Pongaroa are this year's Coronation Cup champions after 54 holes of golf in Dannevirke at the weekend
The Southern Hawke's Bay club finished with five points (with wins over Wairoa and Hastings and a half with Karamu) from Hastings on four points (with wins over Wairoa and Karamu). Karamu were third on three points (win over Wairoa and a half with Pongaroa) and in fourth place were defending champions Wairoa, who didn't score any points.
Pongaroa beat Hastings 7-5 which took them a long way towards winning but, impressively, Pongaroa were down 6-2 to Karamu before Sunday's play but managed to win all four games to get the half and secure the overall win.
"The course was in great order, the greens especially so a big congratulations to the sole green keeper with Dannevirke and the voluntary members who worked hard to get the course presented like it was," said Wayne Mudgway, the acting administrator of Golf Hawke's Bay and Poverty Bay Women Inc. Mudgway also thanked the host club and the referees. Allan Forrest and Russell Burns, he said, did a superb job of running the competition for Golf HB.
"The Pongaroa team didn't give up the cup after the prize giving as they were on their way to fill it up at their local hotel but, hopefully, we'll see it back again soon," he said.
