By PETER THORLEY AND NZPA
A DRAMATIC finish saw Northland golfer Caroline Bon triumph over Canterbury's Dana Kim in the South Island 72-hole amateur strokeplay championship at the Invercargill Golf Club on Saturday.
Bon led the field by three shots on Friday evening, and Kim played well to take a one-shot lead
with two holes to play. But Kim double bogeyed 17 and Bon, who bogeyed the hole, drew level.
At the last hole, Kim had a 15-foot birdie putt to take the title, but she charged it nearly six feet past the hole and missed the par return to hand the crown to Bon.
Bon shot 74 to finish at two-over 298, while Kim managed 76 to be one back.
Tied for third on three strokes further back were Australian Samantha Whittle and Japan's Eri Miyake, who is now based at the Coringa club in Christchurch.
Bon's win denied Kim the North Island-South Island double and must rate as one of Bon's best ever tournament wins to date.
A spectacular six-hole birdie sequence on the front nine laid the foundation for Tauranga's Jared Pender's victory in the men's championship.
Pender started the last round tied for the lead with 2007 North Island champion Nick Gillespie, of Hastings.
He burnt off his fellow New Zealand representative by posting birdies at every hole from the fourth to the ninth during a round of five-under-par 67 on the Otatara course.
That extended his lead over Gillespie to six shots and although Pender mixed three bogeys with two birdies on the back nine to allow Gillespie to eat into his lead, he was still three strokes clear at the finish.
Pender finished on 18-under-par 270 and Gillespie was second on 273.
Equal third on 280 were the Canterbury duo of Daniel Pearce and Tyrone Nelson, and Aucklander Leighton James - the 2006 South Island champion - who shot 66, the best round of the day.
Pender deserved his success after finishing second in both the 2007 North Island and South Island championships.
Sherwood Park's Dale Clarke finished in a share of seventh place after charging home on the final day with a six-under par 66, to end on 281.
