It was a battle of district representatives in The 2012 New Zealand Golf Mixed Foursomes Championship final at the Taupo Golf Club.
Wellington Masters representative Malcolm Gullery, paired with Alanah Braybrook (Wellington representative), took out the title after beating Craig Hamilton (Omanu GC), who was paired with Grace Senior (TaurangaGC). Both Hamilton and Senior are Bay of Plenty district representatives, and, despite their top seeding, could not match Braybrook and Gullery, losing 4/3 in the final round at the weekend.
Braybrook has been a Wellington representative since she was 13. At 20, this is her first national Foursomes Championship win. Gullery is a current Wellington Senior representative, a position he has held for seven years. The pair had impressive wins all weekend, never going past the 15th hole in all four matches. They came to the tournament in good form having won the Wellington Mixed Foursomes earlier in the year.
In yesterday's semifinal win, they beat defending champion Anita Harkerss (Shandon) who was paired with a new partner, fellow Shandon member David Thwaites. They lost 6/5 also to Gullery and Braybrook, struggling to find the fairway off the tee. Harkerss was a winner in both 2011 and 2010 when paired with Paul Bailey. Bailey and Harkerss have both represented Canterbury prior to their moves to Otago and Wellington respectively.
The Championship plate was won by Peninsula members Norman and Colleen Fairweather, who beat Gil Wallace (Titirangi) and Dorothy Wallace (Chamberlain Park) in the semifinal 4/3.
Local Taupo club members Ricky Scammell and Kani Peneueta won the second division, that was handicap foursomes match play. Scammell and Peneueta beat Michael Earley (Fitzroy) and Jill Lloyd (Wairakei) 6/5, in yesterday's final match. The second division plate was won by Westown club members Heather Elliott and Grant Lester. Elliott and Lester, won the plate 4/3 over Graeme and Robyna Aitken from Te Marua.
Other winners included Championship Flight winners, Blair Murdoch and Brooke Polley from Tauranga and Phil Dryland (Maungakiekie) playing with daughter Brittany who plays out of the Titirangi Golf Club. Omanu members Ron Sisson and Susie-Jane Hikario took out the third flight in the championship. Plate flight winners in the championship division included Shinji and Yuriko Manabe (Shandon), Mark Tito (Taupo) playing with Grace Thompson (Wairakei), and Nan Johnston (Hamilton) paired with Titirangi club member, Barry Wither.
Division Two flight winners included Aaron and Marnie MacDonald (Whangaparaoa), Pip Idour (Otago) and Neville Idour (Christchurch), David and Ramona McDowell (Judgeford), Nigel Langdon and Mary Plummer, both local Taupo members, John and Sally Millar from Howick and Mo and Tony Reardon, from Australia.
