Underdogs shine at Mahunga

Mahunga Golf Club
Mahunga's annual Easter Tournament was played in benign conditions over the two days of the tournament as well as the practice day on Friday.
In the tournament itself the misconception low handicappers cannot be competitive was shown up as just that.
The first men's group saw a three-handicapper in Brendan Curtis take out the top spot with rounds of 41 and 43 points, while Owen Lloyd, also on a three handicap, took out third place with an 81 point total. Splitting these two players was Peter Wihare on 83, while Damian Carroll was placed fourth on the countback from Owen Lloyd. It was a good weekend for Owen, as he also scored his first hole in one on the par three 10th hole.
The second men's group fell to a visitor from Wainuiomata in Jason Newman, with 79 points, to just head off Darryl Coley on 78, with Rob McKelvey third on 77, while Greg Granich and Quentin Henderson both finished on 74.
The third men's group fell to the youngest player in the group in Daniel Kauika from Wanganui. He was in the bunch after the first round, but his total of 49 points for the second round saw him finish with 87 points, well clear of Frank Martin in second place with 79, with Kevin May taking third place on 77, which was one ahead of Graham Duckett.
The fourth group also fell to the younger brigade, with Nikaya Graham opening with 41 points in the first round, before adding a 48-point round on Sunday to end with the best overall tally of 89. What is more amazing is that the 48 was despite a four-putt double bogey on the fourth hole. Layton Kawana was the height on consistency, having two rounds of 43 to take second place. Paul Croft took third place with 81, while Joe Graham claimed fourth place with 79.
The countback was required to separate Noeline Stevenson and Diane Hunter on 74 points in the women's group. Visitor Maureen Burton took third place in the group on 72, which was one ahead of Ngaire Graham and Yuriko Manabe.
In addition to the group prizes, there were the usual nearest to the pins on all holes for both the men and women's, and long drives each day for each of the groups. There were 28 holes in two recorded for the two days.
Friday's practice round also saw some good scores being returned, with Colin McAuley posting the day's best score of 46 points, while Jason Walker and Layton Kawana both returned 43.
Monday's weather, and the work required at the completion of the tournament, saw the course deserted.
The veterans' competition on Tuesday was also called off due to the weather.
This coming weekend sees important men's interclub matches on both days. Saturday has both Mahunga teams playing at home, and in both cases the matches are top-of-the-table affairs. The division 11 team will start earlier when they match up against the Masterton team that are 5points behind them, but in the remaining three matches, the Mahunga team has two potentially tough fixtures away, while the Masterton team has two home matches against teams that are lower down the table. So a strong result is required if the team is to win the division.
Then the division 7 team will be playing against the Shandon team that are five points behind them. The Shandon team has two matches left against the team that is at the bottom of the table at present, and their other match is against a team towards the bottom of the table, while Mahunga's opponents will be the Masterton team, who are in third place and two of the teams lower down the table, but definitely not walk-over candidates. So once again, a strong result against the Shandon team who secured a 10 to 4 win over Mahunga at Shandon earlier in the series is required if the team is to go one place better than last year.
On Sunday, the Mahunga Marquis Shield teams are playing the final match of the season against the second-placed Eketahuna team at Featherston. As the points stand, it can only be one of these two teams that can take out the Marquis Shield for 2011. Mahunga are looking at retaining the trophy they won last year, but in all the years the trophy has been competed for, that has never been managed.
The women's Tilson Salver team will be playing the Castlepoint team at Mahunga in the final round of that competition, but with the result from the previous round not going their way, the team cannot take out the trophy for this year.
For those staying at home, Saturday had the women playing the second of their rounds for the Nancy MacCormack Foursomes and the Judy Verhagen Trophy, while for the men the competition will be a par round. On Sunday, the club competition will be a stableford round.
Coming up soon is the Wairarapa 12-36 Strokeplay Tournament, which has been moved from its usual date and is now being played on Saturday and Sunday, May 21 and 22, with 18 holes each day. Entries for this event will be open this coming week.