File picture
The fat lady was warming up her voice only for Dave Harrison and James Witika to mute her in a comeback for the Te Kanawa Cup ages on Saturday.
Five-down with six holes to play in their men's pairs quarterfinal matchplay clash with Steve Webb and Mike Tallott, Harrison and Witika hit the Houdini button.
They won five of the next six holes, including the 15th to 18th, to square the match.
Harrison sent it to extra holes with a PGA pro-like 8-iron second shot on 18, putting his ball to six inches from the hole for a gimme birdie.
Witika, getting a shot, won the 19th (par-5 first) to complete a recovery of Lazarus-like proportion.
Webb and Tallott could use their team name as an excuse . . . Friday Only.
Witika was stoked. He only joined Park last September and is loving his return to competitive golf, having played regularly as a teenager at Murupara in the late 1990s.
His first taste of Te K Cup is with a player who knows how to win it. Harrison and Ben Fili filled the trophy in 2011.
Next-up for Witika/Harrison, whose team name is The Warriors, is Harrison's former Thistle football teammate Pete Stewart and Josh Harris, who cut the Cheese in their quarterfinal.
Stewart and Harris ended the run of Tony File and Tom Reynolds, aka The Cheese, on the 18th.
They were 2-down after three holes but fought back to be 2-up with two to play. File and Reynolds won the 17th but Stewart sealed the deal with a birdie on the last although par would have been enough.
The new boys and the reigning champions will fight out the other semifinal.
Anaru Reedy and Pete Tamatea, under the banner of Master and Disaster, remained on course to retain the crown after an 1-up defeat of second seeds Darrell Gregory and Graeme Dickie yesterday.
Reedy and Tamatea were 3-up with four holes to play only for their opponents to throw two net eagles and a net birdie at them to square it with one to go.
A Tamatea bogey with a shot on 18 got M and D home.
Master and Disaster had a close round of 16 match against Sel Peneha and Dave Te Maro the previous Friday. As had been predicted, Reedy (off +4) and Peneha (scratch) — the lowest-handicapped players at the club — exchanged plenty of birdies but Tamatea came in at vital times in a 2 and 1 win.
Their semifinal opponents are first-season members and third seeds Craig Christophers and Matt Henwood, who took a contrasting path to the last four — an 11th-hole dismantling of father and son Anthony and Shaun Pahina.
The semifinals of the Te K and the Fletcher Cup and Turanganui Cup subsidiaries are on Sunday.
Sunday — LGU, silver division: J Morley 76 on c/b.
Bronze 1: M Marion 74.
Bronze 2: K Papuni 89.
SATURDAY — Men's stableford: P Nepia 36, H Schreiber 36, P Wellard 34.
CLIVE Dean and Chris Taewa are supposed to be the chief pilots in their Gisborne Motors Barns-Graham Cup men's pairs combinations.
On Saturday, they only had to sit back and enjoy the flight as their partners assumed top gun roles in the round of 16 of the handicap matchplay competition.
John Williams was devastating as he and Dean knocked out Bruce Talbot and Bill Simpson 5 and 4 to move into the last eight.
The 23-handicapper had seven pars, six of those in the space of nine holes, and ended up carding 87 off the stick, one shot lower than Dean off 11.
Lee “Pikey” Hewson, off 20, started with a birdie and went on to make two more as he and Taewa defeated John Aitchison and Dallas Atkins 2 and 1. One of those was a 50-foot downhill breaker on the 11th for two in his round of 88.
Top seeds Glenn Morley and Gray Clapham continued their winning ways, with Morley once again describing his mate as “the best 15-handicapper in New Zealand”.
They defeated George Brown and Don Griffin on the 18th, a Clapham birdie slamming shut the coffin door.
Brent Colbert won by himself in the first round but had Andy Putnam back on board as they saw off John Pittar and Tim Sherratt on the 18th.
Putnam, off a 22, had only one par over the round but it was a killer blow — on the 18th, with a shot.
Former BG winner Gerald Kemp and Reid Fletcher made the most of the shots being dished out by 2-handicapper Thomas Donovan. They cruised to a 4 and 3 win over Donovan and Darren Patumaka.
Club captain Andy Hayward made a pressure up and down on 18 to send his and Mark Stewart's clash with Marty Reynolds and Sam Willock to sudden death. Hayward/Stewart won on 19.
Alan Williams, minus partner Darryn White, put up a brave lone soldier fight before falling to 2017 champions Neil Mackie and Paul Mullooly.
Stu Harbottle and John Van Helden, who qualified 31st in the top 32, were 2-down after nine holes against the dangerous Frank Ball and Pete Hakiwai only to win the next six holes for a 4 and 3 triumph.
The quarterfinals of the Gisborne Motors Barns-Graham Cup, round 2 of the Bryan Cup and the quarterfinals of the Barns-Graham Plate are on Saturday. Winners of the Bryan Cup matches will play their quarterfinals on SUNDAY. The SATURDAY draw is —
Barns-Graham Cup, No.1 tee, 11.15am: G Morley/G Clapham v C Taewa/L Hewson. 11.23: Reid Fletcher/G Kemp v B Colbert/A Putnam. 11.31: J Williams/C Dean v N Mackie/P Mullooly. 11.39: A Hayward/M Stewart v S Harbottle/J Van Helden.
Bryan Cup, No.10 tee, 11.15: J Situ/C Carmody v D Griffin/G Brown. 11.23: J Aitchison/D Atkins v W Mortleman/P Graham. 11.31: T Donovan/D Patumaka v H Keast/M Callaghan. 11.39: B Brown/R Gibson v T Sherratt/J Pittar. 11.47: D White/A Williams v R Fergus/A Kirkpatrick. 11.55: B Read/M Smith v P Hakiwai/F Ball.
