Mark Jefferson watches his ball during the final of the Sean Shivnan Pharmacy 19-man shootout on the Awapuni Links course on Sunday. Jefferson went on to win the hole-by-hole elimination competition. Photo / Gray Clapham
Mark Jefferson watches his ball during the final of the Sean Shivnan Pharmacy 19-man shootout on the Awapuni Links course on Sunday. Jefferson went on to win the hole-by-hole elimination competition. Photo / Gray Clapham
Patutahi
Brian “BC” Tietjen left his best to the last on Sunday ... a career second hole-in-one.
Tietjen aced the 140-metre sixth hole - his group started on the seventh - to cap a round from out of the blue.
His ace - achieved with a 6-hybrid- put multiple exclamationmarks on his best round since January 2021 - 84-24-60.
There had been no sign of what was to come when he stepped on to the seventh tee to start his day. His previous two 18-hole rounds were 104, 100 and he started Sunday’s with a triple-bogey 7.
Then all of a sudden, a switch flicked, including a birdie and three pars, as Tietjen and Pat Hokianga gave Jason Phillips and Pat Molloy a 5 and 3 towelling in their four-ball haggle before walking to the sixth green to pick his ball out of the hole.
Tietjen not only won the junior division net, he collected the jackpot.
He and Pete “Chopper” Summersby were ejected in the first round of the men’s pairs competition recently. When Summersby heard about the hole-in-one, he said to his mate “even bad shots go in”.
BC replied: “Well, that’s two bad shots now, Chopper.”
Brian Tietjen next to the sixth tee sign after his hole-in-one at Patutahi Golf Club on Sunday. It was his last hole of the round, having started on the seventh.
SUNDAY- Net, senior division: J. Neilson 64, M. Smith 64, P. Summersby 66, W. Baty 68, S. Pohatu 68.
Junior division: B. Tietjen 60, B. McKenzie 63, A. Davis 64, L. Jamieson 67, H. Pomana 67.
Jackpot: B. Tietjen.
Hole-in-one on 6th: B. Tietjen.
Twos: P. Hokianga, J. Neilson, M. Smith, P. Summersby, S. Skudder.
Poverty Bay
Craig Christophers hasn’t exactly lit it up on the Awapuni Links course in recent months, but he shone in the Primo Cup final on Saturday.
Christophers’ round of 78-11-67 ended up earning him a title double - the Primo Cup itself and the Country Foods drawn partners with Marg Colebourne.
The Primo Cup final brings together the men’s and women’s top points-scorers from various competitions over the year.
Up for grabs is a healthy chunk off next year’s subscription.
It is played as a front-nine-net-minus-back-nine-stableford format. Christophers was the overall winner with 33-20-13.
Andy Hayward was one back on 34-20-14 while Tene Goldsmith was third-best man with 37-21-16.
Colebourne was top woman with 35-19-16 from Jan Steele 34-16-18 and Maxine Francois 37-18-19.
A drawn partners combined competition is held in conjunction with the Primo Cup. Christophers and Colebourne won that with 80 points.
Jon Jenner is enjoying a purple patch. He won the division 1 men’s stableford last Thursday with 77-10-67, for 41 points, and followed it up with victory in the veteran men’s net on Tuesday with a 15-par, three-bogey round of 75-9-66.
Jimmy Situ was in sublime form in the outward nine of his Sunday round. Situ shot 3-under 33 - it could have been 32 but for a three-putt on the ninth - for a whopping 26 points. He came home in 42 for a division 1 men’s stableford-winning 75-10-65, for 43 points.
TUESDAY - Veteran men’s net: J. Jenner 66, J. Aitchison 67, R. Fletcher 69, D. Atkins 71, K Travers 71.
COMING UP: THURSDAY, November 21, Willy Brown Farewell men’s open tournament, in conjunction with Liquorland Thursday Throne, par, gross and net competition, 11.18am to 1pm start times, $25 entry to be paid prior to event, enter at pro shop.
