Two wins to Kerekere but team golf victory eludes PBEC

LEADING BY EXAMPLE: Poverty Bay-East Coast captain Peter Kerekere has won three of his four matches so far at the Toro national interprovincial. Picture by Paul Rickard

A SIMPLE game plan well executed brought Peter Kerekere a perfect individual performance offset by a “gut-wrenching” team experience at the Toro men’s national interprovincial yesterday.

Captain Kerekere won both his matches on Invercargill’s Otatara course as his Poverty Bay-East Coast team lost 3-2 to Bay of Plenty and 4-1 to Manawatu-Wanganui.

It was their fourth defeat from as many ties but Kerekere was quick to point out the enormity of their challenge, and praise his teammates for their efforts on a sweltering day when the mercury reached 30 degrees.

“All the boys played well,” said the 28-year-old, who has so far lost just one of his four matches at No.3 for the bottom-ranked province.

PBEC were in sight of an upset win yesterday morning over BoP – a province with a proud history of success at the annual five-man teams’ matchplay tournament.

Kerekere got PBEC on the board with a solid 4 and 3 victory over Sam Davis while No.5 Andrew Higham got his win account under way in beating Jordan Golding 2 and 1.

With No.5 Eddie Brown junior losing 6 and 5 to Henry Spring and No.2 William Brown going down 4 and 3 to New Zealand speed golf champion and 2011 Poverty Bay Open winner Landyn Edwards, it all came down to the battle of the No.1s – Nathaniel Cassidy v BoP’s William Howard.

Tokoroa-based Tolaga Bay member Cassidy was 1-up with five holes to play but bogeyed three of the last holes and was pipped 1-down.

A gut-wrenching experienceKerekere said it was “gut-wrenching” but all the team rallied around Cassidy.

“He was gutted because he knows he had his chances . . . but that’s the way it goes.”

Kerekere, who two months ago won the Poverty Bay Open title for the first time, maintained his consistent form into the afternoon and it again reaped reward.

He quickly took control against Manawatu-Wanganui’s Hayden Ring and did not let him back in. He was 6-up after 11 holes, lost the next two to birdies, then finished off his opponent on the 14th.

His “game plan” for success was as simple as it gets in golf.

“Hitting fairways and greens.”

Kerekere said the rough at Otatara was merciless.

“You just have to hack it out with a club no longer than a 9-iron.”

Player-manager Tony Akroyd, who played his first national interprovincial match in 2000, replaced Brown jr in the afternoon and was on the wrong end of an 18-hole thriller against Regan Cording.

The other matches all ended on 15, Cassidy losing to New Zealand international and NZ Golf Order of Merit leader Josh Munn, Brown to Lachie McDonald and Higham to Josh Sedgwick.

Kerekere upbeatIt put PBEC in an all-too familiar situation at the foot of the table but Kerekere was upbeat.

“Team morale is good. Everyone’s happy. When you think about it, we’re not doing too bad even though the results are not what we want.”

PBEC faced an interesting round 5 clash with host province Southland this morning. Southland, who have had two team wins so far, have been attracting large galleries, which will add another element to PBEC’s search for their first team success.

Heading into today’s sole round, PBEC (0 team points, 3½ individual wins) were sitting at the foot of their eight-province group headed by Waikato (3pts, 12 wins) and North Harbour (3pts, 10 wins).

Otago (3pts, 11 wins) led group 2 from Hawke’s Bay (2½pts, 10 wins).

PBEC have a bye tomorrow morning and finish the tournament with what is shaping to be a crunch clash with Aorangi.