LEAD STORY - AMATEUR GOLF: Zwart aims higher

ANENDRA SINGH
Ever come away from a golf course feeling cheated out of a better score?
It wasn't because your opponent keeping the scorecard filled it out incorrectly before you inadvertently signed it.
No, it's more like you played out of your skin in the first 18 holes but a more sedate 18 in the afternoon yielded the same result but left you feeling flat.
Well, that's pretty much how Pieter Zwart felt yesterday when he finished playing at the Efficient Storage and Moving-sponsored East Coast Amateur Championship at the Maraenui Golf Club in Napier.
Having nailed four birdies and an eagle in the morning of the strokeplay section of the championship, Zwart handed in his card at the clubhouse for a one-under 71.
In the afternoon round, the plus-two Waipukurau/Hawke's Bay Golf Club handicapper emulated his score but the eagle had vanished and the number of birdies were also two shy.
The difference? The number of bogeys - he carded five in the morning and only one in the arvo.
But, as luck would have it, all that was mathematical for today's matchplay segment of the championship because Zwart won the strokeplay event from Hastings Golf Club member Supravee Phatam by six strokes in the field of 80 amateurs from throughout North Island.
``I played really aggressively in the morning but I also made a couple of mistakes,' said the 22-year-old East Coast Championship winner who intended to continue playing the same way today but eliminate the errors.
While his drives were solid, his putter got cold in the arvo on greens that had a mind of their own. Zwart's eagle came on the par five 13th from a chip in.
If he finds that form today Zwart fancies his chances after a best finish of semifinals in three previous attempts at matchplay.
Thailand-born Phatam's post-mortem was blunt: ``I didn't play well and I can do better.'
The 20-year-old Eastern Institute of Technology computer student, who plays off a plus-one handicap, was playing in the championship for the first time, considering he went back home during the Christmas Holidays for the past few years.
``I had birdies but I missed a few fairways and my putting wasn't that good,' said Phatam, who carded 73 in the morning and posted 75 in the afternoon.
``I'll do the same thing tomorrow but I'll be doing it better.'
Club manager Allan Shaw said the greens were fast and the fairways were in great nick due to the $320,000 Toro irrigation system the club had installed.
``It's an underground dual line system that is fully computerised and runs to the schedule of the head greenkeeper, Ray Dudding,' Shaw said.
The matchplay winners in the five divisions of 16 players will be known tomorrow afternoon after four rounds of play that will see the losers default to plate and bowl sections.