Ryder Cup retained

  • 28 November 2021
  • Peter Watson

Ryder Cup winners

The Ryder Cup remains our cup for another year after we overwhelmed Nelson with a ruthless display of teamwork and tenacity on a wet Waahi Taakaro course on Sunday (Nov 28).

The 20-4 rout was NBS Waahi Taakaro's seventh win in eight encounters, which has included just three home ties. Such was our dominance, we won 18 and drew 4 of the 24 matches played over three different 9-hole formats against a club three times our size.

We shrugged off the worry of missing a few regular seniors and intermediates, with every team member contributing at least 1 1/2 points each to the victory.

In the past we have relied on our intermediates and juniors to get us across the line, but this time our seniors also fired with three of them - No 1 Peter Watson, No 3 Keri Kotua and No 4 Peter Green - winning all their matches along with an on-song No 5 Paul Tunnicliff. Six other players were unbeaten, with No 6 Aaron Kotua, No 7 Jonathan Tuheke, No 9 Mike Murphy, No 10 Phil Sellers, No 11 Ian Hanford and No 12 Warwick King winning two and drawing one of their matches.

As usual we started strongly by dominating the foursomes (alternate shot) 5-1 and upped the pressure in the four ball best ball as the rain set in to win that 5 1/2 - 1/2. Needing only two points to secure what we regard as one of our most important trophies, our lads kept the foot on the throat to demoralise Nelson 9 1/2 to 2 1/2 in the individual matchplay. One of Nelson's two wins came from former Waahi Taakaro member Sam Best.

Our thanks go to greenkeeper Eric Shurson for getting up early to mow the greens and for having the course in excellent condition.

Full results were:

Alternate shot

Seniors: P Watson/P Green won 2/1, J Broad-Kolff/K Kotua won 2/1

Intermediates: P Tunnicliff/A Kotua won 2 up, J Tuheke/N McLaren halved

Juniors: M Murphy/P Sellers halved, I Hanford/W King won 2/1

Four ball best ball

Seniors: P Watson/P Green won 2/1, J Broad-Kolff/K Kotua won 2/1

Intermediate: P Tunnicliff/A Kotua won 2/1, J Tuheke/N McLaren won 3/1

Juniors: M Murphy/P Sellers won 2/1, I Hanford/W King halved

Individual Matchplay

Seniors: P Watson won 3/1, J Broad-Kolff lost 2/1, K Kotua won 5/3, P Green won 1 up

Intermediates: P Tunnicliff won 5/3, A Kotua halved, J Tuheke won 3/1, N McLaren lost 3/2

Juniors: M Murphy won 1 up, P Sellers won 2/1, I Hanford won 1 up, W King won 5/3

Final scores

Waahi Taakaro 20, Nelson 4

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