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Gisborne ParkTHE long road to the last two standing ends this Sunday when the Te Kanawa Cup men’s pairs champions are crowned.
In the blue corner are Cliff Nepe and John Collier; in the red, Bo Huhu and Peter Koorey.
There’s enough experience among this four to fill the cup several times over and golfing savvy of Lee Trevino and Gary Player proportion.
Flick a coin if you’re going to pick a winner. It’s looking that close.
The Fletcher Cup subsidiary final will precede the Te K. Steve Phillips and Paul Wellard face father and son Danny and Zane Boyle.
The Boyles booked their spot with a 4 and 3 win over youngster Zach Rolls and Rob Taylor last Friday.
Electrinet Park results, SUNDAY — Men’s net: R Moore 71.
SATURDAY — Men’s stableford: J Hayes 37.
Twos: J Hayes.
WEDNESDAY (May 29) — Women’s stableford: J Morley 36.
Twos: J Morley, J Foot.
TUESDAY (May 28) — Veteran men’s nine-hole stableford: C Brown 19, M Hutton 19, S Mohlmann 19, P Mitchell 18, H White 18, P Koorey 17.
Twos: D Te Maro.
The Te Kanawa Cup and Fletcher Cup men’s matchplay pairs finals are on SUNDAY. The draw is — No.1 tee, Fletcher Cup final, 9am: Z Boyle/D Boyle v P Wellard/S Phillips.
Te Kanawa Cup final, 9.30: B Huhu/P Koorey v C Nepe/J Collier.
Poverty BayJAN Steele added to her illustrious Kahlenberg Cup women’s pairs record with a fourth title on Tuesday.
Steele and Mary Allan beat Miggles Shanks and Marg Lane 2 and 1 in the handicap matchplay final.
Steele was well under her 26-handicap when the pairs shook hands in a final where blows were traded with regularity.
Only three of the 17 holes were halved.
Steele and Allan (18-handicap) were 3-up at the turn but Lane (29) and Shanks (18) fought back to win the next two holes, and the pairs traded holes to the finish.
It was a consecutive runners-up finish for Shanks, who signed for an 86. She and Peri Gayford lost to Steele and Viv Bell in the 2018 final.
Marg Colebourne and Vicki Fraser beat Lynne Holmberg and Odette Thompson to win the Kahlenberg Plate.
Cliff Poole enjoyed a successful week of competition play.
He was among the top scorers in the Thursday Throne men’s par with 80-14-66 to finish 5-up on the card, then followed it with 81-14-67, for 41 points, on Saturday to win the division 1 men’s stableford.
WEDNESDAY — LGU, silver division: J Utting 86-14-72.
Bronze I: J MacKinnon 99-24-75.
Bronze II: V Fraser 98-30-68.
9-holers: R Dymock.
TUESDAY — Kahlenberg Cup women’s pairs final: M Allan/J Steele def M Shanks/M Lane.
Plate final: M Colebourne/V Fraser def L Holmberg/O Thompson.
South African women’s combined net: C Skuse/F Allen 146.
SUNDAY — Men’s stableford, division 1: S Jeune 37, A White 37, P Anderson 37.
Division 2: M Barker 39, D Wright 37, C Simpson 37.
Twos: P Anderson, R Gibson.
Approach: C Christie.
SATURDAY – Men’s stableford, division 1: C Poole 41, D Situ 37, F Ball 36.
Division 2: D Wright 39, M Smith 39, C Christie 39.
Approach: V Richardson.
THURSDAY (May 30) — Thursday Throne men’s par: D Atkins +5, C Poole +5, V Richardson +4, J Pittar +4, S Bridge +4, G Clapham +3, J Aitchison +3, H Williams +2, D Mettrick +2.
Twos: N Absalom
Approach: A Abrahams.
The Oman Cup women’s matchplay is on Monday. The draw is — No.1 tee, 9am: V Bell v O Thompson, J Utting v V Fletcher. 9.06: M Williams v M Shanks, S Spence v J MacKinnon. 9.12: V Fraser v D Kirkpatrick, C Skuse v G Young. 9.18: F Allan v M Allan, S Bramwell v M Colebourne.
PatutahiNEW member Steve Lyons led a points blitz in the men’s stableford on Sunday.
Lyons matched four birdies with four pars in his even-par 70-12-58, for 48 points.
Adam Brodie probably thought his 77-17-60, for 46 points, was a winner. He had to settle for second, closely followed by Martin Weaver (45) and Mike de Luze (44).
Handicap golf won Helen Pomana the women’s competitions on Sunday and the holiday Monday.
Rocky Pardoe topped a trio of 65s to win the men’s net on Monday.
MONDAY — Men’s net: R Pardoe 65, D Pohatu 65, P Hokianga 65, S Pohatu 70.
Women’s net: H Pomana 70.
SUNDAY — Men’s stableford: S Lyons 70-12-58, 48; A Brodie 77-17-60, 46; M Weaver 82-21-61, 45; M de Luze 79-17-62, 44.
