Country Clubs glory

We are the Country Clubs champs!

Our nine-man team did the club proud in winning the annual inter-club tournament for the third time in the last six years earlier this month (Oct 19/20).

The victory was made more special because it was the first time in 16 years that Waahi Taakaro had hosted the tournament, which consisted of up to 36 holes of matchplay played in pairs over each day.

However, it was a close run thing that went down to the wire on the Sunday afternoon before we edged Golden Downs by a point to claim the trophy. Golden Downs needed to beat Nelson to snatch the win but couldn’t manage it.

Our victory was built on a brilliant Saturday, when we won seven of our eight matches and suffered just one loss. Sunday’s record of three wins, two halves and three losses proved just enough to get us home.

All our four pairings contributed to the victory.

Andy Isle and Steve Russell lead our scoring with three wins and a half, one of the few unbeaten pairs over the weekend.

Peter Green and Graham Eggers also performed well with three wins and a loss.

Keri Kotua and Jonathan Tuheke finished with two wins, a half and a loss, while Elton Netto and Aaron Kotua (who was replaced by Paul Tunnicliff for the last match because of injury) ended with two wins and two losses.

The final points table was Waahi Taakaro 22pts, Golden Downs 21pts, Totaradale 17pts, Greenacres/Nelson 15pts, Motueka 14pts and Takaka 7pts.

Thankfully the weather played ball and the course was in excellent condition.

Our thanks go to our hardworking greenkeeper Arnold Witteveen and his Nelmac colleagues for the extra effort they went to get things looking great.

Also, tournament convenor Hamish McWhinnie and his team of club helpers – Andy Isle, Steve Russell, Elton Netto, Paul Tunnicliff, Bryan Ramsey, Noel Shaw, Alan Church, Barry Flowers and Ian Hanford – deserve praise for the smooth running of the event. Thanks guys.

Next year’s tournament is at Motueka on October 31/November 1. Bring it on.