A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
TahungaBEN Johnson etched his name into Tahunga folklore with a famous comeback as the men’s senior and intermediate club champions were crowned over the weekend.
Johnson was 7-down after 18 holes in his intermediate matchplay final against defending champion Tennant McNeil but knuckled down, fought back and completed a 36th-hole win his grandchildren will no doubt hear about regularly years from now.
Both Sunday finals went all the way.
In the senior final, Mark Steele led Tom Sherratt 2-up at lunch but after 30th holes it was all-square.
Three-putts on the 31st and 33rd holes proved costly for Sherratt. He got one hole back on the 35th but Steele kept his cool to win on the 36th.
Two rounds of 18-hole matchplay were held on Saturday to decide the senior finalists.
Sherratt needed two extra holes to eliminate Sandy Kemp in the morning, then, after being dormie-4-up against defending champion Spencer Butt in the afternoon semis, got home on the 18th.
Jeremy Kemp beat Ted Jefferd on the 18th in the morning to set up a semifinal with Steele, who finished the stronger to win 3 and 2.
Butt and Steele were the top two qualifiers so had the Saturday morning off.
Johnson had a comfortable 5 and 4 win over George Williams in the intermediate semis while McNeill outgunned Mike Gibson 3 and 2.
There was no junior championship.
Gisborne ParkON any other day, Carney Pipi would be getting plenty of shots from her matchplay opponent.
This Sunday is not any other day. It’s club championships finals day and it’s all off the stick.
That means 18-handicapper Pipi will need to find David’s slingshot in her game to bring down the Goliath challenge she faces in defending senior champion and nine-handicapper Jo Kerr.
Pipi, though, can be satisfied to have gotten as far as she has, thanks to a 3 and 2 win over Wiki Morrissey in the semifinals last weekend.
The intermediate title will be fought for by reigning champion Jean Foot and Jacque Akuhata-Nickerson.
Foot had a convincing semifinal victory over Sue Maisey while Akuhata-Nickerson went all the way to the 18th in beating Mihi Marino.
Kath Papuni and Margaret Alley will decide the junior champion.
Four remain in the hunt for the Men’s Handicap Cup top division honours.
Dave Harrison faces Zane Boyle in one semifinal while the other is the battle of the Petes — Koorey v Cameron.
Electrinet Park results, SUNDAY — Men’s stableford: B Huhu 39.
Twos: S Phillips, A Pahina.
Women’s drawn two: W Morrissey.
SATURDAY — Women’s stableford: J Foot 35.
Drawn two: J Foot.
Men’s stableford: B Huhu 38.
Twos: R Moore.
WEDNESDAY (Aug 8) — Women’s stableford: S Paku 36.
Twos: K Hay.
The finals of the women’s club championships are on SUNDAY. The draw is — No.1 tee, 8am: J Kerr v C Pipi (senior final).
8.06am: J Foot v J Akuhata (intermediate final).
8.12am: K Papuni v M Alley (junior final).
The Men’s Handicap Cup semifinals are on SUNDAY. The draw is No.1 tee, 9am: D Harrison v Z Boyle.
9.06am: P Cameron v P Koorey. 9.12am: A Pahina v Z Rolls. 9.18am: J Charles v S Phillips.
Poverty BayPETER Clayton took over the lead in the “Tour de Dodgshun” on Saturday but that could be shortlived.
After two rounds of the Dodgshun Cup strokeplay series, Clayton heads the senior division with 159 (79, 80).
But there are two stages to go and with players counting their best three of four scores, Clayton could easily be reeled in by the pack.
The main threat is likely to come from William Brown, who carded 76 to lead after the first round but did not play in round 2.
As it stands, Clayton is six ahead of David Situ (85, 80), with Pat Butler third on 168 (86, 82).
Neil Mackie’s 170 (86, 84) leads the intermediate division, with James Situ (91, 83) second on 174 and Gray Clapham (90, 85) a further stroke back.
Basil Payne’s 186 (93, 93) has him top of division 3, followed by Hamish Williams on 191 (100, 91) and Roy Skuse on 193 (97, 96).
Phil Grogan is well known for his consistency but he lifted that level several notches in winning the division 1 men’s stableford on Sunday.
Grogan’s 76-12-64, for 44 points, featured a back-nine of 1-under 35, capped by a two on the 11th.
WEDNESDAY — Women’s net: G Young 89-19-70, J MacKinnon 97-27-70.
9-holers’ net: J Alderson 57-21-36, B McIldowie 57-20-37.
SUNDAY — Men’s stableford, division 1: P Grogan 44, R Morley 41, J Situ 40, M Thomas 40, M Norman 40, L Ball 40.
Division 2: B Payne 38, L Pollitt 38, M Barker 37, D Wright 36, L Hewson 36, K Daniels 36.
Twos: S Andreassen, R Morley, P Grogan.
Approach: L Hewson.
