Quality field for Westown

The Roger Mori Memorial Trophy tournament at Westown Golf Club this Saturday is the final opportunity for the top golfers in Taranaki to secure a place among the region’s representative players.

The A1 Homes-sponsored tournament is the last official trial for the 2020 Taranaki senior men’s, masters, and ladies teams. Their first rep appearance will be at the men’s Shand Cup and ladies’ Sybil Green Quadrangular tournaments at Te Ngutu Golf Club on October 10.

That profile was attracting a quality field to the classic, twoday, strokeplay competition, said Westown Golf Club president Phil Gerrard.

Almost 100 golfers have confirmed their entries in the 18-hole rounds on Saturday and Sunday, with a full field of 120 looking likely.

Heading the field so far is Manaia’s Sam Jones, who was New Zealand Amateur Champion in 2019. He is playing on a plus-5.5 handicap and is aiming to step into the world professional ranks after completing his studies last year at the University of West Georgia.

Near-scratch golfers in this year’s field include World Speedgolf 2018 runner-up Jamie Reid (2.1 handicap), who is a member at Fitzroy Golf Club, and Taranaki Golf selector and former rep player Aarun Langton (1 handicap). Last year’s winner, Brian Martelletti, of Inglewood, will be teeing off with a 4.8 handicap.

The best gross score draws the major attention, but there is a nett competition that allows players with more modest handicaps to achieve distinction as well.

Westown’s Ken Sykes will be back to see if he can repeat his 2019 success on his current 17.9 handicap.

The format for this year’s tournament will be similar to last year, Gerrard says. Following Saturday’s 18 holes, play on Sunday will be seeded according to those previous results.

There are financial rewards as well as bragging rights at stake. A $5000 prize pool includes a prize for best gross to the value of $600, a prize for best net to the value of $500, three nearest-the-pin prizes, one prize each for the men’s and ladies’ longest drives, as well as daily spot prizes.

The tournament began in 1987 as the Westown Classic, established by then Westown Golf Club pro Dennis Clark. Difficulties in obtaining sponsorship and dwindling entry numbers caused the club to drop the event in 2015. It was brought back last year as a memorial to long-time Westown supporter Roger Mori, who died in 2018.