A record score was on the cards for the Masterton Golf Club's Lansdowne course on the second day of the Eketahuna Masterton pro-am tournament on Saturday but it didn't quite happen.
Joint overall winner, Hawke's Bay professional Doug Holloway, and third-place Troy Ropiha of Taupo, had rounds of 64, equalling the
record set by Andrew Green when he won the event in 2010.
Holloway made two eagles and four birdies, while Ropiha included seven birdies and an eagle in his 18 holes.
Just a shot behind Holloway and Ropiha on 65 at Lansdowne was Josh Carmichael of North Harbour. That was enough to have him share the major prize with Holloway. The previous day at Eketahuna, Carmichael had scored 66 and Holloway 67.
Missing from the DHL Global Forwarding and Recreational Services-sponsored event were two of the pre-tourney favourites, former New Zealand and Australian Open champion Peter Fowler and 2010 NZ PGA Order of Merit title holder Michael Hendry. Both withdrew because of injury.
The winning amateur team was the Ardsley Stud combination of Rob Cameron, James Wallace and Mike Wyeth, who played alongside pro Nick Gillespie. Second were the Provincial Insurances Brokers team of Roly Brown, Pam Griffiths, Robyn Guilford and pro Dominic Barson, and third was the Why Shearing line-up of Lawrence Aspinall, Regan Duggy, Gary Marenzi and pro Troy Ropiha.
Former All Black Allan Hewson was a special guest and the 12-handicapper played in the teams event with Lynne Sutherland, Jim Sutherland and John Duffy. They just failed to make the top 10.
