Gisborne - East Coast golf roundup

AT LAST: Electrinet Park Golf Club life member Shirley Paku has been trying for 31 years — the age of her oldest grandchild — to get her hands on the Grandmothers Cup. On Saturday, she finally did. Shirley shot a net 71 to win the trophy that was first presented by jeweller George Geddes, whose wife Miriam was a member of the club at the time. Shirley has won many a title and had multiple holes-in-one over her decades at the Park but this trophy had eluded her. “I’m absolutely chuffed,” she said. Picture supplied

SOME of the game’s greats have produced comebacks ranked among the finest in sport, let alone golf.

Dave Fieldhouse is no global legend but after his performance in Patutahi’s club championship finals day on Sunday, he has a Lazarus-like tale from which he can at least claim legend in his own lunchbox status.

The Tiniroto farmer from Yorkshire launched a fightback in the junior men’s final that etched his name not only in gold lettering on the honours boards but in ’Tahi history.

Fieldhouse was 7-down after 18 holes of his 36-hole matchplay final against top seed Peter “Chopper” Summersby.

“I thought I was doomed,” he said.

He emerged from lunch a different beast.

Fieldhouse proceeded to win the opening eight holes of the afternoon round — one-putting all eight greens.

He went on to win the title on the first extra hole with a par, Summersby missing a two-footer to stay in the match.

“He couldn’t miss,” Summersby later lamented. “He putted me off the golf course. My putter was really hot in the first 18 but not as hot as his was (in the second).”

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Fieldhouse, who felt for his vanquished opponent. “I just gave him a big hug and said I was so sorry. It was ridiculous.”

Fieldhouse has been a member of Patutahi for about six years and was full of praise for the club and the district in general.

“It’s a great little club and I love Gizzy . . . this is the best place to be.”

Of his missed putt, Summersby said: “It went in the hole, around the hole and out . . . I said something I couldn’t repeat.”

Hukanui Brown completed a title “three-peat” in a senior men’s final he described as “a meke match”.

Brown beat Regan Hindmarsh 4 and 3 for his third consecutive crown.

“It was a really great match. I was 5-under the card after 14 holes and only 1-up. The birdies were flying from the both of us all day.”

The pair went into the lunchtime break locked all-square and that remained the score after 27 holes.

Brown birdied the 28th and 29th to be 2-up, then Hindmarsh made what proved two fatal mistakes — going out of bounds on the 31st and 32nd.

A par on the 33rd gave Brown victory.

Tom Hindmarsh’s impressive form continued as he claimed the intermediate men’s crown with a 4 and 3 win over George Brown.

The defending women’s champions reigned supreme.

Denise Johnston retained the senior women’s title with a 7 and 6 defeat of Helen Pomana.

Andrea Haisman remained junior champion with a 6 and 5 win against Kath McLatchie.

John Tietjen beat Simon Pittar 2 and 1 in the 18-hole endeavour men’s final.

D Pohatu 68, R Hindmarsh 69, D Russell 69, J Priestley 69, A Hindmarsh 70.

B McKenzie 66, C Taylor 70, C Brown 72, B Pohatu 72, M de Luze 72.

K McLatchie 72.

J Priestley.

Hukanui Brown def Regan Hindmarsh 4 and 3.

Tom Hindmarsh def George Brown 4 and 3.

Dave Fieldhouse def Peter Summersby on the 37th.

John Tietjen def Simon Pittar 2 and 1.

Denise Johnston def Helen Pomana 7 and 6.

Andrea Haisman def Kath McLatchie 6 and 5.

R Hamblyn 20, A Hindmarsh 19, D Russell 19, P Milner 18, P Johnston 17.

I Tietjen 20, C Brown 19, D Tarry 18, S Fookes 17, Sharpy 17.

POVERTY Bay-East Coast masters teammates Anaru Reedy and Tony Akroyd will fight out the senior men’s club championship title after contrasting semifinal paths on Saturday.

Defending champion Reedy defeated teenager Zach Rolls 5 and 4 in his semifinal while Akroyd needed two extra holes to see off Pete Stewart.

Akroyd and Stewart played the 18th hole three times before a winner emerged.

Akroyd sank a 10-foot par putt to win the 18th to force a sudden-death playoff.

They went back to the 18th tee and this time Stewart up and downed for par to half the hole after going through the back of the green.

