Gisborne - East Coast golf roundup

FIRST-SEASON WINNERS: Craig Christophers and Matt Henwood marked their first season at Electrinet Park in winning style in the final of the Te Kanawa Cup men’s pairs on Sunday. They defeated Pete Stewart and Josh Hayes 2 and 1 in the final. Picture supplied

ROOKIES Matt Henwood and Craig Christophers overcame shanks, nerves and dogged opposition to win one of the club’s most coveted titles — the Te Kanawa Cup men’s pairs — on Sunday.

In their first season at Electrinet Park, the Lytton High teachers beat Pete Stewart and Josh Hayes 2 and 1 in the handicap matchplay final.

While both have plenty of big-game experience on other sports fields, they admitted feeling the pressure perhaps only golf can apply.

“It was pretty nerve-racking,” said former Bay of Plenty Steamers rugby representative Henwood.

“It was quite interesting having a crowd following you around, especially when you’re not playing too well,” said Christophers, an ex-Poverty Bay representative cricketer.

Christophers had shanking issues during the final, hitting Stewart’s trundler on one occasion and nearly taking out his partner on another.

But he came good when it counted, particularly later in the match.

Henwood was the rock of their combination, receiving praise from Christophers and Stewart for his performance.

Stewart (off a 4-handicap) and Hayes (13) won the fifth hole — courtesy of a Stewart birdie-2 — to go 1-up over Christophers (18) and Henwood (17) after the first four holes were halved.

By the turn, Henwood and Christophers were one in front.

What Stewart described as a couple of “brain fades” on his part were to prove costly.

He picked up his marker on the 12th, conceding the hole, then realised the 4-foot putt he had would have been for a half.

On the 14th hole, he accidentally clipped his ball with his backswing while practising a chip shot, leading to a bogey-4 while Hayes 3-putted.

They lost that hole to go 1-down, Christophers won 15, Hayes pulled it back to 1-down on the 16th but when Christophers and Henwood each had two putts to win the match on 17, Stewart and Hayes raised the white flag.

Stewart was disappointed at his lapses but said their opponents deserved the victory.

Henwood said it was “a good battle” and he felt the pressure of a match that was a lot tighter than their other clashes.

The pair filled the trophy “several times” and were grateful Monday was the start of the school holidays.

Christophers paid tribute to their opponents and the club.

“All of the members at Park have welcomed us. They have been happy to give any advice or tips. It’s been a really cool intro.”

Christophers and Henwood were back on the course yesterday for qualifying for the men’s club championships.

They are in the same division so could end up going from friends to foes.

In subsidiary finals to the Te K Cup, Christophers’ brother Mike and Adrian Wyrill beat Jace Brown and Ray Grace 3 and 2 in the Fletcher Cup decider.

Wyrill was a member of the Waikohu team who won the Poverty Bay premier club rugby final against OBM on Saturday but after celebrating to the wee hours was at Park nice and early for the final.

To cap his weekend, Wyrill was also named captain of the Poverty Bay team for the Heartland rugby championship

Danny Boyle birdied the 18th to give him and son Zane victory over Rob Taylor and Paul Wellard in the Turanganui Cup final.

A Pahina 76, A Reedy 77.

S Phillips.

H Schreiber 37.

A Tamanui-Nunn 72 on c/b.

A Maru 88, K Hay 90 on c/b.

S Spence 74, J Akuhata-Nickerson 76 on c/b.

E Wynyard 34, J Utting 33.

T Paku 96, P Denigan 96.

J McKinnon 72, A Haisman 73.

V Grace 34, T Duncan 34.

H Miratana 103, K McLatchie 104.

K Papuni 73, C Wesche 77 on c/b.

M Tuapawa 35, V Fraser 32.

P Johansen, M Pickles.

V Grace.

P Johansen, J Utting, P Denigan, T Ford.

COVID-19 played a role as Andy Hayward and Mark Stewart won the 2021 Gisborne Motors Barns-Graham Cup men’s pairs title on Sunday.

Central School principal Hayward and Te Karaka Area School teacher Stewart defeated Brent Colbert and Andy Putnam 3 and 2 in the matchplay final off handicap.

Leading 1-up at the halfway mark, Hayward (off an 11-handicap) and Stewart (10) lost the next two holes to Colbert (7) and Putnam (24) but won 12, 13 and 15, and sealed the deal on the 16th.

“We combined well,” said a “pretty happy” Hayward, who is the men’s club captain at Poverty Bay.

The pair have been playing together in the BG Cup for a few years but Hayward said they had never really had the chance of winning it as one of them was always away at some stage during the competition.

This year Stewart was supposed to be in Wellington with a school group on the Saturday of the second round of matchplay, leaving Hayward to play Sam Willock and Marty Reynolds on his own.

A Covid-19 lockdown meant no trip and Stewart was able to play, and they went on to win on the 19th.

Had Stewart not been there, Hayward said he would have got thumped as a lone soldier.

