Poverty Bay Open a sell-out success

BUSY BOY: William Brown plays out of a bunker at the 2020 Poverty Bay Open on the Awapuni Links course. Brown is the defending champion and a greenkeeper at the course, so he sets up the course early each morning of the three-day tournament before competing. The field was filled more than four months out from the 2021 Open, which will be held from September 24 to 26. Picture by Paul Rickard

GOLF

A COVID-19-inspired wave of golfing popularity is reflected for the second year running in a sell-out Poverty Bay men’s open.

All 112 available spots were filled within days of entries going out last month, with players who competed last year given priority.

Clearly they enjoyed the experience of Poverty Bay’s Awapuni Links as many are returning for the 2021 edition from September 24 to 26.

Nearly half of the field are from outside golf clubs ranging from the South Island to Auckland.

And just why is the Emerre and Hathaway-sponsored Open enjoying such a resurgence in popularity?

Covid certainly had a part to play.

More time on hands during lockdown weeks resulted in a surge of interest in golf throughout the country.

Add to that the inability to travel overseas, coupled with a subsequent rise in domestic travel, and golfers who might otherwise have been sunning themselves in Fiji, Bali or Australia decided to swing a club closer to home.

The tournament format is also attractive. It starts with 36 holes of strokeplay qualifying, followed by matchplay in groups of 16.

Some people, mainly local, in the past have suggested ditching the strokeplay as it’s long and demanding. The visitors, however, love it. The more golf the better, they say.

Then there is the Poverty Bay course itself. Staff always have it in impeccable condition, particularly the greens, for which the Bay has been famous over the tournament’s history.

One of those staff members is the reigning champion. William Brown will once again be on the greens machine at the crack of dawn before grabbing his clubs from the sheds and heading over to the first tee.

The man he beat in last year’s final, Anaru Reedy, is also returning on a mission to go one better and add a first PB Open title to the fifth East Coast Open crown he won at Te Puia Hot Springs this year.

Also back for another shot is multiple PB Open winner Waka Donnelly, who played much of his early golf at Te Puia then the Bay before shifting to Auckland.

Now based in Napier, Donnelly has been sitting on seven PB Open wins — second only to Frank Gordon (eight) — since 2010.

The 50-year-old can take inspiration from history. The late Eric Gordon won his seventh Keiha Cup as PB Open champion at the age of 58 in 2001; Taupo’s Bruce Wilson won it in 2013, also at 58 years young; and Simon Jeune was 56 when winning in 2019.

Others who will be out to add to their Open title success include Andrew Higham, Peter Kerekere, Pete Anderson, Jeune and David Solomann.

Outsiders also have recent history to overcome. The title has gone to a local player for the past seven years. The last visitor to claim it was Wilson.

Solomann, born and bred in Gisborne but now living in Auckland, brothers Andrew and Richard Wright and 2019 finalist Tim Neill could have something to say about that.