Teeing off a new era of Tairāwhiti golf

Tairāwhiti Golf Association president Anaru Reedy displays the new flag and shirt that will be flown and worn at the Freyberg Masters national interprovincial golf tournament on the Awapuni Links course next week. Tairāwhiti has replaced Poverty Bay-East Coast as the province’s name after many decades. The flag and shirt logo were designed by local artist Simon Lardelli “out of aroha for our crew”, Reedy said. “The figure in the middle of the tee is called a teka, which is placed into the ground by a warrior just like a tee which is the beginning of the challenge. If you pick up the teka, then you accept the challenge, which is what we all do when we play golf.” Tairāwhiti Masters debutant Neil Hansen will be the team’s flagbearer for the tournament. All 15 provincial flags will be raised at the opening ceremony tomorrow and lowered on Friday. Tairāwhiti, the country’s smallest golfing province, go in as 15th and bottom seeds and are determined to hand over the wooden spoon position they have occupied in the past three years. Picture by Liam Clayton

W hen local man Jace Brown hits his first drive at the 2023 Freyberg Masters men’s interprovincial in Gisborne on Monday morning, it will officially start a new era in representative golf.

Gone will be Poverty Bay-East Coast from the home team’s shirts and flag — replaced by Tairāwhiti under the auspices of the recently reconstitutionalised Tairāwhiti Golf Association.

The week-long over-40s matchplay tournament, featuring all 15 of the country’s provinces, will be the first official event for Tairāwhiti players and will fittingly be played on home fairways — Poverty Bay’s Awapuni Links course.

Welcoming in that new era will be a six-man Tairāwhiti masters squad led by Tairāwhiti Golf Association president Anaru Reedy.

The rest of the team are Reedy’s Electrinet Park clubmates Tony Akroyd and Peter Stewart, Auckland-based Waikohu member David Solomann, Patutahi’s Jace Brown and Tolaga Bay’s Neil Hansen (reserve), who will be making his Freyberg Masters debut.

“It’s looking good,” Reedy said of the team. “The boys are all keen to get out there and do it for the province.”

At the top of their list is getting rid of an albatross around their neck — the wooden spoon.

Tairāwhiti have been last in the previous three Freyberg Masters — a bitter taste Reedy and Akroyd have had to endure each time.

But they’re back for more and as determined as ever to help move the country’s smallest golf union up the national ladder.

Reedy is at No.1 in the squad and faces a daunting challenge. But the 2004 national Māori champion is familiar with that spot and over the seven Freyberg Masters he has played in has chalked up some impressive victories.

All but Stewart and Hansen have extensive Masters experience.

No.2 Akroyd, one of the most loyal servants of PBEC golf over the years, debuted in 2017 and has played in every one since.

No.3 Solomann, who won the 1995 Poverty Bay Open as an 18-year-old before ending up in Auckland where he is a member of the Whitford Park course and men’s president of Auckland Golf, will be playing in his fifth Masters.

No.5 Brown — the first of the Tairāwhiti team to tee off on Monday — will chalk up his fourth and goes in on the back of a hot round on the Bay course  last weekend, 3-under 69.

Stewart was team reserve in 2019 and played two matches. He will be searching for his first win this week.

Big-hitting Hansen is the Masters rookie but has represented the district at the national interprovincial.

All six know the course well and that should be an extra club in the bag, enhanced by hometown support.

History could provide further inspiration.

The best Masters result of this millennium for PBEC was 10th in Timaru in 2004  and when they tee off on Monday it will be 20 years to the day since they enjoyed arguably their finest one-day result — wins  over Southland and Manawatu Wanganui on Hamilton’s Lochiel course.

Manawatu Wanganui are Tairāwhiti’s Round 1 opponents, followed by defending champions Wellington in the afternoon, Tasman and Canterbury on Tuesday, Taranaki on Wednesday, Hawke’s Bay and Bay of Plenty on Thursday, and a morning bye and Southland on Friday.

Locals will be familiar with several players in other provinces.

Mark Smith and Craig Van Der Nagel are returning to the scene of their September 23 Poverty Bay Open championship 16 final won by Smith. Smith is at  No.2 in the Bay of Plenty team while Van Der Nagel is No.4.

Hawke’s Bay No.1 Doug Holloway is a multiple winner of the Poverty Bay Pro Am as a professional.

Northland No.2 Alex Tait has had success as an amateur and a pro on the Awapuni Links course. Former New Zealand cricket international Tait, who has family in Gisborne, won the Poverty Bay Open in 2002 and 2003, and the Poverty Bay Pro Am in 2011.

Man-Wang No.2 Tony Chettleburgh has fond memories of the course. Chettleburgh was player of the tournament at the 2008 Freyberg Masters at Poverty Bay — winning all eight of his matches.

While rain is forecast for Monday to Thursday, the players are in for a treat course-wise.

Awapuni Links is in supreme nick, with some saying it is the best they have ever seen it — a credit to head greenkeeper William Brown and his crew.

Gisborne’s Tessa McDonald produced a perfect record for Hawke’s Bay at the Sybil Green Salver matchplay interprovincial on the Castlecliff course in Whanganui last weekend.

Playing at No.2, McDonald won all three of her matches as the eight-strong Hawke’s Bay team won the quadrangular also featuring Manawatu Wanganui, Taranaki and Wellington.

In Round 1, McDonald beat Casey Chettleburgh 2 and 1 in a 6-2 team win over Manawatu Wanganui. In Round 2, McDonald beat Meena Reilly 3 and 1 as Hawke’s Bay defeated Taranaki 5½ to 2½. In Round 3, McDonald beat Peta Time in a 4-4 draw with Wellington.

Hawke’s Bay ended on 2½ team points and 15½ individual wins with Wellington second on 1½ and 14.