Neil Hansen was the pride of Tolaga Bay as he repelled a nine-man Park salvo to win the Digg It Gizzy twilight nine-hole shootout final last Thursday.
The big-hitting Hansen, a member of Tolaga Bay and the only non-Park player in the final, survived a pressure-packed 18th hole to be the last man remaining after 10 qualifiers teed off the 10th and the field was whittled down hole-by-hole.
Pressure proved the decider of the $1000 cash first prize as Hansen and defending champion Steve “Shrek” Phillips teed off the 18th.
Neither could make the green in regulation but Hansen put himself in the box seat with an excellent bunker shot to within a metre of the hole.
Phillips was 40-feet away with his third and putted to about 4-feet.
Hansen missed his effort for par, giving Phillips the chance to force a putt- or chip-off only to miss as well.
Plenty of drama unfolded over the previous holes, none more so than the the adventures of Dave Rameka and Matt Henwood on the par-5 13th.
Rameka found trees with his tee shot and had two air shots on his way to a 10 net 9.
Henwood lost his ball from his second shot, ended up through the back of the green, failed to make it on with his next shot and also had net nine. Rameka advanced in a chip-off.
Shannon Toa was the first to go, followed by Anthony Pahina (11th), Tony File (12th), Henwood (13th), Mike Christophers (14th), James Witika (15th), Rameka (16th), Craig Christophers (17th) and Phillips (18th).
Prize money ranged from $50 to $1000.
Sunday — Women’s stableford: J Foot 31
Twos: J Foot, R Taiapa.
Men’s net: C Christophers 72, C Fox 75, Z Boyle 75, M Christophers 76, M Downie 77 on c/b.
Twos: C Christophers.
Saturday — Women’s stableford: M Sheridan 35.
Drawn twos: M Sheridan.
Men’s stableford: W Carpendale 36, P Wellard 32.
Twos: S Peneha 2, P Wellard.
Electrinet Park teams for first round of Endeavour men’s interclub pennants at Patutahi on Saturday — Park 1: Craig Christophers, Josh Hayes, Jordan Coppen, Mike Christophers, Ian Loffler, Luke Hayes.
Park 2: Wayne Carpendale, Shannon Toa, Dave Harrison, James Witika, Steve Phillips, Paul Wellard.
They matched eagles.
They matched 18-hole scores.
But the way Pete Kerekere and William Brown went about their sub-par assaults on the Awapuni Links course on Sunday was a little different on the drama scale.
Kerekere lit up the front nine holes in a display more likely to be seen on the PGA Tour than an amateur club stableford competition.
Kerekere went out in 7-under par 29. From the second to the seventh holes he went birdie, birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie.
The eagle on the fifth hole was only good enough for three points as Kerekere is on a +3 handicap so needs to make birdie for two points on the three easiest holes on the course. The fifth is the 16th stroke hole.
Nor was the eagle enough to win the hole in his group’s four-ball match.
Brown also eagled the fifth hole as he played the front nine in 3-under 33.
Add fellow playing group member Simon Jeune’s birdies on the first, third and fifth holes, and the trio collectively played the opening five holes 12-under.
Kerekere birdied the 10th hole to go 8-under, bogeyed the 11th, then went 8-under again with birdie on the 12th.
But as he did the previous weekend when 6-under after 12 holes, Kerekere fell away in the last six holes.
On Sunday, he bogeyed four of the last five holes to finish with 4-under 68 — the same score as +1-handicapper Brown, who came home in 1-under 35, his 39 points enough to win division 1 of the stableford.
The fourth member of their group, Dave Pirimona, could only stand and marvel at what he witnessed over the opening nine holes although the 9-handicapper did claim a moment of superiority on the 16th, which he birdied.
Kerekere has shot in the 60s in three of his last four rounds. In that trio of scores he has played the front nine 16-under, but the back nine 3-over.
Frank Ball had an eventful time as he collected the jackpot of two twos on Saturday. An eye-witness told Golf Roundup that Ball hit off the wrong tee, muffed a tap-in putt, had a two on the sixth and later made eagle-2 on the 14th.
Peter Goodwin had twos on the second and 11th holes the previous day — driver his choice of club off both tees.
SUNDAY — Men’s stableford, division 1: W Brown 39, B Talbot 37, P Kerekere 37, M Jefferson 34, J Kerekere 34.
Division 2: D Hall 38, R Young 37, N Jones 34, K Daniels 34
Twos: P.Kerekere 2, G Morley, C Taewa, P Grogan.
Approach: P Grogan.
Jackpot: P Kerekere.
SATURDAY — Men’s stableford, division 1: D Jenkins 35, A Kirkpatrick 34, T Goldsmith 33, C Poole 33.
Division 2: C Christie 35, S Francks 35, K Goldsmith 34.
