Nicholls birdie burst proves a winner

Saturday's stableford round saw a good sized turn out and, for the most part, the scoring was very even.
The Dove Trophy and Nichol Cup matches were also played on Saturday, and these saw some close matches as well as one that finished reasonably early.
Ken Luke was playing Jake Paulsen in one semi-final and ended up with a comfortable win.
Bruce Herangi was up against Francis Nicholls, who produced a three hole birdie burst from the sixth to eighth holes to jump out to an early lead that Bruce Herangi could not pull back.
In another of the matches, Mark Schultz and Daniel Towgood had to go to the twentieth hole before youngster Daniel Towgood secured the victory.
In the stableford round's lowest handicap group, Darryl Coley led the way with 40 points, from Raymond Cocks on 38 and Matthew Biel on 37. The second group saw both Graeme Paulsen and Bill Leahy finish with 40 points, with Alan Biel next best on 39 points. The third group saw Irene Phelps lead the way with 40 points, from Shannon Rimene on 38 and Heather Ousey on 34 points. Mike Foote has a day he would probably prefer to forget, with his 20 point haul earning him the Lukies Lucky Last prize for the day.
Francis Nicholls' birdie burst saw him take out the McAuley's Transport nearest to the pin on the sixth hole and the Solway Butchery one on the eighth hole. Matthew Biel took out the Solway Pie Shop one on the first hole, and with Troy Shaw snaring the Dinah and Deb Keats Professionals Real Estate one on the 17th hole, it was left to Ray Cocks to take out the Mitre 10 one on the third hole to prevent a junior clean sweep of the nearest to the pins. It would appear that no one was able to claim the Alister Bruce Affordable Building one on the tenth hole.
Holes-in-two were scored by Bill Leahy, Francis Nicholls, Ray Cocks and Haira Paku.
On Sunday, the men's Marquis Shield team played against Eketahuna at the Martinborough Golf Club.
The team result was quite good, with just three players losing their matches, while another three halved and the rest won for a solid 7? - 4?. That was sufficient to keep the team in second place overall, but they still lost a little bit of ground to Carterton.
At hole, the course was very busy on Sunday morning, with players from the Petone Working Men's Club, the Palmerston North and Masterton Cosmopolitan Clubs all playing on the course in the morning.
The club competition on Sunday was a par round, and the best score was the six up returned by Gavin Towgood. Next best were Graham Duckett and Fred Brittain on four up, with Trevor Oliver and Frank Martin on three up. Holes in two were scored by Anita Karaitiana and Kevin May.
This coming week-end will see the first round of three for the O'Keeffe Trophy being played on Saturday, with the competition of the day being a stableford round. For the ladies, Saturday will also be a round of their Home Pennants competition.
Sunday has the men's Marquis Shield team in action again, with the venue being Featherston and their opponents the table topping Carterton team. With Mahunga being in second place, albeit around six points adrift of the leaders, they will need to produce a very strong performance if they are to harbour any chance of capturing the title.
For the ladies, the competition is a round of their LGU competition, and the competition of the day is a medal round.
Coming up in the near future is the Wairarapa 14 ? 36 Strokeplay Championships, which is being played at Mahunga on the week-end of May 5 and 6. The entry sheet for this tournament is in the club house foyer.