The pair returned to the 18th tee where Stewart pulled his drive left into the trees and clipped another tree with his second.

Akroyd hit his approach to within 10 foot and Stewart surrendered after missing his putt for bogey.

Reedy, whose warm-up this week included a bogey-free 5-under 67 on Monday, goes in as favourite and Akroyd acknowledged he won’t be able to get away with chipping problems that almost cost him against Stewart.

He does, however, have a history of club championship success at the Park, having won the senior title twice.

The intermediate men’s final is shaping up as a classic, with Shannon Toa and Tom Reynolds to do battle.

Toa had an impressive 5 and 4 semifinal win over an out-of-sorts Danny Boyle while Reynolds beat James Witika 2 and 1.

Matt Henwood is a win away from a club championship/Te Kanawa Cup pairs double in his first season at the Park.

Henwood, who won the Te K with Craig Christophers, beat Mike Christophers 3 and 2 in his junior men’s semifinal.

His final opponent is Tony Leggett, who beat Barry Cox 2 and 1 and admitted he will have to play a lot better to get past Henwood.

Charlie Uili defeated youngster Marcus Gray to advance to the endeavour final where he faces Jordan Coppen.

A pair with well over 20 senior women’s club championship titles between them will add another to the total on Saturday.

Jo Kerr, aiming for a “five-peat”, faces 18-time winner Karen Hay in the 36-hole final.

Both cruised to 13th-hole semifinal victories on Saturday, Kerr beating Wiki Morrissey, Hay eliminating Carney Pipi.

Mihi Marino had to do it the hard way to make the intermediate final. She got across the line on the 19th in her semi against Jacque Akuhata-Nickerson.

The other semifinal was also a tight affair — defending champion Jean Foot pipping Tracey Ford on the 18th.

Reigning champion Kath Papuni faces Carolyn Carpendale in the junior final.

G McKinnon 40, D Harrison 34..

S Paku 88-28-71.

T Ford 94-18-76

S Maisey.

J Witika 36, A Nairne 35, P Nepia 34.

J Muir 14.

T Ford.

T Reynolds 43, C Brown 38, L Lexmond 38, P Wellard 37.

M Sheridan 92-24-68, 41.

J Morley.

J Kerr v K Hay. J Foot v M Marino. K Papuni v C Carpendale.

S Toa v T Reynolds.T Akroyd v A Reedy. J Coppen v C Uili. T Leggett v M Henwood.

PAT Butler denied Cliff Poole an early 80th birthday present as the first of the 2021 men’s club championships was decided on Tuesday.

Butler, after blowing away Greg Hawea 5 and 4 in the semifinals on Saturday, proved too good for veteran Poole in the 36-hole matchplay decider.

Butler led 6-up after the first 18 holes, then weathered a mini-comeback from Poole before winning on the 31st.

It was fourth time unlucky for Poole, whose deadly short game and what he described as “meltdowns” by his opponents — including his 3 and 2 semifinal win over Vance Richardson — had carried him to another final.

He was runner-up in 2010, 2012 and last year.

To finally get his hands on the trophy, he will have to do it in his 80s. He becomes an octogenarian next week.

There was a touch of irony to Simon Jeune’s 4 and 3 win over Andrew Higham in the senior men’s semifinals on Saturday.

Jeune was spotted earlier in the week giving Higham’s father Mark some tips on the practice fairway.

Jeune is eyeing a second senior honour — he won in 2015 — but will need all his skill, experience and matchplay nous to overcome top seed William Brown.

Brown eased into the final with a 7 and 6 disposal of Mark Jefferson.

Poverty Bay greenkeeper Brown has played just 25 matchplay holes — he had a bye in round 1 — to get to the last two.

Either Kim Travers or Murray Smith will get their names in gold on the junior honours board.

Both were emphatic semifinal winners — top seed Smith brushing aside Mark Stewart 5 and 4, Travers thumping Jimmy Nepe-White on the 13th.

Bill Simpson defeated Alan Baldwin 3 and 2 in the endeavour final while Stu Harbottle beat Dave Pirimona 5 and 4 in the intermediate second 16 final.

Sally Spence, Colleen Skuse and Sarah Ericson 58; A Witters, V Fletcher and V Fraser 60.

P Dymock 38, Ro Willock 32.

Jan Utting 2

J French 22.

