Watt a golf victory

Emerging Tawa golfer Brady Bernard helped Paraparaumu Beach claim Wellington under-19 honours last month.

The Paraparaumu Beach team locked up the Watt Cup for another year, after outplaying Wellington’s five other premier under-19 teams over 11 games.

Last year the side won the coveted trophy for the first time since 1975, and to back it up again this year showed their talent and boded well for the future, team manager Andrew Levesque said.

This year’s campaign started badly, with a 7- 1 away loss to Boulcott’s Farm on March 1, but the Paraparaumu Beach juniors never dropped another game. They turned the tables on Boulcott in the return home fixture on April 19, winning 41⁄ 3 before triumphing 5-3 in the final at Miramar on May 31.

‘‘Going into the final it could have gone either way, because Boulcott 1 are a very good team,’’ Levesque said. ‘‘It was touch and go there for the first 15 holes in the final, it was only decided in the last two or three.’’

Bernard, Gray Laurenson, Cooper Wattam and Connor Levesque played the final, with Cooper winning both his matches.

‘‘He’s normally our No 2 and I put him to No 3 for that reason. I said to him ‘I want two points out of you’, and he delivered.’’

The youngest member of the side, at 14, Cooper said it was good to win back-to-back titles with new faces in the team.

A highlight was beating Boulcott at Paraparaumu Beach, after the heavy opening round loss.

‘‘We all practised pretty hard that week. We just had confidence playing on our home track.’’

The Paraparaumu team featured seven players over the season, also including Glennie Hayward – one of two girls in the competition – Fergus Aitken and Eli Manuel.

Ranging in age from 14 to 17, they would be eligible for a tilt at a threepeat next year.

‘‘ It’s a good achievement them,’’ Levesque said.

‘‘They’re all progressing . . . and have really come together as a team, and it’s looking good for the future, not just for the Watt Cup, but also for the club.’’

Paraparaumu’s tally over the season included three draws, but two of them were occasions when they could only field three players and therefore forfeited two points, Levesque said.

‘‘It was a good effort, they fought well. Glennie, in one game, she was three down with three to play and ended up getting a half for us, so that meant we had the draw.’’

Glennie, Gary, Cooper and Connor were also members of the Paraparaumu College team which won Wellington’s secondary school competition in March and will contest the national final at Manor Park in September.

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