Taranaki golfer Sam Jones held off some fierce competition to win the 2020 Danny Lee Open at the Springfield Golf Course in Rotorua. Photo / Andrew Warner
Taranaki golfer Sam Jones held off some fierce competition to win the 2020 Danny Lee Open at the Springfield Golf Course in Rotorua. Photo / Andrew Warner
Every year, the next generation of New Zealand golf stars have the opportunity to test their mettle at the Danny Lee Open in Rotorua. Sports reporter David Beck was there to see how the 2020 edition panned out.
We know Taranaki golfer Sam Jones can hit the ball a long way, he is a former New Zealand long drive champion after all.
However, during the Danny Lee Open at Springfield Golf Club at the weekend, he showed he also has the finesse and composure to win a tournament under pressure.
In the 15th edition of the event, the men's tournament went down to the wire but Jones was able to hold off a chasing pack which included Rotorua local James Tauariki, who beat the record set on this course in 2018 with a remarkable 13-under par.
Tauariki finished one shot back in second place.
Jones finished a four-year stint at the University of West Georgia in the United States last year and has since won both the Bay of Plenty Open and North Island Amateur titles. He said hitting the ball cleanly and minimising mistakes were the keys to his Danny Lee Open win.
"It's probably the best I've hit it in a long time, it was just a matter of making some putts which didn't really happen but we got there. I just didn't make many mistakes really.
"I've just been driving real good, hitting it real good off the tee. Especially here, where it's so narrow, that puts you in a good position to make par and I managed to do that most of the time."
Rotorua's James Tauariki was the runner-up in the men's division at the Danny Lee Open on his home course Springfield. Photo / Andrew Warner
He said it was a good, tight competition between the group of four leaders.
"It got really close at the end there. It was good to have a bit of competition like that. Obviously, what they do determines what you want to do on the last few holes but I was never behind, I was always tied for the lead or ahead. I got a few lucky breaks on the back nine and it all sort of worked out.
"This is the first time I've played here, the course is awesome, the greens are really good. It's probably one of the tighter courses I've played - a few of those holes are pretty niggly but I really like it."
Meanwhile, Sherwood Park 16-year-old Hae Seung Kim took the win in the women's tournament.
She said she was feeling nervous during the event but happy to take the win.
"My putting was good. The competition was quite hard but easy at the same time - I just focused on my own game.
"[The course] is quite short but it's very narrow so it can be quite hard to play on."
Defending champion Harry Hillier, of Te Puke, in action during the Danny Lee Open. Photo / Andrew Warner
Tournament director Craig Tiriana said the level of competition at the top end was "really high".
"We're very fortunate to have some real high-calibre golfers in the field and it was good to have a local in their contesting for the title. Having a guy like Sam, with all the titles he's won in the last 12 months and adding this to it, that says a lot for the tournament, that it brings out players like him.
"In the women's tournament as well, a quality golfer wins the tournament which is what it's about, but it also keeps supporting what Danny [Lee] wants for the tournament which is an opportunity for the young guys to have a tournament and gain experience," he said.
