Jessica flies high at Eagles u17 tourney

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

SIGNIFICANT improvement over her three rounds earned Gisborne’s Jessica Hayward individual honours at the New Zealand Eagles under-17 golf championships this week.

Fellow Poverty Bay-East Coast players Ellen Ball and Zach Rolls also had success in the 54-hole strokeplay tournament held on the Te Awamutu course.

The trio were chosen by Gisborne Eagles and played alongside juniors from all 15 of the country’s golfing provinces.

Hayward, playing off a 41 handicap, improved with every round. She shot 124 (for a net 83 and 31 stableford points), 116 (net 75, 39pts) and an outstanding 106 (net 65, 44pts).

Her total of 114 points won the selected players’ girls’ 54-hole stableford on countback.

Ball, off 15, started impressively with 84 (net 69, 40pts), followed by an 85 (net 70, 39pts) and 94 (79, 32pts) — one hole proving costly in her final round.

Her 40 points won the girls’ stableford for the opening round.

Zach Rolls, off 14, also started well with 83 (net 69, 39pts), had a couple of blips in his second round of 94 (net 80, 32pts) but bounced back with two birdies in his third round of 87 (net 73, 35pts).

His 39 points won the boys’ stableford for the opening round

The PBEC trio finished fourth (on 334) out of the 15 provinces in the team stableford won by Waikato (339).