Women’s stableford: H Pomana 89-18-71, 37.
Tolaga BayMATHEW Jefferd and Iritana Ngarimu are the inaugural winners of the Letty Poananga and Joe Crawford memorial trophies.
The pair earned the silverware at the Mangatuna Masters Memorial Golf Tournament — a tribute to popular Tolaga Bay members Letty and Joe.
Home course player Jefferd produced the round of the day to win the Joe Crawford Memorial Trophy with 82-23-59.
Te Puia Springs member Ngarimu had a back nine holes of 45 in winning the Letty Poananga Memorial Trophy with 97-28-69.
The tournament received 75 registrations for the morning nine holes and 65 for the afternoon 18, and featured several special awards.
SUNDAY — Mangatuna Masters Memorial Golf Tournament — Letty Poananga Memorial Trophy women’s net: I Ngarimu 69 from J Winiata 70, Maria Wesche 72, S Spence 74, A Cook 74, Maraea Wesche 75, H McClutchie 75, D Watts 76, J MacKinnon 77, F Walker 77, G Watts 78, MJ Bloom 78, V Fraser 78.
Joe Crawford Memorial Trophy men’s net: M Jefferd 59, T Sharp 63, K Solomon 63, J Hale 64, D Cook 66, D Milner 67, P Ngarimu 67, A Ruru 68, M Watts 69, T Reedy 69, A Wawatai 69, T Higgs 70, A Higham 70, M Grant 70, Joe Lincoln 70, M Parkes 70, J Brown 71, D Hooper 71, C Wesche 71, D Maitai 71, P Stevenson 72, P Hakiwai 72, J Miratana 72, H Brown 72, Taine Lincoln 73, W Wesche 73, S Poananga 73, G Brown 73.
Approaches: J Winiata (women), T Higgs (men).
Closest to the pin: J Winiata (women), T Sharp (men).
Twos: J Brown, J Hale, T Sharp.
Hospitality Award: Tip Nukunuku.
Hangi Pit Master: Laman Davies.
Papa Joe Lookalike: Huia Crawford.
Whanaungatanga Award: Uawa Seniors.
Team Award: Team Annabel.
Top Accolades: Peter Crawford from Henry Lamont.
WaikohuVALERIE Grace went from matchplay victor to stableford winner in the space of seven days.
Grace followed her Women’s Handicap Singles final win over Audrey Tamanui-Nunn on May 26 with a win in the women’s stableford on Sunday.
Kahu Tamanui won the men’s stableford with 40 points, form he will look to continue at the Turanga Health Waikohu Men’s Open on Saturday.
SUNDAY — Men’s stableford: K Tamanui 40, L Green 37, T Smith 32.
Women’s stableford: V Grace 38, M Tuapawa 38.
SUNDAY (May 26) — Women’s Handicap Singles final: V Grace def A Tamanui-Nunn.
COMING UP: SATURDAY, Turanga Health Waikohu Men’s Open, tee-off 11am, arrive early and get a free heart check; SUNDAY, greens in regulation competition.
MahiaCHRIS Pitman and Maraea Wesche led the field in the HB Kingi par competition over the long weekend.
Pitman ended +3 to top the men from Wade Wesche (+1) and Tom Hema (-1).while Wesche’s -5 was best of the women.
The Mahia ladies also had their Harwood par round. Elaine Westwood’s -1 effort won from Fairlane Wesche (-2), new member Susie Adams (-3) and Maraea Wesche (-3).
The women’s 27-hole open tournament is on Saturday, June 15. Tee-off is 9.30am.
SeniorsBRIAN Morrissey has put some space between himself and the chasing pack but there’s plenty of time to catch him in the race for the Gisborne East Coast veterans’ Player of the Year honours.
After five events, Morrissey is sitting reasonably pretty on 25 points, with fellow Poverty Bay member Glenn Burnside second on 17 and three players on 16 — Patutahi’s Lorraine Haisman, Poverty Bay’s Bryan Pratt and Te Puia Springs’ Peter Harrison.
There are 95 players on the ladder for the series which has attracted an average of 40 players for each competition so far.
The next event is at Patutahi on Tuesday, June 11. Tee-off is from 10am, an earlier start than usual.
JuniorsZACH Rolls and Ellen Ball won the 18-hole individual titles at the Tairawhiti secondary schools championships held at Poverty Bay.
Rolls won the boys’ division with 84-16-68 while Ball’s 97-16-81 was best of the girls.
Only four players competed in the 18-hole section, which meant no Poverty Bay-East Coast school at the regional qualifier for the national secondary schools tournament.
There was, however, a good number in the nine-hole competition, which was introduced last year to increase participation.
“Having this type of event helps build interest,” said Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti regional sports director Wade Manson.
“Our goal is to see these players continuing on and having a go at the 18-hole comp next year.”
Organisers were grateful to Poverty Bay Golf Club for making the course available and providing clubs, and to the teachers and parents who helped on the day.