Golf Roundup is compiled and edited by Chris Taewa. If you have a story, tournament to promote or results you wish to have printed, contact The Gisborne Herald at 869-0633 or email sports@gisborneherald.co.nz
HE won’t be there in person but he will be there in spirit, and another material form.
Mike Hutton, who died earlier this year, will very much be in the minds of Glen McKinnon and Derek Craven when they play the Te Kanawa Cup men’s pairs final this Sunday.
McKinnon and Craven face greenkeeper Pete Tamatea and Anaru Reedy in the handicap matchplay final.
Both pairs advanced with 17th-hole semifinal wins on Sunday.
McKinnon and Craven defeated father and son combination Steve and Zach Rolls. Tamatea and Reedy beat father and son Danny and Zane Boyle.
Hutton dedicated a huge amount of volunteer hours to the course and was a regular Te K Cup partner of McKinnon — the pair wrere runners-up in 2015 and 2016.
McKinnon, or G Mac, will have Hutton symbolically in his corner in the final when Craven, who has been battling back problems, uses Hutton’s golf cart.
McKinnon, a two-time Te K Cup winner with Tony Gledhill, got their semifinal match off to a perfect start when he birdied the opening hole getting a shot off teenager Zach.
McKinnon and Craven got to the turn 2-up and and were dormie 3-up before winning 3 and 1.
“G Mac was again a standout,” said Craven. “He shot 79 off 12 (handicap).”
Rolls senior’s reaction after they shool hands took Craven by surprise.
Rolls had talked about shaving off his growing locks only if he and his son lost.
“As soon as we finished, he buggered off to his car and came back with a razor,” said Craven. “I would have accepted a beer instead.”
Craven got to start the shearing process “but it would have taken a day and a half to shave off that mop . . . I said I’d let his wife worry about the rest”.
Craven admitted he was wary of the Reedy-Tamatea combo.
Reedy is off a +3 handicap and will be dishing out plenty of shots but has been breaking par at will, while his 21-handicap partner has also contributed strongly.
Reedy said his partner “played well” in their semifinal despite a few nerves, especially when a small gallery followed them late in the match.
Reedy and Tamatea led 2-up after nine holes, the Boyles won 15 to close the deficit to one but Reedy slammed the door shut with a birdie on 17.
Craven, Tamatea and Reedy — who joined Gisborne Park this year — are all in the hunt to get their names on the illustrious Te K trophy for the first time.
The Fletcher Cup subsidiary pairs will also be decided on Sunday.
In the semifinals, father and son Anthony and Shaun Pahina beat Ray Grace and Terry Pointon on the 16th while Tom Reynolds and Tony File defeated father and son Geoff and Tamanui Hill also on 16.
■
R Moore 33.
R Taiapa 29.
R Moore.
R Moore, B Wood.
R Taiapa.
S Maisey.
S Maisey from B Walker.
H Schreiber 36, R Taiapa 35, A Reedy 34, A Pahina 34, R McGann 34, D Tombleson 33, P Mitchell 33, T Reynolds 32, E Parkin 32, B Cameron 32.
D Tombleson, R Walford.
IF Tim Sherratt and Mark Gemmell go on to win the Gisborne Motors Barns-Graham Cup men’s pairs, a shot of comical but ultimately devastating magnitude will be recalled over the years to come.
Sherratt and Gemmell knocked out top seeds Glenn Morley and Gray Clapham in an 18-hole battle in round 2 matches on Saturday.
On reflection, both pairs will look back at the seventh hole as proving pivotal in the outcome.
Sherratt hit what he later described as “a classic boner” of a chip — his ball racing across the green at breakneck speed, hitting the pin, popping up in the air and falling into the hole for a birdie-3 and the win.
Sherratt and Gemmell led a rural charge into the quarterfinals, with four of the remaining eight pairs connected to farming.
Their next opponents, stock agents Alex Kirkpatrick and Rob Fergus, brushed aside two-time BG Cup winners Bill Allen and Roy Skuse 6 and 5 in a match played in wet conditions last Thursday. Kirkpatrick went out in 1-over 37 for a 5-up lead after nine holes.
Thomas Donovan shot 3-under 33 in his front nine on Saturday but it wasn’t good enough against Simon Jeune and David Hall, who combined supremely to beat third seeds Donovan and Darren Patumaka 3 and 2.
Father and son Daryl and Hayden Keast outgunned Cyril Payn and Bill Simpson 5 and 3 to set up a quarterfinal against Barry Brown and Ross Gibson, who saw off fourth seeds Andy Abrahams and Bruce Talbot on 18.
