Champ joins fallen seeds

Saturday saw the men playing a preliminary round of their club championships in the Mahunga Golf Club intermediate and junior divisions.
All the matches went the way of the seedings in the junior division while, in the intermediate grading, the matches went against the seedings. One who fell to a lower-seeded player was last year champion Niusila Faaiuaso, who exited at the hands of Haira Paku.
Saturday's club competition was a par round. With gusty weather conditions, scoring was not easy. The day's best score was the 2-up total posted by Meki Lauvi in the first group, with Damian Carroll and Haira Paku sharing the runners-up spot on 1-up. In the second group, Phillip Granich led the way on 1-up, while Layton Kawana and Laurence Butler finished on 1-down.
The Solway Pie Shop nearest to the pin and the Mitre 10 prize on the third hole went to Phillip Granich, while the McAuley's Transport prize on the sixth hole went to Steve Walton.
The Solway Butchery prize on the eighth went to Troy Shaw and the Dinah and Deb Keats Professionals Real Estate prize on the 17th hole went to David O'Reilly, while no one was able to claim the Alister Bruce Affordable Sheds prize on the 10th hole. The All Teed up on the fourth hole fell to Ray Cocks. Sunday saw the club hosting a Srixon Pairs competition, with several visitors boosting the field. The best score on the day was the 54 points returned by the pairing of Shane Stewart and Graham Duckett. This score was largely built on the round of Stewart, who played well below his handicap to score an even par round. The runners-up were Ray Cocks and Chris Paine on 48, while the pairings of Arona Solomon and Steve Doherty and Darryl Coley and Kevin Hunter both finished on 46. On Thursday, the veterans' group played in a medal round. Maria Lauvi took the top billing in the women's competition with a score of 58 nett. The runners-up in the first group were Yvonne Allsworth and Nooroa Rota with scores of 64. In the second group, Cilva Richmond and Judith O'Connor posted 63, with Irene Phelps taking third place on 66.
The men's best score was the 57 nett scored by Meki Lauvi in the first group, which was two ahead of Keith Morgan, while Peter Campbell returned to the prize list in his first competition for many months with a 62. Roger Stenton led the second group on 60, with Ian Gemmill one stroke back in second place, while Trevor Oliver took third place on 62.
The women's nearest to the pins on the third and sixth holes went to Noora Rota, while the men's went to John Mudgway on the sixth hole and Meki Lauvi on the seventh hole. There were no holes in two scored on the day.
This coming weekend has the men playing the quarterfinals of their club championships on Saturday. The draw follows at the end of this report. For those not involved in the matches, the club competition will be a Stableford round.
Sunday's club competition will be a medal round, which will also see the men's winter eclectic competition close.
With the club championships now down to the last eight in each division, it is time to look at the possibilities. In the senior division, the defending champion will have a stern challenge to make the final, as he will possibly need to get the better of a past champion in Ivan Karaitiana, while at the top of the draw, last year's beaten finalist will face either Bruce Herangi or Suele Soromon in the semifinals.
In the intermediate championship, three-time champion Darryl Coley will need to be at the top of his form to make it to the final as he has to face Quentin Henderson this week and, if successful, he would then have to beat either Jason or Haira Paku.
In the bottom half of the draw a relatively inexperienced but improving Damian Carroll probably has to beat experienced Steve Walton to make the final.
The junior division will not see last year's champion take out the trophy as he did not qualify for the championships. With several players who have been in the intermediate division in recent year now playing in the junior division, all the matches will be hard to predict.
But if Shane Stewart can get near to last Sunday's form, he would make the final, but there are at least two players quite capable of stopping his progress. The Junior B championship would, according to the handicaps, most likely feature Phillip Granich and Steve Doherty, but results in this division are never easy to predict.
The club has two tournaments coming up in the near future. The first is the DB Business House Tournament, which is being held on Wednesday, October 6. The second tournament is the revamped Mahunga Open, which is being played as a 72-hole matchplay tournament on the weekend of October 9-10. Entries are being taken now.
Club championship matches Saturday, September 25:
11.15am: D. Towgood v S. Walton, A. Solomon v S. Stewart.
11.22am: G. Granich v A. Coltham, J. Paku v H. Paku.
11.29am: S. Soromon v B. Herangi, D. Carroll v D. O'Reilly.
11.36am: R. Cocks v R. Dravitzki, C. Paine v L. Kawana.
11.43am: M. Andrew v R. Stringfellow, I. Karaitiana v M. Biel.
11:50am: K. Downing v G Duckett.
1pm: Q. Henderson v D. Coley.