Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Ko headlines great weekend
Absolutely chuffed to see Lydia Ko win the Lotte Championship in Hawaii by seven shots. Her final round seven-under 65 saw her finish 28-under - the second-best LPGA Tour score ever.
It was like winning came easy at the start of her career, but she has found it much more difficult of late, so it must be satisfying to finally grab one after about three years.
Apart from that, might as well just reprint last week’s column and change a few teams around since Chiefs’ fullback Damian McKenzie was breaking hearts again.
Last week he was nailing a golden point penalty that made it the third game in a row where the Chiefs snatched the points.
This weekend he did the same thing, well almost, his penalty this time in the 77th minute to give his Chiefs a 26-25 win over the Crusaders.
Only three weeks ago he was scoring a late try to beat the Blues, so it’s now three weeks in a row and his side has gone from struggling to eyeing the title.
It’s like I said, winning ugly is still winning and I’ll give you a dollar for every Chiefs fan you can find who is not enjoying this little run.
With their backs against the wall, they have found a way to twin and now they host the Hurricanes in Hamilton next Friday night, with that finals berth within reach.
The Crusaders on the other hand must be gutted, since a win in Hamilton would have guaranteed the top spot, which they will still get when they beat the Blues in Christchurch next Sunday, securing a nice rest for themselves, since they have the bye in the final-round.
Note I said when they beat the Blues, not if, because the Auckland franchise selfdestructed against the plucky Highlanders, going down 35-29 and having a man sent off.
Very unprofessional and something that must leave the fans scratching their heads.
None of this mattered much to me on Sunday when my beloved Vodafone Warriors did exactly what I said they had to, bringing a much-improved showing to the game against St George at Kograh, upsetting the Dragons 20-14 to end their fourgame winning streak.
And it wasn’t a case of winning ugly, it was winning while playing good football in fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck’s 100th game for the Warriors.
It was a complete turnaround from the week before, when a shabby showing against Manly had fans very upset indeed.
A week is a long time in football and their reaction was excellent, a plucky showing when things did not always go their way, but the players hanging tough and staying in the arm-wrestle to eventually have things fall in their favour and snatch two valuable competition points, taking us to a 50-50 three-win. three-loss record for the year.
RTS was outstanding again, leading by example, and scoring a fine try. I was talking to former All Blacks coach Sir Graham Henry during the week and he believes Roger will adapt to the 15-man code when he makes the switch to rugby next season. I’m fairly confident he knows a bit more about it than me.
Next up is the annual Anzac Day encounter against the Melbourne Storm, a game we have tended to struggle in – sometimes embarrassingly badly.
The Storm bashed the fancied
Roosters over the weekend, winning 20-4, with a lot of the Aussie media marking it as a real statement of intent, so they will be keen to follow-up on that one and show us no mercy.
There is talk star fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen might have to sit this one out after a shoulder scare and I confess that would not break my heart.
But I will be happy, win or lose, if we show the same courage and ticker we did against the Dragons, and don’t fall back to the horrible level we were at against Manly.
Go the Vodafone Warriors.