The Trust House Wairarapa Open, which was staged over 72 holes at Lansdowne over the weekend, has a proud history dating back to 1926, when it began life as a match play championship. Over the intervening years the Honours Board has been peppered with names closely linked with the history of the sport in this country. Perfect weather conditions greeted the near capacity field from throughout the lower North Island, including a large contingent from Hawkes Bay but the tournament was won with a score of 280 or four under par by last year’s champion, Jonathan Cane of Manor Park who had rounds of 70, 70, 67 and 73 leaving him a clear 6 shots clear of the runner up.
Open abbreviated results-
1st Jonathan Cane 280 (70,70,67,73)
2nd Rhys Harold 286 (72,70,73,71)
3rd Ben Slaven 288 (71,74,70,73)
The best performing ‘local’ was Masterton’s Kerry Mountcastle who came 8th with a total of 291. The trophy for the best round on Day 1 was won by former Masterton player, Jeff Tuoro, with a 68, while the nett open competition was won by Jared McGillicuddy with 271 nett.
The men’s intermediate competition proved a runaway victory for Wairoa’s Nathanial Solomon who was 2nd with one round to go but finished strongly to win by 6 shots.
Abbreviated results-
1st Nathanial Solomon 316 (82,78,80,76)
2nd Albert Samuel 322 (79,82,78,83)
3rd Rob Blackett 323 (83,78,81,81)
The ladies section was won by Sara Deam of Napier with 324 (74,79,83,88) from Waipawa’s Lucy Davis (328) and last year’s runner up, Gabrielle Palado.
The organisation of the tournament was a credit to the hard working convenor, John Hopkirk and Club Captain, Tony Rowntree, and the host of club members who helped them.
On Monday the women’s Pennants interclub continued with the Div. 1 Section 1 team playing Boulcott’s Farm at Royal Wellington in the last round of the competition. Boulcott’s Farm needed six points to pass Royal Wellington and win the grade and Masterton needed at least three points to avoid the wooden spoon. The 5-4 Masterton loss satisfied Masterton who achieved their objective but wasn’t enough for Boulcott’s Farm. It was in the fourball that Masterton prospered with 2½ points as the only singles winner was Nooroa Rota.
In Div. 2 Section 1 Masterton played Manor Park, also at Royal Wellington for a convincing 5-1 win. Singles winners were Larraine Duckett, Margaret Irwin, Anne Smith, Lorraine Stewart and Ngaire Stevens. This division has two rounds to go.
In Div. 2 Section 2 Masterton played Karori at Judgeford and had a good 3½-2½ win with wins to Lesley Stewart, Janna Blundell and Trish Newcombe.
On Sunday the women’s Tilson Salver team travelled to Featherston to play the home side and had a narrow 2½-3½ loss with Helen Newland and Lorraine Stewart winning their matches.
The men’s Div. 6 interclub team had a ‘catch up’ match against Ohariu Valley, at Ohariu on Saturday. How things change as the last time these two teams met at Masterton, the home team won 15-0 but this time the roles were reversed and our players found the Ohariu course very difficult and lost 12½-2½ with the only singles wins going to Wayne O’Donnell and Ray Verhaart. An interesting statistic was that 9 of the 15 matches were won or lost 3 and 2.
On Tuesday the ladies field played a par round. Results were-
Silver
1st Marilyn Strang +2
2nd Lusiana Williams +2
3rd Jenni Johnston Sq
Bronze
1st Edith Clarkson +3
2nd Janna Blundell +2
3rd Janice Hayes +1
Marilyn Strang won the All Teed Up No 8 Nearest the Pin and Shirley Saunders the New World Supermarket No 18.
A very big vets field played a stableford round on Monday in the continuation of the fine weekend. Results were-
Women
1st Isobelle Weaver 25
2nd Beryl Stuart 24
3rd Pamela Andrew 22
Men Group 1
1st Terry Harrison 27
2nd George Grantham 25
3rd Charles Anderson 24
Men Group 2
1st Bill Reid 28
2nd John Carroll 27
3rd Keith Nelson 26
Alan Kirkham and Pam Sutherland won the Fagan Ford Nearest to the Pin’s on No 8.
The Thursday New World competition saw Mike Falloon win the day with 37 points from Michael Batley, Simon Buckley and Brent McHattie all with 35. The All Teed Up Nearest the Pin was won by Murray Wolland.
The 9 holers played a Trust House Stroke round on Wednesday which was won by Rosie Wellbrock with 35 from Geri Southey on 36. Geri Southey was also the PGG Wrightson Longest Drive winner.
This weekend the men’s 18 hole interclub plays again with Div. 3 playing at Miramar at Masterton and Div. 6 travelling to Pauahatanui. The Saturday club day will be a stableford round while the women play a LGU round.
Off The Fairway
Although the weather over the weekend was superb and the course was presented in perfect order, the scoring was not outstanding, especially on Sunday morning when most of the 90+ players seemed to struggle- it appears that the weather was almost too good with the heavy dew and no wind making the rough very wet and very difficult to get out of if you strayed off the fairway!