No.1, 11.47: A Baldwin/G Udall v B Talbot/B Simpson. 11.55: M Reynolds/S Willock v R Morgan/C Jeffrey.
Barns-Graham Plate, No.1 tee, 12.03: J Kerekere/D Pirimona v A Bacon/D Grant. 12.11: B Morgan/K Travers v M van der Velde/Rob Fletcher.
No.10, 12.03: C Bauld/L Foster v J McGregor/J Wauchop. 12.10: L Pollitt/K Daniels v B Payne/P Goodwin.
SELWYN Pohatu and Kath McLatchie collected the club's top handicap matchplay titles at the weekend.
Pohatu defeated Pat Hokianga on the 19th in the Te Kani Pere Cup men's final.
McLatchie beat Helen Humble 2 and 1 in the McKeague Cup women's final.
The rescheduled Patutahi Men's Open is on Sunday. A cup of team will be followed by a shotgun start from 11am.
Up for grabs is the Bryan Johnson Memorial for best overall net.
Inquiries to George Brown at 027-370-9869.
SUNDAY — Men's net, senior division: T Hindmarsh 71, L Anania 72, D Russell 72, E Brown jr 73, J Brown 74.
Junior division: S Marsh 71, C Brown 72, D Quinn 74, G Watson 75, L Jamieson 75.
Women's net: D Johnston 76.
Twos: L Anania (eagle on 14).
Jackpot: L Anania.
Te Kani Pere Cup men's matchplay final: S Pohatu def P Hokianga on the 19th.
McKeague Cup women's matchplay final: K McLatchie def H Humble on the 17th.
FRIDAY — Meat pack nine-hole stableford, senior division: J Neilson 17, T Hindmarsh 17, H Pomana 16, T Brodie 16, W Brown 16.
Junior division: B Williams 21, M White 18, C Brown 17, R Shannon 17, P Summersby 17.
POVERTY Bay's Jan Utting was the stand-out performer in the Te Puia Hot Springs women's open on Saturday.
Utting won the overall stableford with 37 points, four clear of Wairoa members Taina Paku and Tina Duncan.
SATURDAY — Te Puia Hot Springs women's open, stableford: J Utting 37, T Paku 33, T Duncan 33, H Miratana 32, P Summersby 32, E Wynyard 31, F Wesche 30, A Tamanui 29.
Twos: J Kerr, F Wesche.
Approaches: G Roberts, T Aramakutu, F Wesche, T Paku.
ALL 18 holes were needed to decide the 2021 Women's Handicap Singles champion on Sunday.
Audrey Tamanui-Nunn beat Ella Wynyard 2-up in the final.
The Men's Pairs Championship featured wins to Ike Ruru and Tipi Ruru over Larry Green and Uma Chambers, and Spud Te Rito and Aaron Coker over Percy Milner and Kahu Tamanui.
Sunday — Men's stableford: K Tamanui 39, U Chambers 34, P Milner 32, S Te Rito 31, I Ruru 31.
Women's putting: V Grace 30, M Tuapawa 34.
Women's Handicap Singles final: A Tamanui-Nunn def Ella Wynyard 2-up.
Men's Pairs Championship results: I Ruru/T Ruru def L Green/U Chambers, S Te Rito/A Coker def P Milner/K Tamanui.
COMING UP: SUNDAY, alternate competition, women's drawn pairs net.
TRENA Smith's putting set her up for victory in the LGU medal round on Sunday.
Smith had 25 putts in her 86-15-71, two strokes ahead of Jackie Thompson.
SUNDAY — LGU medal: T Smith 86-15-71, J Thompson 73, L Steel 77, Maraea Wesche 77, L Morgan 78, P Dennigan 78.
Putting: T Smith 27.
Men's stableford: D Waihaki 38, G Hornblow 37, Wade Wesche 36, P Bremner 35, R Bremner 34.
THE chasing pack were hot on his tail but Tim Reedy got across the line in the men's net on Sunday.
Reedy won with 69, one stroke ahead of Taine Lincoln, Trent Higgs and Pete Stevenson.
SUNDAY — Net: T Reedy 69, Taine Lincoln 70, T Higgs 70, P Stevenson 70.
Putting: Taine Lincoln 25.
Twos: Taine Lincoln, M Watts, S Cranswick, D Milner.
THE Poverty Bay women's pennants is heading down to the wire as four clubs eye the 2021 honours.
Round 6 was played in conjunction with the Te Puia Hot Springs Women's Open on Saturday and by the end of the day an already narrow contest had got tighter.
Mahia went into the stableford round with a one-point lead over Waikohu. But that was extinguished as Wairoa won the round, Te Puia were second and Waikohu placed third.
Mahia were fifth and relinquished their overall lead.
Wairoa and Waikohu moved into the joint lead on 32 points, with Mahia and Te Puia equal on 31 and Poverty Bay the next best on 20.
The final round is at Electrinet Park on July 10.
Poverty Bay women's pennants results — Round 6 (stableford):, Wairoa 114, Te Puia Springs 110, Waikohu 108, Poverty Bay 102, Mahia 97, Electrinet Park 94, Patutahi 73.
Best individuals: Wairoa - Teina Paku 33; Te Puia - Hazel Miratana 32; Waikohu - Ella Wynyard 31; Poverty Bay - Jan Utting 37; Mahia - Fairlane Wesche 30; Electrinet Park - Mihi Marino 26; Patutahi - Pat Summersby 32.
Overall points (with one round to go): Waikohu 32, Wairoa 32, Mahia 31, Te Puia 31, Poverty Bay 20, Electrinet Park 14, Patutahi 10.