Tasman golfers third in Dunedin
Tasman have recorded a heartening third place finish at the South Island interprovincial women’s golf tournament in Dunedin just over four weeks out from this year’s national Toro tournament.
Tasman head coach and selector Nick Loach was delighted with his team’s performance in which all eight players recorded a win at some stage over the two days on the demanding Balmacewen course.
Canterbury were in dominant form, winning all four of their matches to easily take out the Barbara Langley Trophy on 291⁄ wins from Otago on three points and 19 wins. Tasman were third with two points and 121⁄ wins, Aorangi South Canterbury fourth on one win (101⁄ and Southland fifth without a win (81⁄
Tasman began with an 8-0 loss to Canterbury before beating Aorangi 5-3 and Southland 41⁄ 31⁄ ahead of a 5-3 loss to Otago.
Tasman’s 13-year-old player Lizzie Neale was in excellent form at No 3.
Her only loss was to Canterbury No 3 Olive Tapu, Neale going down narrowly 2/1. She followed that with wins over Aorangi South Canterbury’s Sharon Bradford (3/1), Southland’s Jody Drysdale (4/3) and Otago’s Sumin Kang (2/1) to complete an impressive individual performance.
Tasman No 1 Emily Stenhouse also had one loss, going down 3/1 to Canterbury’s Amelia Garvey. But despite consecutive 2/1 wins over Aorangi’s Ginny Bolderston and Southland’s Angela Gerken, she was held to a half by Otago’s Annabel Evans.
Loach said that overall, it was an ‘‘awesome’’ team result.
‘‘Third out of five South Island teams, and we just lost to Otago by two points, so that was a good result too against them,’’ he said.
‘‘Everyone experienced a win so everyone got the winning feeling. They seemed to have a good time, they said all the preparation was really worthwhile once they realised that 36 holes two days in a row around that track is pretty gruelling.
‘‘But for the most part, it was an awesome result. I think it was a big test for them - as much as a physical test in playing the course, you’ve really got to be mentally switched on for eight or nine hours a day.’’
He said that Neale really showed her genuine potential.
‘‘She’s been putting in a lot of work, she’s been in pretty good form and she could be a seriously good golfer if she decides she wants to be in the future. So it was another good step in the right direction for her.’’
Loach was also impressed with Stenhouse’s efforts against ‘‘some very good golfers’’.
Loach said the selectors would get together to name their fiveplayer team for the Toro women’s interprovincial tournament at the Sherwood Golf Club in Whangarei starting on December 4.
‘‘We’ll spend a bit more time with them as a unit, have a bit of a debrief about how the tournament was and keep them all involved.
‘‘We’ll basically select the best team we think and whoever’s in form and can make a decent contribution to the team really.
‘‘Coming off a decent result, I think we can pick a solid team to go and compete against some really solid provinces.’’