Luke Brown shows his class to claim a third consecutive Northpine Bream Bay Classic title. Photo/Supplied
Luke Brown shows his class to claim a third consecutive Northpine Bream Bay Classic title. Photo/Supplied
Luke Brown has completed a hat-trick of titles at the Northpine Bream Bay Classic.
The tournament is an order of merit fixture on the NZ Golf Calendar which normally draws a large base of low single-figure handicap players from Northland and other districts. This year's entries dropped a little fromprevious years but the field was as strong as ever.
Brown, who has recently returned from a playing stint in Europe testing himself against the best amateurs in the world, got back into his work quickly.
Another Northland stalwart, Dale Clarke, was also in the field, looking to pick up some valuable selection points for the Northland men's representative team.
Clarke held a two-shot lead over Brown until the penultimate hole, the par three 17th where he made bogey and Brown made par to reduce the gap to one shot heading down the final hole.
Another untimely bogey for Clarke opened the door for Brown to force a playoff hole, which he duly did.
The pair headed down the 10th for a sudden death playoff where New Zealand representative Brown took the spoils, the second year in a row where he has won in a playoff.
Other credible finishes were Alex Neely (fourth place at two over), Christian Nitsche (seventh place at five over) and Kadin Neho (11th place at 11 over).
In the women's field, Northland stalwart Kylie Jacoby looked to impose her dominance around her home links but found some tough competition in North Harbour rep Subin Wui.
The pair were all tied up heading into the final round where they both carded rounds of 77 to finish with a total of 228, 12 over par for the weekend.
Another sudden death playoff down the 10th hole and then back up the 18th was required to find a winner. Wui got the better of the Waipu local to claim the 2017 title.
Mangawhai's Belinda May recorded a credible finish in third place while Wellsford's Alayna Cox and Hikurangi's Jenny Peters were not far back in the field.
Northland representatives now look forward to taking on North Harbour at Mangawhai Golf Club in the Great Northern Battle tomorrow.
