Young golfers make the grade
Two Matamata College students helped Waikato to win the New Zealand Booth Shield Tournament for the first time since 2005.
Cameron Rumney, 15, and Jack Trower, 13, were two of five boys and five girls chosen to play for Waikato in Wellington over Labour Weekend.
The team played 54 holes over two days and the top seven players had their scores counted after each round.
Cameron had all three of his nets counted (67, 73, 76), while Jack had his first two (72, 75).
The team was up 24 shots after the first 18, 16 after the second and finished up seven shots ahead to win the shield.
They were competing against six other teams from Northland, Bay of Plenty, Poverty Bay, Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki and Wellington.
They also had the Wellington weather to contend with, with wind at the Trentham Camp Golf Club reaching speeds of 120kmh.
It was the first year representing Waikato for Cameron, who is a member of Tirau Golf Club and has been playing for about five years.
At start of the year he was playing off a 25 handicap and now he’s down to a 12 handicap.
Jack first played in the tournament when he was just 9 and this is his fourth year in the team.
He is a member of Matamata Golf Club and has been playing ‘‘properly’’ for four years.
‘‘Before that I was just going out about once a month with my Granddad,’’ he said.
Cameron said he enjoyed the challenge of playing a sport where every- thing is up to each individual player.
‘‘It’s just like all the pressure is on you.
‘‘If you stuff it up, you only have you to blame.
‘‘And when you win, you know you have played well, instead of someone else trying to take the glory,’’ he said.