Hastings Josh Geary blitzed a high-class field to win the New Zealand under-23 men's amateur strokeplay golf title in Hastings at the weekend. Geary, of Mt Maunganui, twice bettered the Bridge Pa course record in compiling a four-round card of 24-under-par 264 to win by 12 shots from Hawke's Bay's Doug Holloway. TheNew Zealand representative lowered the club record on Thursday when opening with an eight-under 64 and improved it to 63 in the third round to open an impregnable lead on the field. Geary's tournament score of 264 is believed to be a championship best, after Queenslander Travis Johns carded an 18-under 270 when winning in 2000. Any thoughts the frontrunning Geary might succumb to pressure were dismissed when he posted an eagle and seven birdies in his third round of nine-under 63. That left him an 11-shot cushion and a virtual lap of honour as he retraced his steps one last time in the final round in which he posted 69. Holloway shot a closing round of 70 to finish on 276, one ahead of Te Aroha's Mathew Holten, who shot 68 and 67 today. The best of the 10-man Australian contingent was Justin Maker, of the Virginia Club in Brisbane. He was one shot behind Holten and one ahead Cambridge's Jason Gill, who had a brace of 67s in the middle rounds to finish on 279. A large gallery followed Geary around a sun-drenched course for the last 18 holes and while he admitted his concentration started to wane a little towards the end, he still finished in the 60s for the fourth successive time. He birdied the first and third and went to 25-under with eight holes to play before bogeys at 12 and 14 put another sub-70 score in threat. However, he birdied the par-five 17th and safely two-putted the last for a 69 to go with his earlier rounds of 64, 68 and 63.? NZPA
