In one of the truly outstanding performances in this country's long and rich amateur golfing history, Mount Maunganui's Josh Geary led from start to finish to win the National Under-23 Championship at Hastings' superbly prepared Bridge Pa course yesterday.
Geary, 20, twice broke the course record during the tournament to
return scores of 64, 68, 63 and 69 for a record 24-under par total of 264, a whopping 12 shots in front of Napier's Doug Holloway, with Te Aroha's Matthew Holten a further shot back in third.
As well as Geary's score being the lowest ever at the u-23s, it's highly probable that it's the best ever, in relation to par, at an amateur tournament in New Zealand.
In the first of his two rounds yesterday, Geary broke his own course record set two days earlier, after a sizzling 31 on his second nine. He did that despite hitting only one fairway off the tee. Three times he was playing his second shot from under a tree and three times he made birdie. He needed only 12 putts for those nine holes.
Geary, who was the fifth best individual at last year's World Amateur Teams Championships in Puerto Rico, agrees that even after a remarkable 2004 where he won three significant tournaments, this is by far the best performance of his career.
"Until this tournament I'd never had a score better than seven under. Here I've had an eight under and a nine under in the space of three days."
Since his win at the North Island Championship last April, Geary has firmly established himself as the country's top amateur player. But he has no plans to turn professional until at least late next year.
In the interim he wants to get as many starts as he can in professional events. The first of those will be the New Zealand Open where, as a New Zealand team player, he's exempt.
Brad Iles finished on 294 in his first competitive outing since seriously injuring his head last year.
- HERALD ON SUNDAY
