American golfer Andy Spencer is the 2018 Danny Lee Springfield Open champion. Photo / Ben Fraser
American golfer Andy Spencer is the 2018 Danny Lee Springfield Open champion. Photo / Ben Fraser
While the wet weather caused some disruption and reduced play from 54 to 36 holes, there was still some fantastic golf played at the Danny Lee Springfield Open.
The tournament, which finished at the Springfield Golf Course today,was created 12 years ago, with Lee's support, to give tournament play to the country's rising talent and to replace the now defunct New Zealand under-23 events.
It was a tight competition all the way through for the men's field - just seven shots separated first place from 20th after the first round.
However, United States golfer Andy Spencer was the cream who rose to the top as he backed up his 65 on day one with a 66 on day two to claim victory, two shots ahead of compatriot Dan Hudson.
"It was a lot of fun, first tournament in a while and first time I've been in New Zealand. I had a lot of fun and played well, so pretty happy with the result," Spencer said.
"I was one back off the lead after day one and I was paired with Dan [Hudson], we play on the same college team in America, so we felt pretty comfortable with our pairing. We came over pretty relaxed and it worked out.
"Going in to today's round I knew the course is pretty tight so I thought if I hit enough fairways I figured I'd be fine. I felt like I hit it really good both days and putted good as well," he said.
Sherwood Park's Ayean Cho blitzed the women's field at the Danny Lee Springfield Open. Photo / Ben Fraser
In the women's tournament, it was New Zealand's top ranked female amateur Ayean Cho, of Sherwood Park, who dominated. She shot 66 and 69 to win by five shots over fellow Sherwood Park golfer Heywon Choi.
It was Cho's first time playing in the tournament and she said she was happy to get the win.
Another highlight during the tournament was a hole-in-one by 15-year-old Steven Oh, of the Wainui Club in Auckland, who hit a perfect seven-iron shot on the par three 12th hole.
Tournament director Craig Tiriana said it was Oh's first hole-in-one.
"I think the last hole-in-one was three or four years ago, it doesn't happen very often. He was pretty happy.
"The quality of golf this year was sensational. [The competition between the men] ebbed and flowed, there was some great golf played by all of them," Tiriana said.
He said, after the wild weather on Thursday and Friday, he put out a call to Springfield Golf Club members to help get the course cleaned up ahead of the first day's play.
"The course was pretty messed up, with tree branches and things like that. Up to about 50 club members showed up at 7am on Saturday morning and helped clean it up, it was a remarkable job.
"It was a really good thing for our club and it shows the heart that is in this club. Danny Lee was one of our most famous members and he supports this event every year, so to see everyone help out was really rewarding for us here working on the tournament," he said.
