Hazards live up to their name
The teams to play in this weekend’s Pennant Finals Day at Stratford have been decided following the Handicap Pennant quarterfinals at Waitara Golf Club. Inglewood 2 booked their place in the semi-finals with a crushing 8-1 win against Eltham. They will face fellow club side Inglewood 1 who had a great tussle with Te Ngutu 2. The teams finished locked at 41⁄2 41⁄2, before Inglewood no 1 Trevor Terry overcame Te Ngutu’s no 1 Karl Stratton on the 1st play-off.
The other semi-final is between Pungarehu, who defeated Kaitake1 6-3, and Manukorihi 2, who also needed a play-off to account for Westown 1. Manukorihi’s no1, Kevin Mancer, won the first extra hole against Westown’s no1 Craig Ramage.
In the first play-off, unbeknown to either side until the hole had been completed, Trevor Terry ground his club on a grass crossing of the hazard.
As per the rules of golf the penalty for grounding your club in a hazard is loss of hole in match play. However as the hole had been completed and the result confirmed before the status of the crossing was known, the penalty could not be applied. In the other play-off, Westown’s Craig Ramage had mistakenly thought his opponent received a stroke on the first hole and picked his marker up on the green as he believed the match was over. In fact he had a three-foot putt to halve the hole and take the match to the next hole.
In the senior pennant semifinals, Fitzroy play Te Ngutu and New Plymouth White take on Inglewood.
Meanwhile, ten junior golfers make up a Taranaki development team that has headed to Marton this week to compete in a lower North Island quadrangular tournament.
The Taranaki team are competing against sides from Wellington, Hawkes Bay and hosts Manawatu¯ Wanganui and will play at the Rangitikei golf course.
Junior development team: Matthew Allen, Blake Symes, Louis Baldock, Josh Elder, Cullen Mackay, Ashton Whiteman, Dillin Plimmer, Jakob Erb, Corban Dravitzki & Kingston Taylor-Voyle
In addition to the development side playing in the quadrangular, a team of under-19 golfers will represent Taranaki: Josh Morris (Te Ngutu), Jordan Anderson (Stratford), Max Shearer (New Plymouth) and Robson Tarrant (New Plymouth) will compete for the Shand Salver against the same sides, after the competition was moved from being played in October last year.