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A Saturday birdie blitz by Andrew Higham helped earned him royal honours in the King and Queen of the Country open tournament over the weekend.
The dual Te Puia Springs/Poverty Bay member won the 36-hole overall men's gross with a brilliant 7-under 133 total.
Higham, who teed off the eighth hole on Saturday, was 3-over the card teeing off the 18th. He birdied it and that set off a domino effect as he rattled off another six birdies over the ensuing seven holes.
He signed for 4-under 66, a three-shot lead over the field, then returned on Sunday to post 67 in tougher conditions as the wind got up.
It earned him the crown by four shots from William Brown (69, 68), with Dwayne Russell third on 140 (72, 68).
Helen Pomana won the Queen of the Coast title.
Mairatahi Maynard was unstoppable on his way to winning the men's 10+ handicap net with 121 — 20 shots clear of the field.
Brian Pohatu racked up 82 points to win the men's 10+ stableford.
Other section winners were Ben Cameron (10+ gross, 158), Tony Green (up to 8 net, 138) and Jon Priestley (up to 8 stableford, 74 points).
Higham was part of a group of 11 who played $1 skinners over the two rounds. Between them they had 68 birdies and three eagles.
TUESDAY — Women's net: A Haisman 94-23-71, K McLatchie 105-28-77.
SUNDAY — King and Queen of the Country, 36-hole men's gross, up to 8-handicap: A Higham 133, W Brown 137, D Russell 140.
10+: B Cameron 158, A Hindmarsh 160, G Hawea 167.
36-hole men's net, up to 8: T Green 138, T Hindmarsh 141, J Brown 141.
10+: M Maynard 121, L Maynard 141, C Taylor 144.
36-hole men's stableford, up to 8: J Priestley 74, E Brown Jr 73, G Brown 71, C Beattie 35.
10+: B Pohatu 82, S Te Rito 73, D Skudder 66, J Neilson 66.
Approaches: J Priestley, E Brown Jr, S Te Rito, P Milner.
Long drives: W Brown, G Brown, G Hawea, B Cameron.
Twos/eagles: H Brown, T Green, P Milner, R Hindmarsh, J Brown, D Russell, W Brown, T Akroyd, J Neilson.
Men's club net: M Wiersma 68, P Summersby 69, A Nimmo 70, M Smith 70.
Women's net: M Wesche.
FRIDAY — Meat pack 9-hole stableford, senior division: B Wallace 22, W Brown 19, S Pohatu 19, P Summersby 19, W MacLellan 19.
Junior division: P Jex-Blake 22, D Hamilton 21, K Donovan 20, D Dodgshun 20, J Winiata 20.
The Bombers proved an explosive combination on their way to glory in the Greentree Plaque competition on Saturday.
Carney Pipi, James Witika and Josh Taylor won the impressive trophy with a ambrose net score of 58, half a shot ahead of the Hit & Hope trio of Jean Foot, Craig Christophers and Chic Brown.
Christophers is leading qualifying for The Power Connections 18-hole Shootout heading towards the business end of the competition.
Christophers has a total of 554 for his top four net scores off the white tees and top four from the blues.
He is five shots ahead of Te Kanawa Cup men's pairs-winning partner Matt Henwood (559), with Tom Reynolds (567), Steve Phillips (569) and Darrel Gregory (570) making up the top five.
The last qualifying day for the shootout is Wednesday, November 3.
The final is on Saturday, November 6.
SATURDAY — Greentree Plaque mixed drawn teams' ambrose net: The Bombers (C Pipi/J Witika/J Taylor) 58; Hit & Hope (J Foot/C Christophers/C Brown) 58.5.
SUNDAY — Men's stableford: R Taylor 37, P Wellard 36, S Phillips 36.
Twos: J Collier, A Pahina.
TUESDAY (October 12) — Veterans' stableford: B Cox 39, A Lewington 39, A Nairne 36, P Mitchell 36, C Aramakutu 36, P Hogan 35, R Taylor 34, D Te Maro 33.
Twos: B Lumsden-Nicholls.
Carnie Nelson showed some of the skills of her single-figure handicap days as she produced the round of the week on Friday.
