Quadrangular a mixed bag for Taranaki
Last weekend’s district quadrangular at Boulcotts Farm Heritage Golf Club in Lower Hutt was a mixed bag for the three teams representing Taranaki. The men’s and women’s senior teams and a men’s masters team competed against teams from Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu-Wanganui and hosts Wellington.
The women who play for the Sybil Green Trophy started on the Saturday morning with a 4-4 draw against Hawke’s Bay with No 1 Celeste McClean securing the half with a 3/2 win.
The afternoon match against Manawatu-Wanganui proved a lot tougher as they lost 51⁄2-21⁄2 with Tyla Winter and Tineka Kumeroa recording the only wins for the side.
Sunday’s match was always going to tough against a strong Wellington team and Taranaki were well beaten 6-2 with Winter and Kumeroa again registering the two individual wins for the side. Winter won all three of her matches.
The men’s team played Wellington on Saturday morning and were beaten 6-2. There were wins at No 1 and No 2 by Andrew Searle and Joseph Doyle.
The afternoon game saw the team take on Manawatu-Wanganui and come away with a 5-3 win.
Brook Gray and Zach Lewis had comfortable wins 6/4 and 5/4 respectively with Searle and Doyle also winning again.
Sunday’s game against Hawke’s Bay was tightly contested with the Bay side coming out on top 41⁄2-31⁄2. Three of the matches were not decided until the 18th hole. One highlight was Joseph Doyle maintaining his 100 per cent record with a 2/1 victory.
The men’s masters team started off playing hosts Wellington and lost 4-2. Aarun Langton, playing at No 1, won 2/1 while No 6 John Newland took the other point with a 1 up win.
The Saturday afternoon match was even closer but Taranaki were on the wrong side of the ledger, losing to Hawke’s Bay 31⁄2-21⁄2.
Stephen McIntosh, who was making his representative debut, won his match 3/2 to record his first points for the province.
Their final match on Sunday against Manawatu-Wanganui proved to be the toughest as they lost 41⁄2-11⁄2.
The boy’s team came away from their first interprovincial in more than 10 years with two wins from their six matches to finish eighth.
The team found the going tough in their opening game against hosts Waikato who soundly beat them 6-0.
The afternoon match against eventual winners Canterbury proved equally challenging as they lost 5-1.
Josh Morris provided the lone point, winning his match 4/3. The team finally got off the mark when they beat Northland 4-2, with Monte Burmester’s 1 up win at No 1 giving the team their first win.
Taranaki then lost to Bay of Plenty 6-0 before their match against Eastland which was the most keenly contested for the side during the week with the biggest winning margin from either side 2/1 and four matches going to the 18th.
Matthew Allen gained his second win of the week, winning 2/1 and Blake Symes secured a half point at No 5. The win put them in the play-off game for seventh against Otago with the South Island side going on to overpower Taranaki 5-1.
While some of the matches, particularly in the No 5 and No 6 spots were one-sided, the players have gained a huge amount of experience from the event and will no doubt be working hard for next year’s event.
Meanwhile, Pieter Zwart continued his great form as he and fellow competitors overcame some rough weather that came in towards the end of the round to win the Croucher and Crowder Hawera Pro-am on Tuesday after coming out on top in a three way play-off against Jared Pender and Brad Shilton after the trio all ended seven under par.
Zwart birdied the second play-off to claim his second event win of the season.