GOLF: Dash of humour apt after Bay win

ANENDRA SINGH
It's always a healthy sign for sportspeople to fall back on humour when they have their backs against the wall.
The desire to go through undefeated must be putting immense pressure on the minds of the Hawke's Bay senior men's golfers in Timaru after they stumbled on the first day of the Lion Foundation Interprovincial Matchplay Championship on Tuesday.
But yesterday they kept their hopes alive after crushing Northland 4-1 in the morning.
No doubt relaxation appears to be the key to their back-to-back successes as they showed after beating Otago by the same margin on Wednesday.
So the five players - Nick Radonich, Darryn Turley, Bruce Middlemiss, Stuart Duff, Sam Hucker and reserve Nick Gillespie - seem to be doing just that, relaxing. Yesterday they watched, on TV, the Black Caps skittle Sri Lanka in the first Test match.
However, coach Brian Doyle told SportToday that he, Duff and caddy Chris Walker planned to go to Timaru Boys' High School to see the tree that New Zealand athletics legend Jack Lovelock had gifted to the school as a sapling after winning gold in the 1500m during the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany.
So it was only logical to ask if the other players were going to visit the site for some inspiration before facing third seeds Bay of Plenty and seventh seeds Christchurch today at the Levels course.
"No, some of them have seen enough trees this week and for others the beach is out of the question as well," Doyle said with a laugh, referring to some bunker situations that didn't go their way in the opening rounds against lower seeds and hosts, Aorangi and Tasman.
Things are also not going the way of Hawke's Bay Golf Club member Turley, who hasn't won a match since his first round 2 and 1 victory over Aorangi's Nigel Heney in the first round.
Yesterday the owner of Sharpies Pro Golf Shop and Driving Range lost 1 down to Northland's Brad Bonnington.
Celebrating his 39th birthday, Turley said: "It would have been very nice to win on my birthday but it wasn't to be. I'm really happy though that the team won again."
Bemoaning his "pretty average" driving and putting yesterday, a thoughtful Turley, after a quiet walk on his own, told SportToday that he aimed to win two games for the Bay.
"Even if we do win both matches we may not be assured of a place in the semifinals but at least we'll be in a good position to get through, although the first day may come back to haunt us," he said.
Asked if the boys had done anything special for his birthday, a jovial Turley replied: "Yeah they presented a chocolate cake to me at lunchtime but they had run out of candles."
Yesterday, Turley showed fighting spirit to come back from three down to go one up but an errant out-of-bounds shot saw him go downhill while Bonnington followed an amazing drive with a 25m birdie to win.
No.1 Radonich, of Takapau Golf Club, beat Gary-John Hill 3 and 1. Doyle, a high performance coach for New Zealand Golf has coached Hill, a member of the New Zealand team that played against Australia for the Claire Higson Trophy recently.
No.3 Middlemiss, of Napier Golf Club, shot 14 pars and two birdies to blitz Jeremy Hay 4 and 3, while No.4 Duff crushed Richard Pelsky 5 and 3. A relaxed Hucker beat Gavin Welsh two up.