Waikohu
Richard Reeves’ rich vein of form continues.
The recently crowned Coates Trophy champion shot easily his best round of the year - 76-12-64, for 42 points - to win the men’s stableford on Sunday.
Marg Tuapawa was in a class of her own in topping the women’s stableford with 101-34-67, for 41.
SUNDAY - Men’s stableford: R. Reeves 42, T. Smith 38, K. Tamanui 35, S. Ritchie 35.
Women’s stableford: M. Tuapawa 41, E. Wynyard 34, Andrea Reeves 33.
Twos: R. Reeves, E. Wynyard.
COMING UP:SUNDAY, club competition; SATURDAY, Nov 23, Waikohu Christmas Cheer open tournament, 10.30am cup of tea, 11am tee-off, inquiries to Audrey Tamanui-Nunn 022-177-2472.
Electrinet Park
Shaun Nepe won the Gordon’s Pharmacy twilight stableford last Thursday with 23 points, one ahead of Cruz Thompson.
Zach Rolls fired 1-under 32 for the composite 9.
THURSDAY (Nov 7) - Gordon’s Pharmacy twilight stableford: S. Nepe 23, C. Thompson 22.
COMING UP: WEDNESDAY, November 20, Coates Associates Ladies Xmas Tournament, report at 9am for 9.30am shotgun start, gross, net and Stableford prizes, nine-hole (report at 10.15am) and 18-hole sections, maximum handicap 36. Entries close Monday, November 18, phone Kino White 0224956677, Jean Foot 8687744 or golf club 8679849, players encouraged to “wear a Christmas cheer”.
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Coolhand Jeffo last man standing in PB shootout
Mark Jefferson wore the right shirt for Poverty Bay Golf Club’s Sean Shivnan Pharmacy men’s Shootout final on Sunday.
Dressed in Tiger Woods’ traditional final-round red, Jefferson showed all the composure of his first-class cricket days to be the last man standing after 19 men teed off the first hole and, one by one, hole by hole, dropped off until two were left standing on the 18th tee.
Jefferson, off a 7-handicap, found himself in an 18th-hole gunfight with former Poverty Bay Open champion Simon Jeune, off a 3.
Neither hit the 356-metre par-4 green in regulation, so it became a battle of chipping.
Jeune only got into the field Sunday morning after a three-man chip-off for two available places - the other going to Kurt Summersby.
Jefferson put his ball to about 2½ metres of the hole; Jeune to a metre.
Cool as a cucumber slushie, Jefferson slotted his putt for par, then watched as Jeune - arguably the best short-game exponent in the region - missed his, the ball rolling around the hole.
It was “Jeffo’s” day but one of the stars of the show was third-placed Murray Smith, who went out on the 17th after a putt-off with Jeune.
Shootout referee Duncan Bush said Smith was “unbelievable” over the duration of the round, while finalist and shootout co-organiser Gray Clapham described Smith’s performance as “like watching Happy Gilmore”.
“He did things a normal 28-handicapper should not do,” Bush said. That included slotting a 7m downhill snake for par-4 on the potentially treacherous 14th green.
Dom Wilson, who only qualified for the shootout final shortly before the cut-off, was the first man eliminated after bunker issues on the first ended in a triple bogey 8.
Summersby only lasted five holes but left his impression when his drive on the fifth somehow ended just short of the fourth green about 80m to the left of the tee.
“I’ve never seen anyone end up there off the fifth tee,” Bush said.
Order of elimination was - Dom Wilson (No 1), Jarome Finch (No 2), Willie Mortleman (No 3), Andy Putnam (No 4), Kurt Summersby (No 5), Stephen Francks (No 6), Keith Marshall (No 7), Gray Clapham (No 8), Bill Simpson (No 9), Tene Goldsmith (No 10), Bruce Talbot (No 11), John Van Helden (No 12), Brent Colbert (No 13), Dave Pirimona (No 14), Neil Mackie (No 15), Carl Carmody (No 16), Murray Smith (No 17), Simon Jeune (No 18).
