Tawa golfer, 16, claims honours

A Tawa player and a Napier prodigy claimed the honours at Paraparaumu Beach junior golf open this month.

Sebastian Kettle, 12, from the Napier Golf Club, got his school holidays off to a great start when he popped a holein-one on the second at the links course.

The eagle shot was not enough, however, for him to pick up any silverware, the youngster ending up third in the under-13s.

A field of 75 competed in a variety of age groups in perfect conditions at the under19 event.

Brady Bernard, 16, who lives in Tawa but plays for the Paraparaumu Beach club, clinched overall honours, shooting a two over par 73, despite a triple bogey eight on the 18th after he hit the ball out of bounds twice.

He finished one clear of David van Drimmelen of Manor Park.

It was Bernard’s first win in the event after five years of trying, and he credited good preparation and training.

‘‘I’ve been going out with Dad and just playing nine holes and doing a lot of practice around the greens, so it’s mainly just an improved short game.’’

Monday’s round proved a close contest between Bernard and van Drimmelen, but Bernard had a four-shot lead when he teed off on the 18th.

However, his first shot went out of bounds by about ‘‘a foot’’ and his second by ‘‘about 20m’’.

‘‘So we got to the green and Dave had a putt for birdie and I had a putt for eight and he missed and I made, so that was the difference.’’

Bernard shot three birdies over the 18 holes, but was a little disappointed with his 73, saying he regularly shot par and had shot 70.

Bernard captained the Paraparaumu Beach Watt Cup team, which beat Miramar 7-1 in the final in May to claim the club’s first win in the Wellington region under-19 competition in 18 years.

He also played in Paraparaumu Beach’s men’s interclub team in the Otaki Cup competition.