William Brown tees off the par-3 10th in the opening qualifying round of the Emerre & Hathaway Poverty Bay Open on the Awapuni Links course. Head greenkeeper and three-time PB Open champion Brown shot 68, 74 to earn the No 1 seeding for the championship 16 matchplay.
William Brown tees off the par-3 10th in the opening qualifying round of the Emerre & Hathaway Poverty Bay Open on the Awapuni Links course. Head greenkeeper and three-time PB Open champion Brown shot 68, 74 to earn the No 1 seeding for the championship 16 matchplay.
No one knows the Awapuni Links course better than head greenkeeper William Brown.
And it was his local knowledge that no doubt played a part as he shot a sort-of course record in top qualifying on day 1 of the Emerre & Hathaway Poverty Bay Men’s Open yesterday.
Brown (amember of Poverty Bay, Waikohu and Te Puia Hot Springs), chasing a fourth Open crown to go with his 2012, 2020 and 2022 titles, shot 2-under 142 in the 36 holes of strokeplay qualifying on a superbly presented course.
He opened with a 4-under 68 that featured seven birdies and an outward nine holes of 4-under 32, then added a 2-over 74 in the afternoon round.
For the second year running the Open is being held on a composite course - basically a rearrangement of hole order including the par-5 fifth hole becoming the 18th.
Electrinet Gisborne Park member Daniel Collier shot 69 last year on the same order of holes last year. Brown went one better to post the lowest score on that rearrangement. The actual course record is 64.
Defending champion Mark Smith (a member of Rotorua’s Springfield course) was second qualifier yesterday on 144 (73, 71), giving every indication that wresting the title from his hands is going to be tough.
Seven-times Open winner Waka Donnelly (Poverty Bay), looking to end a drought dating back to 2010, was third also on 144, courtesy of two 72s.
Mount Maunganui’s Matthew Champness was fourth on 148 (76, 72) and there were five shots back to fifth - local lad and 2023 semifinalist Zach Rolls, who added an excellent 73 to his morning 80.
Rolls, off a 7-handicap, also had the best 36-hole net of qualifying - his 139 one shot ahead of Poverty Bay clubmate Andy Abrahams with another two home-course players - Arvin Lawler and Richard Foon - on 141.
Sixth in gross qualifying was 2021 Open champion Anaru Reedy (153) - the Electrinet Park member and Tairāwhiti Golf Association president firing 32 on the back nine holes in his afternoon 74 after being 6-over after nine holes. His comeback included an eagle-2 on the 290-metre 14th after driving his ball to less than a metre from the hole.
Another former champion, 2013 winner Bruce Wilson (Taupō), flew the flag high for the elder statesmen in qualifying seventh on 153 (78, 75). Another 60-years-plusser Simon Jeune, who won the Open in 2019, was 12th on 155 (74, 81).
Defending champion Mark Smith, of Rotorua, qualified second at the Poverty Bay Open.
Other local players to make the top flight were recently crowned Poverty Bay senior club champion Rob Maruszewski (154 - 76, 78) and Marcel Campbell (155 - 78, 77).
The top 16 featured a split of seven locals and nine visitors. Among the outsiders were brothers Ben and Jacob Jujnovich, of Auckland’s Redwood Park course - Jacob was 13th on 156 (75, 81) and Ben filled the bottom spot on 157 (78, 79).
Cambridge’s Mitchell Kirkbride was the unlucky non-qualifier - posting 157 (77, 80) but losing out on a second-round countback to Ben Jujnovich and Rotorua’s Glenn Elliot (80, 77).
Last year’s runner-up Craig Van Der Nagel (Te Puke) was a surprising 14th on 156 (73, 83) - setting up a delectable first-round match against Donnelly.
Among the notable names to miss out on the championship 16 were Collier (79, 81), Whitford Park and Waikohu member Glenn Solomann (80, 78) and his father and 1995 Open champ David, who withdrew from the second round with a back injury after a morning 75.
The 36-hole qualifying format is tough, particularly for the higher handicapped players. The battler award had to go to Ngaruawahia’s Runty Jackson after rounds of 120, 111, including a 13 on the seventh hole. He was back out there today looking to win the seventh 16.
Gisborne Intermediate principal Andy Hayward took family bragging rights, heading off his two brothers and nephew, aka Three and a Half Men.
Phone footage is circulating of a player who decided to try to hit out of the water on the third hole. Four swashbuckling swings later, he dropped out.
The field features some powerhouse strikers - among them Pete Anderson, who crushed a drive down the 475m par-5 18th, then hit a wedge in for two.
Matchplay in seven groups of 16 started this morning. Semifinals and finals are on Saturday.
