Country Clubs disappointment for Waahi Taakaro

Our two teams had little to cheer about at the annual Country Clubs tournament held at Nelson last weekend (Nov 9/10).

We finished a disappointing 13^th and 14^th out of the 16 teams that took part, with wins a rarity.

Congratulations to the Motueka 1 team of Steve Schwass, Dennis Wright, Karl Clark and Glenn Fitzpatrick who beat the Golden Downs 2 team in the grand final, while Motueka 2 did the double by pipping Golden Downs 1 at the death in the plate final.

The 54-hole tournament consisted of six 9-hole rounds of matchplay played in pairs, with teams split into four pools.

Strong winds on Saturday made for testing conditions which our lads along with many others struggled in. Our Waahi Taakaro 1 team pairings of James Campion/Jonathan Tuheke and Andy Isle/Lewis Wilson lost their first game and halved the next two to finish bottom of Pool A on countback.

Our Waahi Taakaro 2 team of Pete Green/Bryce Vincent and Graham Galt/Matt Tomczyk fared little better, winning one and losing two to end up third in Pool C.

As a result, both our teams failed to make the top eight play-offs and were consigned to the plate competition which was played on Sunday when early rain cleared to a fine day.

Our team 1 lost its plate quarterfinal to Motueka 1 in an extra hole playoff, while our team 2 went down narrowly to Murchison 1.

Both our teams then played seeding matches to determine the order for next year’s tournament at Golden Downs, with the final match ironically pitting our two teams against each other. In a tight affair, Waahi Taakaro 2 just prevailed to claim bragging rights and give at least some of our players something to smile about.

The tweaked format – designed to make every match count – received generally favourable feedback.

We thank Nelson and in particular manager Tony Watkins for hosting what is always an enjoyable tournament.