Van Zanten gives club two champs

Jason van Zanten completed a notable double for the Martinborough Golf Club when he won the Wellington districts champion of champions men's strokeplay event at Karori on Saturday.

The 18-year-old Kuranui College student rolled in a tricky putt on the last of the 36 holes to maintain a one-stroke advantage over his nearest challengers, Carterton youngster Brayden Mazey and Shandon player Richard Pegg.

Just one week earlier, Lisa-Marie Ireland had provided Martinborough with their first Wellington champion of champions strokeplay title after a wait of 56 years when she shared the honours with Suzanne Jones of Shandon in the women's event.

So to win two champion of champions titles in seven days was an extraordinary change of fortune for the small southern Wairarapa club.

Ireland was quick to concede she had exceeded her own expectations with her victory and van Zanten was making similar comments after his success, saying that the need to swot for his end-of-year examinations had meant major disruptions to his usual practice routines.

But, on reflection, he believes his limited build up probably worked in his favour in that he went into the tournament in a relaxed frame of mind, and played accordingly.

"I didn't really feel the pressure, I just concentrated on doing the best I could and fortunately I didn't hit too many bad shots," van Zanten said.

He led at the halfway stage after a 72 for the first 18 holes and his 74 in the afternoon was just enough to keep the hard-chasing Mazey and Pegg at bay.

The making of several tricky putts, including the last one, was a big help to the cause and he was also happy with his accuracy off the tees, an attribute which meant he seldom had to play out of the rough.

Next year van Zanten will be attending Massey University in Palmerston North to study psychology and sports and exercise science.

While his studies will take precedence over anything else, the Wellington senior and age group representative says he hopes he will manage to play golf to a level where he remains a contender for inter-provincial selection.