Golf: Manawatu-Wanganui teams come runnerup in interprovincial tournaments

Sera Raj tees off for Manawatu-Wanganui Women in the Sybil Green tournament during the interprovincial quadrangular event at Wanganui Golf Club on Saturday.

The three Manawatu-Wanganui teams managed a combined three wins and two draws from their nine rounds in the interprovincial quadrangular tournaments held at Wanganui Golf Club over the weekend.

Their results were enough to come runnerup in all three divisions behind the dominant Wellington squads.

As part of the 125th Jubilee, the Belmont Links club got to host 88 players representing Wellington, Hawkes Bay-Poverty Bay, Taranaki and the home Manawatu-Wanganui squads in men, women and masters competition.

Club member sisters Tara and Sera Raj were in the women's team contesting the Sybil Green silverware, while Stu Gillespie and Rick Harding were on their home course in the masters team going after the Stu Smith Memorial, as was a former local in Junior Tatana.

In the Saturday morning round, the Manawatu-Wanganui women played out a 4-4 draw with Hawke's Bay, as Sera Raj lost to Ellen Ball 3/2, while Tara was beaten 1up by Tessa McDonald.

Tara Raj takes out a club in the windy conditions.

The masters saw Manawatu-Wanganui have a heavy 4.5-1.5 loss to Wellington, with Gillespie losing 5/3 to Brad Rowland while Harding went down 3/1 to Malcolm Gullery, although Tatana managed a draw with Matt Pegg.

Manawatu-Wanganui women picked up their game in the Sunday afternoon round with a 7.5-0.5 crushing of Taranaki, as Tara and Sera Raj both picked up 8/6 wins over Tineka Kumeroa and Rebecca Johnston respectively.

The masters also lifted to pull out a 3.5-2.5 win over Hawke's Bay, although Gillespie lost 2/1 to Glenn Sloan while Harding was beaten 3/4 by Dave Wilkinson.

Stu Gillespie considers his options for the Manawatu-Wanganui Masters in the Stu Smith Memorial tournament.

Manawatu-Wanganui won the last two games to tee off, which included Tatana beating Steffan Hepburn 5/4.

Onto the Sunday morning round and the women's team's hope of getting the silverware was ended by a narrow 4.5-3.5 defeat to Wellington.

Sera Raj lost to Amy Li 2/1, while Tara was beaten by Darae Chung 2up.

The Manawatu-Wanganui masters completed a good recovery from their tough start with a 4.5-1.5 win over Taranaki.

Gillespie picked up his first win by beating Stephen McIntosh 2up, as did Harding with a 3/2 victory over Aarun Langton, while Tatana completed a great tournament with 1up win over Brian Martelletti.

Rick Harding takes his shot from the fairway.

These results meant Manawatu-Wanganui finished second in both tournaments, with Wellington claiming both titles.

It was a similar story in the men's competition for the Shand Cup.

After a 4-4 draw with Taranaki in the Saturday morning round, Manawatu-Wanganui lost to Wellington 5.5-2.5 in the afternoon.

They rebounded to beat Hawke's Bay 6.5-1.5 on Sunday morning, which again was enough to come runnerup as Wellington made a clean sweep of the titles.