Anaru Reedy shines as Tairāwhiti finish 14th at Freyberg Masters golf tournament

Anaru Reedy, playing at No 2 for Tairāwhiti, had six wins from eight matches over the week-long Freyberg Masters interprovincial golf tournament on the Ōmaha Beach course last week. Photo / Paul Rickard

The star of Tairāwhiti’s campaign at the Freyberg Masters interprovincial golf tournament sets high standards.

While Anaru Reedy was receiving high praise for his record of six wins from eight matches at the over-40s matchplay competition at the Ōmaha Beach course last week, the man himself wasn’t completely happy.

“It should have been eight,” he said on Saturday afternoon after returning home from Auckland and straight back to work as the Tairāwhiti participation and club support co-ordinator for New Zealand Golf.

Reedy was the mainstay as bottom seeds Tairāwhiti finished 14th out of the 15 provinces – handing the “wooden spoon” to Southland.

Tairāwhiti finished their eight rounds on 1½ team points and 12 individual wins. They were half a team point behind Taranaki (12th) and Northland (13th), while Southland ended on zero team points and five individual wins.

It was a significant improvement on 2024 when they were 15th on half a team point and 8½ individual wins.

All of Tairāwhiti’s team points came on day one when they beat Southland 3-2 in their opener, then followed it up in the afternoon with a 2½-2½ draw with Hawke’s Bay.

They went close to adding to that over the week, pushing runners-up Wellington all the way in a 4-1 loss and only just falling short in a 3½-1½ defeat by Waikato.

Reedy, at No 2 in the five-man team, No 3 David Solomann, No 4 Waka Donnelly and No 5 Richard Apanui tasted success over the week.

No 1 Jace Brown lost all eight of his matches although he fought gallantly against high-quality opponents at the top of the order.

Reserve Matt Henwood, in his Freyberg Masters debut, was beaten in both his matches, but took away valuable experience.

Reedy’s performance was undeniably the highlight, his six wins emulating his 2024 success at Invercargill Golf Club.

His only losses were 1-down to Wellington’s Elton Nicholson, a match he felt he let slip, and 3 and 1 to North Harbour’s Cameron Emett.

The best individual record of the week was by Wellington’s Jonathan Cane – seven wins and a half, which earned him Player of the Tournament honours.

Auckland made it three Freyberg Masters title with a perfect 8-0 record (30.5 individual wins), followed by Wellington on 6½ (29) and Bay of Plenty on 5½ (25) – the Bay team featuring two-time Poverty Bay Open champion Mark Smith.