Fifty-year wait over for Feilding
Feilding have broken a 52-year drought in the A-grade pennants, beating Manawatu¯ to claim their first title since 1969.
Feildingwon the final 7-2 at Rangitı¯kei on Sunday and captain Mike Atkins said they played really well to beat Manawatu¯.
Feilding lost the final two years ago and had been beaten by Manawatu¯ in other finals, so Atkins was pleased to win.
‘‘We started off really well in the morning, which we won 21⁄ 2-1⁄2. Then in the afternoon it was pretty tight. With probably five or six holes to go it looked like it could still go eitherway.
‘‘At one point me and Ryan [Rooney] and Tomas [Shaw] were all two down and the other matches were quite close. There was a moment or two where I was thinking this is feeling very familiar.’’
Atkins had been playing pennants since hewas a teen and never won the competition, so he was pleased to finally do it.
‘‘In the 20, 21 years I’ve been playing A grade I’d hate to know how many times I’ve got second. It would have to be close to 10 if not more.’’
Atkins believed playing at the neutral venue of Rangitı¯kei helped.
Manawatu¯ had won the roundrobin clash 7-2, but Feilding reversed it in the final.
Feildingwon themorning foursomes 21⁄ then secured the victory in the afternoon, winning the singles 41⁄ 11⁄
Shaw and Atkins won their foursomes match 3 and 2 over Craig
Nash and Kaleb Idemaru, Liam Finlayson and Macnamara halved with Angus Findlay and Ewan Westergaard, and Tony Chettleburgh and Ryan Rooney beat Greg Shaw and Regan Mcconaghty 3 and 2.
In the singles, Feilding No 1 Finlayson won 2 and 1 over Mcconaghty, Chettleburgh won 3 and 2 over westergaard at No 2, Atkins won 1up at No 5 over Shaw and Macnamara won 3 and 2 over Nash atno 6.
Manawatu¯’s Idemaruwon 4 and 3 over Shaw at No 4 and at No 3 Findlay halved with Feilding’s Rooney.
Atkins said they had a lot of support from Feilding members and he praised the gracious Manawatu¯ team.
Manawatu¯ co-captain Craig Nash said they could see howmuch the game meant to Feilding.
‘‘We went out and competed as hard as we could, but we were outgunned by the better team on the day.’’
He said it was gutting to lose, but they were happy to see Feilding win after such a long time.
Manawatu¯ won the women’s title, beating whanganui in the final round at Feilding.
The two teams were tied on points going into the final roundrobin match, so who ever won would claim the overall title.
The Manawatu¯ team of Rebecca Hopper and Lisa Herbert were beaten in the morning foursomes match, but both won their singles matches in the afternoon to win the title.
In the B grade final, Whanganui beat Marton 7-2 and in the C grade final waimarino beat Rangitı¯kei 6-3.