GOLF: Happy Hay pockets second Northern Wairoa Open title

Jeremy Hay dropped a 15ft putt on the 18th hole to finally eclipse the challenge of Kevin Billington and claim his second Northern Wairoa golf title on Sunday.
Last year's Northland Interprovincial captain started the second day of the 54-hole tournament leading by one shot, after firing a four-under 68, and a 38 on the front nine of the second round in the 27-hole per day format.
Billington started his round on Sunday like a man on a mission. He birdied the first three holes to lead by two and set up a battle between himself and Hay for the title that lasted until the final hole.
"It was a battle of attrition ... he (Billington) made double bogey on 16 and that gave me a three-shot lead but then he made birdie on 17 and he was putting for birdie on 18," Hay said.
"After I had a bit of a nightmare, I managed to find the hole from off the green to hold him out."
Hay finished with a one-over, three-round total of 217, two shots ahead of Billington, who shared second place with Bob Shirley, with last year's Northland number-one Gary-John Hill in fourth place on 220.
Hay said he looked forward to playing the Northern Wairoa tournament every year.
"I've always enjoyed playing the Northern Wairoa course and it obviously worked well for me this weekend - it's one tournament I never miss, I even played it last year even though I had an injury."
He was reasonably happy with his form, particularly on Saturday, where his score of 68 reflected a good fightback after a couple of bogeys.
"I'm looking forward to playing more golf in the near future.
"I played the King Country matchplay championship a couple of weeks ago and came runner-up in that so hopefully it's all starting to come back together again now," he said.
Hay has had a tough time with injury over the last two seasons and is hoping that is behind him now.
"I've been lacking a lot of golf recently and that's why my handicap has blown out so much," he said.
The 2007 number-three and captain of the Northland interprovincial team, Hay has already thrown his hat in the ring for this year's Northland team and his win at the weekend should help him retain the captaincy of the team.
The second official Northland trial is the Bream Bay Classic on July 7-8 and Hay is already looking forward to the tournament.
It is a course he likes to play but he realises it will be a tougher proposition to win.
"That usually attracts a much tougher field, because we get players trialing for the Auckland and North Harbour teams coming up to play in it."
The Northland senior and junior teams to play North Harbour on July 15-16 will be announced after the Waipu Golf Club tournament.