Newly crowned national strokeplay champion Brad Kendall flirted with disaster before reaching the matchplay quarter-finals at Hastings yesterday.
The Mt Maunganui teenager was four down with eight holes to play against Christchurch youngster Keelan Kilpatrick in the first round. Kilpatrick missed some short putts, which would have won him the match, before Kendall birdied the second extra hole for victory.
It was much the same story in the afternoon. Another South Islander, Ashburton's Mark O'Malley, had Kendall two down with two to play, but couldn't finish the job. Kendall won the 19th and the match with a par.
The most notable casualty was New Zealand representative Ben Campbell, beaten by Canterbury's Shaun Jones. Aucklander Ryan Fox needed two extra holes to beat Hawkes Bay hero Pieter Zwart in a match of high-quality golf.
The big upset in the women's championship saw the strokeplay champion, Northland's Caroline Bon, beaten 3 and 2 by Japanese Chihiro Ikeda in the second round. Last year's finalists, 15-year-old Cecilia Cho and 12-year-old Lydia Ko, were untroubled to make the quarters.
Kendall's win in the 72-hole national strokeplay on Saturday matched his father Owen's in the equivalent event over 36 holes in 1974.
The tall 18-year-old started the day with a four-shot lead over Jager and five over Campbell. He stretched that lead to six but then he lost his rhythm and bogeyed the seventh, eighth and ninth. On the par-five 10th he hooked his drive into trees, caught another tree with his second and then three-putted for seven.
The closing holes became a three-man match race but Kendall showed his character by birdying the 11th and 14th. He was one ahead of his rivals at the 17th where he holed a long putt to match Jager's birdie. He parred the last and watched Jager misread a birdie attempt that would have caused a tie.
Golf: Kendall's hard-won victory
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