Club Open turns up top scores in early rounds

The Mahunga Open Tournament saw some very good rounds posted on the first day, but for the most part the scoring fell away on the second day.
In the men's group, the best gross round on Saturday was the 76 posted by Lance Duckett, closely followed by Willie Paku on 77, Bruce Herangi on 78 and both Graeme Dick and Graham Duckett on 80. The best nett score was the 62 nett of Graham Duckett's, followed by Willie Paku's 63, Maurice O'Reilly on 65, Carl Cocks 66, George O'Keeffe 67 and Kevin May 68.
In the women's group, it was Anita Karaitiana who showed the way with a 76 gross to have a comfortable lead over Jo Hargood on 81 and Rose Alexander on 85. Anita Karaitiana was also leading the nett standings with a 70, followed by Rose Alexander and Janet Campbell with 72's and Jo Hargood on 73.
The cooler and damper conditions on Sunday saw some of the leading scorers from Saturday blow out, while others held their games together. In the women's competition, Anita Karaitiana scored an eagle on the fourteenth hole on her way to a second round of 76, and first place for the tournament on 152.
All of the other women's scores were higher on the second day, leaving Jo Hargood in second place in the gross. It was much tighter in the nett competition, with both Janet Campbell and Rose Alexander finishing on 149 nett for the two rounds.
In the men's competition, Lance Duckett added another round of 76 to take the top spot on 152.
Bruce Herangi was only three shots more on Sunday than Saturday, and with Willie Paku having the biggest difference in scores between the rounds, he took second place on 159 nett. Willie Paku was still able to just hold on to third place on 171, followed by Chic Reiri, Steve Hargood, Laurence Butler and Graeme Dick all on 174.
Maurice O'Reilly made the nett competition a one horse race by adding a nett 64 to his first round score to finish on 129 nett. Second Place fell to Graham Duckett on 137 nett, followed by Kevin May on 140. Jake Paulsen came into the reckoning by producing the third best nett score of the day, a 69, and took fourth place on141 nett.
Ted Collins and Carl Cocks were the next best on 143 nett, followed by George O'Keeffe on 144. There was a Lukies Lucky Last for the tournament, and that honour fell to Kevin Hunter with a total of 164 nett
There were nearest to the pins on both days. On Saturday, Graeme Dick took the Solway Pie Shop one on the first hole, Kevin Hunter the third, Anita Karaitiana the sixth, Steve Hargood the Solway Butchery one on the eighth, and Paul Haxton the seventeenth.
On Sunday, Bruce Herangi took the Solway Pie Shop one on the first, Alf Puhara the third, Willie Paku the sixth, Mark Langlands the Solway Butchery one on the eighth, Jo Hargood the Progressive Engineering one on the tenth, and Greg Granich the seventeenth.
There were also long drives on both days, with the women's ones going to Jo Hargood on Saturday and Anita Karaitiana on Sunday. The men's senior long drives went to Bruce Herangi on Saturday and Graeme Dick on Sunday, while Kevin May caused some surprise by taking the intermediate ones on both days, and Mark Schultz won the junior one on both days.
It was quite surprising that, in spite of the good scores posted on Saturday, there was only one hole in two for the day. That was scored by Carl Cocks when he chipped in from off the tenth green, and on Sunday, only Laurence Butler was able to score a hole in two. Needless to say, both players will not be looking at purchasing golf balls for some considerable time.
Monday saw a reasonably good sized field play in the Mahunga Short Course Stableford Tournament. This is one tournament when the points scoring is very high, but has no detrimental effect on the handicap.
The best total on the day was the 70 points scored by Fiona Samuel in taking out the women's group. Di Hunter and Evelyn Munn were runners up with a mere 68 points, while Anita Karaitiana and Jean Bayly both finished up with 64 points.
In the lower handicapped men's group, Geoff Taylor led the way with 64 points to just edge past Ray Cocks on 63 and Doug Leach on 62. The latter's score card was a game of two halves, with 26 points on the first nine and 36 on the second. Rob McKelvey and Laurence Butler rounded out eh prizes in the group with 60 points.
In the middle handicap group, Matthew Biel took the honours with 66 points from Mark Schultz on 65. There was a bit of a gap back to Paul Haxton and Martin Andrew on 62, with Fred Brittain and Ron Hutcheson vying for the last place in the prize list, with Ron Hutcheson being the one to miss out.
The third men's group saw both Greg Granich and Maurice O'Reilly finishing with 69 points, to only just head off Gordon Campbell and Des Greaves on 58, with Ray Loader taking the fifth place on 67 points.
On Tuesday, the veterans played in a Canadian Foursomes competition. The best combination was that of Gordon Campbell and Trevor Oliver, who had a nett score of 49?. Mei Hakaraia and Fred Brittain were three shots adrift in second place, while Nancy Baylis and Wayne Furness were third on 56 nett. Daphne Jordan and Coll Isherwood were fourth on 56? nett, with Judith O'Connor and Jim Munn rounding out the prize list one stroke further back. There were two nearest to the pin prizes on the sixth hole, with Susan Christall taking the one for the women and Gordon Campbell the men's.
Next weeks competition for the veterans will be a stableford round.
This coming week-end sees the men and women combining to play the first round of the Greenaway Cup on Saturday. For those players without partners, the competition will be a stableford round.
Sunday is Club Championships finals day. The 36 hole finals will tee off from 8.30 am, followed in the afternoon by the 18 hole Championship finals as well as the consolation event finals.
On Thursday 4th and Friday 5th November, the club is holding a two day veteran's tournament. Entries are being taken for this tournament, and there is an entry sheet in the foyer of the clubhouse.
Then there is just two weeks to the Copthorne Solway Park Wairarapa Men's Open Fourball Best Ball Tournament, which is played over 36 holes on Sunday 14th November. Entries are open for the tournament and are starting to come in at a steady trickle at present.