WADE Wesche is still alive in two club championships — at Mahia and Te Puia Springs.

Wesche, who played for Te Puia in the Oligoi Jug men’s interclub pennants, defeated pennants teammate Jason Devery to book a place in the Springs’ semifinals.

He is already through to the senior final at his home course Mahia, where he faces Peter Bremner.

That’s a daunting prospect, as is Wesche’s Te Puia champs semifinal opponent — William Brown, who also has the chance of a double as he is into the final of Poverty Bay club champs this weekend.

The other semifinal features Thomas Donovan against prolific Springs club championship title winner Andrew Higham.

The finalists have been sorted in the intermediate men’s division.

Bill Clark beat Henry Rasmussen 3 and 2 to advance to the intermediate final, where he will play James Forrester, who beat Nehe Dewes 1-up.

Peter Ngarimu beat Ian Logan

2 and 1 in the junior semis and awaits the winner of the Daryl Goldsmith-John Puha clash.

J Forrester 38, N Dewes 38, P Ngarimu 35, P Harrison 34.

H Miratana +7, H McClutchie +5, D Goldsmith +5, I Ngarimu +4.

CLUB champions will be crowned in finals day on October 9.

Pete Bremner v Wade Wesche.

Roger Bremner v Dave Waihaki.

Rusty Smith v Tegal Smith.

Peter Smyth v Jacob Te Amo.

Bryce Cutler v Ian Parker.

Ali Maru v winner of Fairlane Wesche v Trena Smith.

Renee Hiko v winner of Paipan Denigan v Elaine Westwood.

Lil Morgan v winner of Jill Smyth v Jackie Thompson.

Tegal Smith and Grant “Horny” Hornblow have taken the proverbial mickey out of each other over the years. This year the pair combined their limited talents to win the men’’s four-ball best-ball matchplay final, somehow beating Gid Pitman and Rusty Smith.

Trena Smith’s 87-15-72 won her the LGU and the Grandmothers’ Cup.

P Denigan 41, R Bremner 39, T Smith 36, R Smith 36, W Albert 35.

T Smith 87-15-72, P Denigan 73, L Steel 73, M Wesche 73, J Thompson 73.

T Smith.

P Denigan.

42, 38, 37, 36 . . . that was the downward trend of Murray Yates’ course handicap since early August before he teed off on Sunday.

Ninety-one shots later, Yates had a personal best and a new handicap — 32.

The son of former Poverty Bay-East Coast representative and Tolaga Bay greenkeeper Bruce Yates romped to victory in a high-scoring men’s stableford with 49 points.

Mark Watts was second with 42 and comeback “kid” Joel Lincoln was third on 40.

Lincoln went from the ridiculous to the sublime in his round — a triple-bogey on the par-5 first, an eagle-2 on the 317-metre second.

M Yates 49, M Watts 42, Joel Lincoln 40, J Sheridan 38, J Hale 37.

B Sydney, T Adamson, D Maitai, B Yates, Joel Lincoln (eagle on 2).

Gisborne East Coast Golfers’ Society’s Croskery Tankard pairs is at Tolaga Bay on Tuesday, October 5.

For those wanting a ride, meet at Poverty Bay Golf Club at 8.45am for a 9am depature, or players can make their own way to Tolaga Bay.

Pairs can be organised beforehand on or on the day.

Format is best-ball stableford. Tee-off is around 10.30 to 11am.

VAL Grace took individual and silverware-winning pairs honours with her equal-best round of 2021.

Grace fired 92-24-68, for 40 points, to win the women’s stableford on Sunday.

Her 40, combined with Larry Green’s 35, won the Baty Cup drawn mixed pairs stableford.

Aaron Coker’s low score of the year — 93-29-64, for 42 points — won the men’s stableford.

A Coker 42, L Green 35, S Te Rito 34, K Tamanui 32.

V Grace 40, M Tuapawa 34, A Tamanui-Nunn 31, E Wynyard 30.

V Grace/L Green 75.

Gisborne East Coast Golfers’ Society’s Croskery Tankard pairs is at Tolaga Bay on Tuesday, October 5.

For those wanting a ride, meet at Poverty Bay Golf Club at 8.45am for a 9am departure, or players can make their own way to Tolaga Bay. Pairs can be organised beforehand or on the day.Format is best-ball stableford. Tee-off is around 10.30 to 11am.