Nelson fired 86-22-64, including a two on the sixth, in her best round since February 2015. It could have been even hotter but for a triple bogey-double bogey finish.
She followed it up with a win for Poverty Bay in their representative fixture against Bay of Plenty in Opotiki on Monday.
Colleen Skuse and Pip Griffin were the winners in the Kiri Te Kanawa Retirement Village net tournament yesterday.
Skuse's 100-29-71 was the best of the 18-hole players while Griffin topped the 9-holers with a net 33.
Nearly 50 players competed.
Andy Hayward marked his 50th birthday in winning style last Thursday.
The Central School principal won the division 1 men's stableford with a rollercoaster 79-10-68, for 40 points.
His round featured two twos, a birdie-birdie finish and several double bogeys.
Other men's competition winners over the week were Tim Sherratt (39 points) Bill Allen (40), Tene Goldsmith (39), Garth Marchbank (38) and Brent Colbert (41).
The eagle landed twice for Willy Mortleman over the week. Mortleman eagled the par-5 fifth on Thursday, then did it again on Sunday.
WEDNESDAY — Kiri Te Kanawa Retirement Village women's open tournament, 18-hole net: C Skuse 71, F Pell 73, G Young 73.
9-holers' net: P Griffin 33, L Daniels 35 on c/b.
Approaches, 18-hole players: J Utting, K Shaw, J Tietjen.
9-holers: L Daniels, R Dymock.
Twos: J Alderson.
Twilight stableford, men: D Williams 23, M Henwood 22, P Anderson 22, C Newman 22, J Witika 21 on c/b.
Women: K Holmberg 17.
Non-handicapped players: M Ngata from D Plowman, W Jones.
SUNDAY — Men's stableford, division 1: B Colbert 41, C Taewa 39, R Gibson 39, C Carmody 37, J Blair 37, A White 37.
Division 2: G Marchbank 38, R Johnstone 37, P Rickard 36, N Jones 35, B Pratt 35, M Mulrooney 35.
Twos: A White, J Van Helden, R Gibson, M Mulrooney.
SATURDAY — Men's stableford, division 1: T Goldsmith 39, P Anderson 38, C Jeffrey 36, A Abrahams 36, F Ball 36, D Jenkins 36.
Division 2: B Allen 40, C Christie 38, D McFadyen 37, B Talbot 36, D Bush 36.
Twos: N Mackie, S Jeune.
Thursday (Oct 14) — Men's stableford, division 1: A Hayward 39, B Colbert 36 C Poole 36, S Andreassen 36
Division 2: T Sherratt 39, P Goodwin 38, D Bush 37, M Dodgshun 36, C Christie 36
Twos: A Hayward 2, A White.
Jackpot: A Hayward.
COMING UP: The men's and women's Primo Cup finals and Country Food Hidden Partners Day are on SATURDAY, November 6. Includes club's annual prize-giving (5.30pm). The Primo Cup finals start at 11.15am. The Hidden Partners Day is open to all club members including Primo Cup finalists.
BRUCE Yates and Joe Sheridan are the 2021 OB Harry Trophy champions.
Yates and Sheridan recorded a combined stableford of 73 points to win the silverware that honours late members Owen Cranswick and Harry Higgs.
Tim Adamson and Bruce's son Murray were runners-up on 69.
Mark Watts won the individual stableford with 39 on countback from Adamson.
SUNDAY — Harry OB Trophy pairs combined stableford: B Yates/J Sheridan 73, T Adamson/M Yates 69.
Individual stableford: M Watts 39, T Adamson 39, B Yates 37.
Twos: D Milner, B Yates.
The Coates and McLean trophies are up for grabs this weekend.
The 4x12-hole matchplay tournament is a popular event, which culminates in finals and a barbecue dinner.
Ella Wynyard (Coates) and Larry Green (McLean) are the reigning champions.
SUNDAY — All-irons stableford: T Smith 36, A Coker 36, K Tamanui 33, U Chambers 29, T Brown 28.
COMING UP: SATURDAY/SUNDAY, Coates and McLean trophies 4x12-hole matchplay, qualifying round and first round of matchplay on Saturday, 9.30am tee-off, semifinals and finals on Sunday, followed by barbecue.
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