.

Quin McPike, Hukanui Brown, Dan Collier and Shayde Skudder won their matches for PBEC Interprovincial; Pete Stewart, Mark Jefferson and Glenn Morley for PBEC Masters.

Morley also had an impressive 6 and 4 win over Brad Rowland in their clash with Wellington. Auckland-based Waikohu member David Solomann had a 5 and 3 victory in that tie while Sunday call-up Pete Anderson had a half.

Mark Jefferson’s Saturday half against Hawke’s Bay saved PBEC Masters from a whitewash.

Mahia member Wade Wesche, playing for PBEC Interprovincial, had a 2 and 1 win against Wellington’s Steve Thomson.

Wellington ended top of the table on six team points and 17½ individual wins, with Hawke’s Bay second on four (16½), PBEC Interprovincial third on two (7½) and PBEC Masters fourth on 0 points (6½).

The visiting provinces are keen to make it an annual event.

Reedy, who is also the president of Poverty Bay-East Coast Golf, said the fixture proved invaluable considering the dearth of representative play for PBEC nowadays. “They were quality sides that will only enhance and contribute to the advancement of our own region’s golfers.”

He gave “a big shout out” to those who helped behind the scenes and made special mention of McPike, Silas Brown and teenager Zach Rolls, who made their senior interprovincial debuts.

Full results in Golf Roundup in tomorrow’s Herald.