Sam Willock and Marty Reynolds beat Tim Williams and Roger Murphy 4 and 3 and will next play Richard Foon and Neville West, who eliminated No.2 seeds Stefan Andreassen and Alan Baldwin on the 18th.
Brian Clarke and Mike Dodgshun advanced with an 18th-hole win over Andy Hayward and Mark Stewart. Their quarterfinal foes are Jeune and Hall.
■ VIV Bell made no contest of the Hutchinson Cup women’s matchplay final yesterday.
Just a few months after losing on the 18th to Gay Young in the Oman Cup final, Bell steam-rollered her way to Hutchinson glory against Jan Utting.
She had two birdies, including a two, as she powered to 7-up after nine holes before completing an 8 and 7 victory.
The semifinals on Monday were closer affairs. Bell beat Pip Dymock 3 and 2 while Utting downed Vonnie Fletcher 4 and 3.
K Shaw 36, G Young 33.
C McDonald 15.
G Young 37, F Allen 37.
V Fraser.
R Morley/L Hewson 95.75 from R Gibson/B Brown 97.125, E Brown/T Donovan 98.75, C Jeffrey/B Colbert 99, H Brown/S Skudder 99.4375, A White/M Norman 101.5.
A Hayward/J Hayward 102.5, V Bell/S Spence 108.25.
P Grogan/J Kerekere 31.
P Rickard/B Morgan 32.
G Morley/N Mackie 30.75.
C Dean 39, A Abrahams 32, J van Helden 31, N Mackie 31. Division 2: G Clapham 37, D Bush 28.
N Mackie, G Morley, G Clapham, A Abrahams.
N Mackie.
VISITORS and locals alike have been enjoying Mahia in between the rain, and the course has held together nicely.
The weather gods provided a great Sunday as club members converged for a stableford and par round.
Peter Bremner showed his class in winning the men’s competition with 34 points, including the only two of the day. Maraea Wesche won the women’s par with a -1 effort.
Mahia is to host round 3 of the Poverty Bay women’s pennants. The date is yet to be confirmed.
P Bremner 34, Wade Wesche 33, B Maher 32, R Bremner 32.
P Bremner.
Maraea West -1, L Steel -3.
KAHU Waitoa’s stableford-winning effort on Sunday was a lot more impressive than the score suggests.
Waitoa won with 35 points on a testing day and course which saw the women postpone their competition.
His round of 80 was one of two distinctly different halves — 47, 33 — and he was well clear of the rest of the field, none of who got to 30 points.
K Waitoa 35, T Kupenga 28, J Devery 26, M Higham 26, J Forrester 25.
K Waitoa 2.
K Waitoa.
PERCY Milner drank from the winner’s cup twice on Sunday.
Milner and Kahu Tamanui beat Tama Brown and Tom Smith in the men’s pairs final, and Milner also won the men’s stableford with 36 points.
Ella Wynyard’s 33 points earned her the women’s stableford honours.
P Milner 36, T Brown 35, L Green 34, K Tamanui 31.
E Wynyard 33, A Tamanui-Nunn 30, M Tuapawa 30.
P Milner/K Tamanui def T Brown/T Smith.
A BIRDIE on the second extra hole put Tony Green into the final of the Te Kani Pere men’s handicap matchplay competition.
Green and Rocky Pardoe went to a sudden-death playoff in their semifinal on Sunday after Green three-putted to lose the 18th.
He bounced back on the 20th with a birdie-3 to book a spot in the trophy decider where he faces Chris Beattie.
Beattie ended the title-retaining hopes of defending champion Martin Weaver 2 and 1.
The McKeague Cup women’s matchplay finalists were also found. Lorraine Haisman beat Denise Johnston while Helen Pomana knocked out Andrea Haisman.
The finals of both trophies are on Sunday.
C Beattie 69, G Brown 72, M Stock 74, J Priestley 76.
M Owen 72, A Hindmarsh 74, N Bunting 75, M Weaver 75.
A Maru 76, H Pomana 80.
O Willimott, M Philip.
MARK Watts and Taine Lincoln emerged victorious in a hard-fought four-ball final on Sunday.
They led most of the way in a 2 and 1 win over Lincoln’s grandfather Joe Lincoln and Jeremy Murphy.
Lincoln/Murphy fought back to square the match with three holes to play only to — in Murphy’s words — “butcher the next two holes”.
M Jefferd 37, M Watts 36, J Murphy 34, P Stevenson 32, Joe Lincoln 30, T Higgs 30, G Watts 30.
J Murphy, J Lincoln, M Watts.