Hayward gave plenty of credit to his mate, describing him as “a legend”.

“We were lucky to qualify. Mark parred the last two holes. On the 18th, I went out of bounds and he put his second shot into the bushes on the right.

“He chopped it out of there to two-foot from the hole and got the putt for a par and three points.”

Had they scored one point or less on that hole, the pair would have failed to make the 32 qualifiers. They ended up qualifying 26th.

Hayward and Stewart beat Paul Mullooly and Neil Mackie 3 and 2 in the semifinals while Putnam and Colbert defeated top qualifiers Glenn Morley and Gray Clapham on the 18th.

■ WITH the Tokyo Olympic Games only a week away, the photo-finish to the Awapuni Shootout on Sunday was perhaps appropriate.

Andrew Higham and Tuki Sweeney claimed the Tom Shaw Memorial salver for the overall winners of the 9x9x9-hole event.

It could not have been much closer between the winners and runners-up Richard Foon and Neville West.

Te Puia Springs/Poverty Bay member Higham and Tolaga Bay’s Sweeney finished with an overall net of 97.875.

Poverty Bay pair Foon and West were 0.125 back in second, with Patrick Braithwaite and Mike Lewin third, another 0.25 behind.

Stefan Andreassen and Sarah Eriksen won the mixed division with 103.5.

The shootout, named after the late Tom Shaw, who originally set it up, comprises separate 9-hole formats of best-ball, Canadian foursomes and ambrose.

Darryn White and Jimmy Nepe-White won the best-ball, Dudley Meadows and Carl Carmody the Canadian foursomes and John Van Helden and Garth Marchbank the ambrose.

P Wanklyn 67.

M Colebourne/J MacKinnon/P Wanklyn 145; A Witters/S Spence/F Pell 138.

A Witters, J Utting.

M Williams 31.

A Higham/T Sweeney 97.875, R Foon/N West 98, P Braithwaite/M Lewin 98.25, G Morley/G Clapham 100.125, S Jeune/D Hall 100.625, D Twigley/D Patumaka 101.625, T Green/T Hindmarsh 101.625.

S Andreassen/S Eriksen 103.5, J Jenner/M Francois 108.625.

D White/J Nepe-White 32.

D Meadows/C Carmody 33.5.

J Van Helden/G Marchbank 30.25.

R Johnstone/D Pirimona 114.375

A Hayward /M Stewart def A Putnam/B Colbert.

P Hakawai/F Ball def D Griffin/G Brown.

N Mackie, K Goldsmith.

R Foon.

J Van Helden 37, A Abrahams 36, D Griffin 35, W Brown 35, I Murphy 35.

S Harbottle 40, J Pittar 37, T Sherratt 37, S Willock 37, R Veall 36, M Smith 36.

S Harbottle 2, T Sherratt, A Abrahams, M Smith.

G Morley.

S Harbottle.

SAM Marsh played off a single-figure handicap at Tahunga 20 years ago.

He’s heading that way again, this time at Patutahi, after returning to the fairways this year.

Marsh won the junior men’s stableford on Sunday with 79-13-66, for 40 points.

C Beattie 37, G Brown 34, P Hokianga 34.

S Marsh 40, M Weaver 34, B Tietjen 33.

B Pohatu.

B Pohatu.

M Owen 19, T Green 19, J Devery 18, A Hindmarsh 18.

B Williams 18, P Summersby 18, C Kirkpatrick 16, J Graham 16.

JAMES Forrester was the anchor man as the Busby Cup men’s pairs champions were decided on Sunday.

Forrester shot 84-14-70 and Bill Clark 85-11-74 for a combined net total of 144.

It gave them a one-shot win from Ian Logan and Ian Sykes, with two pairs a further stroke back on 146.

Mark Higham’s 68 was the best individual net of the day.

Iritana Ngarimu needed an extra hole to move into the next round of the women’s Handicap Cup.

She beat Pauline Summersby on the 19th in their second-round match and won the stableford with 35 points.

J Forrester/B Clark 144, I Logan/& I Sykes 145, N Dewes/JPuha 146, M Higham/G Summersby 146.

M Higham 68, J Forrester 70, N Dewes 70, P Ngarimu 70, I Logan 71.

I Logan.

I Ngarimu 35, P Summersby 35, H Miritana 35.

KAHU Tamanui eased to victory in the stableford on Sunday with 37 points.

K Tamanui 37, A Tamanui-Nunn 33, P Milner 32.

A Coker 38, A Tamanui-Nunn 33.

E Wynyard/A Tamanui-Nunn 159, V Grace/M Tuapawa 164.

DION Milner kept the GI Joes at bay in the net competition on Sunday.

Milner’s 68 was two shots clear of Joe Sheridan and Joe Lincoln.

D Milner 68, J Sheridan 70, Joe Lincoln 70.

B Yates 27.

T Higgs, B Yates, M Watts, J Murphy.