SATURDAY — Men’s stableford, division 1: A Kirkpatrick 37, P Butler 36, J Situ 36, D Situ 35, D Bush 35.
Division 2: G Clapham 40, D Mettrick 38, H Williams 37, C Simpson 35, M Dodgshun 35, B Payne 35.
Twos: D Situ, C Christie.
Approach: C Christie.
THURSDAY (Aug 9) — Men’s stableford, division 1: P Graham 41, M Dodgshun 40, M Thomas 39, G Burnside 37, J van Helden 37.
Division 2: R Owen, 43, B Payne 43, R Kelly 43, T Sherratt 39, J Pittar 37, H Williams 37.
Approach: H Williams.
PatutahiIT’S back to routine for a small group of Patutahi members after a memorable golfing trip to Thailand.
The players’ experience included a round at The Royal Gems Golf City - Dream Arena — an 18-hole course, whose front-nine features replicas of various famous holes in world golf including the island green hole at TPC Sawgrass (on which Patutahi’s Tony Green made a birdie-2), the road hole at St Andrew’s and the postage stamp hole at Royal Troon.
The back-nine is a copy of Augusta’s homeward half including Amen Corner.
Whether that will inspire them to club championship glory will be revealed over the next few weeks.
The top qualifiers were confirmed at the weekend.
William Brown, a member of Poverty Bay, Waikohu and for the first time this year, Patutahi, started his quest for a Bay-’Tahi club champion double by topping the senior qualifying with 1-under 69.
George Brown’s 79 in the first qualifying round earned him the intermediate top spot while Tom Brodie’s 87 was best of the juniors.
Bryan Pohatu not only topped the endeavour division, his 87-24-63 won the junior men’s net on Sunday.
Denise Johnston also did the double in winning the women’s stableford and top qualifying for the senior women’s club championships with 87-17-70.
SUNDAY — Club championship qualifying, round 2, senior men’s net: R Pohatu 64, T Green 66, W Brown 67, E Brown jr 68.
Junior men: B Pohatu 63, S Mohlmann 66, R Moleta 68, J Graham 69, J Maynard 69.
Women’s net: D Johnston 70, H Pomana 74.
Twos: R Pohatu, T Green, H Brown.
FRIDAY — Meat pack nine-hole stableford, senior division: E Brown sr 19, P Summersby 18, A Hindmarsh 18, P Johnston 18, P Kerekere 18, T Sweeney 18.
Junior division: J Blair 19, J Graham 18, C Newman 17.
Tolaga BayTAINE Lincoln showed he is senior club champion material in his stableford-winning performance on Sunday.
Lincoln won with 42 points, including a two, suggesting he is tracking nicely for the senior championships, which get under way this weekend.
Lincoln, defending champion Neil Hansen, Dion Milner, Bruce Yates, Tere Lincoln (Taine’s uncle) and Mickey Grant are vying for the mantle of the club’s top male golfer.
The second round of the champs is on Sunday.
SUNDAY — Stableford: Taine Lincoln 42, B Yates 39, Joe Lincoln 38, M Brooker 38, P Stevenson 37.
Twos: Taine Lincoln, M Watts.
COMING UP: SUNDAY, committee meeting, 10am, second round of men’s club champs.
Te Puia SpringsAOMIHI Cook clinched the Women’s Handicap Cup in a final that went the distance.
Cook beat Iritana Ngarimu on the 18th to claim the silverware.
SUNDAY — Men’s stableford: D Cook 38, P Harrison 36, J Babbington-Welsh 35, A Forrester 34, R Smith 32, J Puha 31, J Forrester 31.
Twos: D Cook.
Women’s stableford: G Roberts 29, D Paenga 29, A Cook 27, R Ngatai 27, I Ngarimu 27.
Approach on 6: G Roberts.
COMING UP: SUNDAY, meeting at 10.30am, followed by men’s and women’s club championships.
WaikohuTIPI Ruru was in sensational form on Sunday, posting his best round in over two years to win the men’s stableford with 77-16-61, for 45 points.
Marg Tuapawa was nearly as impressive, beating Ella Wynyard in the Women’s Handicap Singles final and winning the women’s stableford with 43 points.
SUNDAY — Men’s stableford: T Ruru 45, K Tamanui 39, U Chambers 38, I Ruru 35, P Milner 34.
Women’s stableford: M Tuapawa 43, A Tamanui-Nunn 36, E Wynyard 30.
Twos: D J Baty.
Women’s Handicap Singles final: M Tuapawa def E Wynyard.
COMING UP: SUNDAY, men’s and women’s club championships.
SeniorsTUESDAY’S bad weather forced the postponement of Gisborne’s East Coast Veteran Golfers’ scheduled competition at Poverty Bay.
It will instead be held at Gisborne Park on Tuesday, August 21, teeing off from 10am.
Players are asked to report 15 minutes before tee-off.