Munn, Tatana qualify

Red-eyed Manawatu/Wanganui representative golfers Joshua Munn and Junior Tatana were among the 32 players from the men's and women's field to get through qualifying at the New Zealand Amateur Championship.

Rain delays this week meant it took an early morning of extra play yesterday to find the final field, before the start of the main round at the Manawatu Golf Club by 9am.

The qualifying mark for the men was a five-over-par total of 149, with Munn and Tatana among five players fighting for the last three places.

On the first hole Tatana made a fine birdie from 5m to book his place. He was joined by Rotorua's Landyn Edwards, who made a miracle recovery from the second fairway to make par, while Munn followed suit by also making par.

"It meant a lot to me to make that putt, I didn't want to get out of bed this early for nothing," said Tatana after the playoff. "I am raring to go now. I can't wait to have a crack in the match play and see how far I can go."

New Zealand representative Munn was feeling relieved to secure his place following a stressful couple of days which opened with a rough round of seven-over-par 79.

"I had a shocker in round one," he said yesterday.

"I had to forget about it and move on really quickly. I played well [on Thursday with 70] and it was good to get my place this morning.

"I was pretty nervous but I knew that I have played this hole a thousand times before so I should be sweet."

Despite just scraping through qualifying, Munn fancied his chances of making a strong play for the title on home soil ahead of the start of the actual competition. "We all start again now and I know this place pretty well. I love playing match play and can't wait to get into it really.

"I wanted to play Luke [Toomey] because I thought that would have been a good match but we'll see what happens from here. It is just good to be part of it."

The men were teeing off from the first hole while the women went from the 10th yesterday morning.