Dominant Dom Barson

In truly dominant fashion Dominic Barson has won the Augusta Funds Management, Taranaki Open presented by PipeTech by four shots today.

The local professional was a man on a mission as he claimed his maiden Jennian Homes Charles Tour title. Starting the round one shot behind Kerry Mountcastle, Barson came out firing as he recorded five birdies in six holes and was untouchable from there as he carded an impressive round of 7-under 65.

To see a local champion is always special and it means a lot to our new winner and local community.

"Its certainly very special to win one here, I turned pro when I was 16 and thats a long time ago, so I must have played 50 or 60 of these events over the years, so its nice to finally win one," beamed Barson.

"Its an amazing feeling and I hit it really well today and carded no bogeys which was the main plan for the round."

After a second round of 64 which tied the course record, producing another low round of 65 on Sunday afternoon, which included seven birdies was simply superb and proved why he is a deserving winner at -18.

Barson wont be changing his normal routine post winning a national title as he prepares to get straight back into the New Plymouth Golf Club pro-shop as soon as tomorrow.

"But its straight back to business and I will be back in the pro-shop tomorrow and Tuesday and Wednesday" laughed the 43-year-old.

Behind Barson the field slowly separated, with Shaun Jones claiming second alone at -14 and in outright third, amateur Kerry Mountcastle finished at -12.

Another factor that will also make this victory more special was the strength of the field this week. For the season opener it was a very strong line up of New Zealand Golfers and it is somewhat of a surprise more of them didnt fire with the likes of Mark Brown, Josh Geary, Dan Pearce and Nick Gillespie all making a return to the Jennian Homes Charles Tour.

This concludes a great start to the new Jennian Homes Charles Tour season. Next stop on the calendar we head to Christchurch for the Harewood Open where Daniel Hillier will be aiming to defend his first title at this level.

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Golf NZ