Butler and Bennett win Junior stroke play champs

The Wairarapa Junior Stroke Play Championships were played at Mahunga over the week-end, with the weather being a bit patchy, and perhaps having a detrimental effect on the scores.
But the winners of the gross and nett competitions both had quite good scores. In the gross competition, the winner was Laurence Butler with a two round total of 173, which was three shots ahead of Kevin Gibbs in second place, with the same gap back to Bill Leahy in third place. John Pitau took fourth place on 180, with Brian Schaefer filling fifth place.
In the nett, Castlepoint youngster Hayden Bennett produced the lowest nett score of 139 for the two rounds, which was two ahead of Robin Britt in second place. Mark Schultz was third on 142, with a gap back to David O'Reilly and ken Luke in fourth and fifth places.
Over the two days of the tournament, there was just one hole in two scored, so Robin Britt ended up with a hat full of balls for his effort.
For the members, Saturday's competition was a stableford round, and the scoring was down on usual standards. In the lower handicap group, Rob McKelvey had the best score of 34 points to head off Bruce Herangi on 33, with Lance Duckett piping Kip Edmonds for the third place on 32 points.
The second group saw Kevin Gibbs on top with 37 points, with Laurence Butler and Bill Leahy both having 36 points. Holes in two were scored by Graham and Lance Duckett.
Sunday's competition was another stableford round, and the better weather brought improved scores. Leading the way in the first group was Laurence Butler with 39 points, from Lance Duckett and Shane Stewart on 38 points.
The second group saw Robin Britt on top with a score of 41 points, with mark Schultz second on 39 and Bill Ousey third on 37 points. There were two holes in two scored, with those going to Lance Duckett and Robin Britt.
The Solway Pie Shop nearest to the pin on the first hole was not struck. Roger Allen took the Mitre 10 one on the third hole, Robin Britt the McAuleys transport one on the sixth hole, Bill Ousey the Solway Butchery one on the eighth hole, Laurence Butler the Alister Bruce Affordable Buildings one on the tenth hole and Kevin Gibbs the social committee one on the seventeenth hole.
On Tuesday, the veteran's group played in a bisque par competition, and as usual there were some very good scores returned. In the second ladies group, both Daphne Jordan and Noeline McGovern finished on 9 up, with Judith O'Connor in third place on 8 up.
That was the score that gave Susan Christall top spot in the lower handicap group, with Yvonne Allsworth and Mei Hakaraia sharing second place on 6 up.
Jim Munn was the best of the men, with his score of 10 up not being bettered. Ray loader was in second place in the lower handicap group on 8 up, with John Harp third on 7 up.
Seven up was a popular score in the second men's group, with John Eccles, Lin Jordan, Syd Whittington and Ron Hutcheson all finishing on that score.
The ladies nearest to the pin on the third hole was won by Nancy Baylis, and Janet Shaw took out the one on the sixth hole. The men's nearest to the pins on both the sixth and seventh holes were taken out by Peter Campbell. Ken Luke scored the only hole in two for the day.
Next week's competition for the veteran's group will be a stableford round.
This coming Saturday sees the first round of the Bell Family Trophy being played, with the competition of the day being a stableford round. On Sunday, the ladies will be playing the third round of their Malmo Par competition. For the men, the competition at home will be a medal round.
But for the men, a lot of the interest will be at Featherston, where the Marquis Shield team will have a battle on their hands when they take on the current leader in Carterton.
Realistically, Mahunga cannot win the trophy this year, as they would need to have not only the result of the match with Carterton, but also the other matches to go their way to have any chance. But they are still in with a chance in at least one of the divisional trophies.