Patience and perseverance were finally rewarded for the rookie of the Poverty Bay-East Coast team on the penultimate day of the national interprovincials in Bay of Plenty yesterday.
PBEC lost 4-1 to section toppers Bay of Plenty on the Omanu course at Mount Maunganui.
It ended a memorable campaign for the country's smallest golfing union — two team wins and 11 individuals, which placed them fifth in their eight-province section and 11th out of 15 overall.
That is PBEC's best finish at the annual team this century and possibly in the past 30 years.
Shayde Skudder, in his first national interprovincials, saved PBEC from the whitewash against a BoP side who have proved unstoppable this week.
Skudder, who had gone close in other matches over the week, beat BoP No.5 Jordan Golding 2 and 1 — much to the delight of team manager Dave Keown, who himself has had to battle health-wise this week.
“Shadez fought so hard all week,” Keown said. “He's learned a lot this week. It will have done him wonders.”
BoP have been a class above the rest of the provinces in Section 1 this week, and it was no different yesterday as they made it six consecutive team wins.
PBEC No.1 William Brown lost 4 and 2 to Mitchell Kale; No.2 Andrew Higham lost 7 and 6 to Shaun Campbell; No.3 Dwayne Russell lost 5 and 3 to Nathan Clark; and No.4 Hukanui Brown lost 5 and 4 to former PBEC rep Hayden White, of Ōpōtiki.
PBEC ended the week on two team points — courtesy of wins over North Harbour and Aorangi — and 11 individual wins.
They finished ahead of Manawatu-Wanganui (1, 11), who beat them 3-2 in Round 1, North Harbour (1, 11) and Aorangi (1, 9).
PBEC's points were also superior to Section 2 bottom-placed side Tasman (0, 5½), meaning they ended up 11th overall.
Keown paid tribute to a team he has been managing for many years.
“They do it for the love of the game,” he said, referring in particular to the likes of William Brown and Andrew Higham, who are long-time members of the interprovincial squad.
This week was Brown's 14th national interprovincials on the trot.
In putting perspective on their performance, Keown pointed out that the team went into the week with no interprovincial events under their belt.
PBEC used to play in at least two quadrangulars a year, which gave them vital matchplay experience at a higher level, but the pin was pulled on all of those.
Now the players can only rely on local competitions such as the Poverty Bay, East Coast and King of the Coast opens, interclub pennants and club championships — a far cry from the likes of BoP and the bigger golfing centres.
While PBEC have faced many a team battle to avoid the dreaded wooden spoon, they have often given the heavyweight provinces at least a run for their money.
“They have no fear now,” Keown said.
Particularly pleasing to Keown was that “everyone contributed” to the week results-wise.
Keown's long-time commitment to the side is also noteworthy. He ended up in hospital this week, diagnosed with cellulitis, but was back on the course doing his job over the latter rounds.
This morning's semifinals pitted BoP against Waikato and Auckland against Wellington.
Meanwhile, Gisborne golfers Tessa McDonald and Ellen Ball ended the women's national inteprovincials on losing notes.
The pair, playing for Hawke's Bay-Poverty Bay, were defeated in both ties as the team lost 4-1 to Manawatu-Wanganui in the morning and 3-2 to Otago in the afternoon on the Tauranga course.
McDonald, at No.1 in the team, was beaten 5 and 4 by Tara Raj (Man-Wang) and 3 and 2 by Sumin Kang (Otago).
Ball, at No.2, was defeated 5 and 4 by Casey Chettleburgh (Man-Wang) and 4 and 2 by Yoonane Jeong (Otago).
McDonald had three wins over the week while Ball had two.
HBPB finished eighth on the 13-team table with two team points and 14½ individual wins.
Behind them were Canterbury, Waikato, Aorangi, Wellington and Tasman.
HBPB No.4 Kayla Van de Ven had 4½ wins and No.5 Clare Choi four wins over the week.
Semifinals were Auckland v BoP and North Harbour v Manawatu-Wanganui.