Twos: F Ball 2, A Kirkpatrick, D Jenkins, D Griffin, T Goldsmith.
Approach: D Bush.
Thursday (March 31) — Men’s stableford, division 1: I Murphy 38, A White 35, G Morley 34, C Dean 34.
Division 2: P Goodwin 34, J Aitchison 33, P Humphreys 33.
Twos: I Murphy, C Poole.
Approach: C Christie.
Trent Higgs left the field in his dust in a dominant display on Sunday.
Higgs piled up 43 points to finish six clear of Pete Stevenson with Joe Lincoln third on 34.
SUNDAY — Men’s stableford: T Higgs 43, P Stevenson 37, Joe Lincoln 34.
Twos: W Yates.
Tolaga Bay team for first round of Endeavour men’s pennants: Trent Higgs, Tim Adamson, Joe Sheridan, BJ Sidney, Joe Lincoln, Pete Stevenson.
Larry Green ended a year-long sub-80 drought in style on Sunday.
Green had a back-nine holes of 36 in his 76-11-65, for 41 points — his first round in the 70s since April 10 of last year.
SUNDAY — Men’s stableford: L Green 41, T Brown 36, P Milner 30.
Women’s net: A Tamanui-Nunn 78, V Grace 80, M Tuapawa 86.
COMING UP: SUNDAY, handicap singles.
You need a little luck to win a 19-man shootout.
Ashley Hindmarsh got it on the final hole as he emerged the last man standing in the hole-by-hole net elimination final on Saturday.
Hindmarsh’s tee shot on the 18th looked headed for the right-hand drain only to end up on a narrow bridge crossing the drain.
“He was therefore allowed relief without penalty,” said club captain and fellow finalist George Brown.
Hindmarsh and Selwyn Pohatu were the remaining two. Hindmarsh made a comfortable par-4 while Pohatu, known as one of the best putters in the club, three-putted for a bogey and net 5.
Simon Pittar was the first to go after making nine on the first hole.
The order and cause of their demise from there was — top qualifier Joe Blair (No.2, 7 net 6); Hamish Harris (No.3, out of bounds); Mike de Luze (No.4, 7 net 6); Tom Brodie (No.5, out of bounds); Tom Hindmarsh (No.6, tree trouble); Butch McKenzie (No.7, fence problems); Cecil Brown (No.8, net 6); Rocky Pardoe (No.9, chip-off); Eddie Brown (No.10, lost two balls off the tee); Charlie Taylor (No.11, tree issues); Lindsay Jamieson (No.12, chip-off); Dave Skudder (No.13, chip-off); John Neilson (No.14, 7 net 6); Pete Summersby (No.15, shanked into the maize paddock); Pat Hokianga (No.16, 3-putt); and George Brown (No.17, poor chipping).
From this Sunday, the club competition tee-off time will be from 12 noon.
SUNDAY — Men’s stableford, senior division: E Brown Jr 39, Shayde Skudder 37, H Harrison 36, B McKenzie 35, G Brown 35.
Junior division: R Mottart 35, C Brown 35, B Tietjen 34, M Smith 34, B Pohatu 33.
Women’s stableford: A Haisman 26.
Twos: D Russell, J Devery.
FRIDAY — Meat pack 9-hole stableford, senior division: C Parker 21, J Neilson 20, W MacLellan 18, J Brodie 18, T Hindmarsh 18.
Junior division: B Tietjen 19, G Holland 18, B Williams 18, L Jamieson 17, P Summersby 16.
It’s tight at the top of the Northern Zone women’s interclub pennants.
Mahia has the chance to break a three-club deadlock when it hosts round 3 of the series on Saturday.
The home club are tied with Te Puia Hot Springs and Wairoa, with Patutahi only a point behind.
The pennants round will be held in conjunction with the Mahia women’s open, which tees off at 10am.
SUNDAY — Men’s stableford: G Shapland 38, D Bremner 36, P Bremner 34, P Jelbert 34, Wade Wesche 34, B Maher 34, B Crowley 34.
Women’s Harwood par round: L Steel -1, J Smyth -1, L Morgan -1, V Kyle -3, N Fergus -3.
Coming up: SATURDAY, Mahia women’s open day and Northern Zone pennants, 10am tee-off, entries to Renee Hiko 027-371-8682.
Te Puia Hot Springs
THE Springs is soldiering on in the wake of the recent weather events.
It remains a mission to get to the course but a hardy crew turned out for Sunday’s club competition.
Graeme Summersby was the best on the day, winning the men’s stableford with 39 points.
Robyn Ngatai’s 32 was best of the women.
SUNDAY — Men’s stableford: G Summersby 88-25-63, 39; B Clark 77-11-66, 36l A Higham 66-+1-67, 35.
Women’s stableford: R Ngatai 32.