They didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
After knocking out Alex Kirkpatrick and Gray Clapham 2 and 1 in the handicap matchplay semi-finals on Saturday, they beat Peter Stewart and Kelly Spring 4 and 3 in the title decider.<\/p>\n
Stewart and Spring ended the admirable run of 32nd and bottom qualifiers Kit Goldsmith and Dave Mettrick in their semi.<\/p>\n
Henwood, off a 4 handicap, was giving the shots in Sunday\u2019s final. Christophers was on 13, Stewart 6 and Spring 14.<\/p>\n
Stewart described it as \u201cthe Matt Henwood day\u201d as his opponent made birdies on the second, third and fourth holes, another on the 10th and two more on the 13th and 14th.<\/p>\n
The most memorable of those was on the par-4 third. Henwood topped his drive, then smoked a 3-wood to the right side of the green and sank a lengthy putt for birdie.<\/p>\n
Christophers joked that Henwood kept \u201cstealing my thunder\u201d, but he played his part to ease the pressure, and it was his par getting a shot that finished it on 15.<\/p>\n
Henwood and Christophers are members of the Electrinet Gisborne Park and Poverty Bay club. Christophers is the Park\u2019s general manager.<\/p>\n
Henwood has the chance to create local history as he and Craig Christophers are in the final of the Park\u2019s equivalent to the Barns-Graham, the Te Kanawa Cup.<\/p>\n
It is understood Allan White is the only person to have won the BG and Te K cups, but no one has won both in the same year.<\/p>\n
The Te K final was supposed to be played on Sunday \u2013 the same day as the BG final, which would have raised a problem for Henwood.<\/p>\n
The weather gods came to his rescue. The Park course was closed over the weekend, forcing the postponement of the Te K and subsidiary trophy finals.<\/p>\n
Had it not been, the plan for Mike Christophers and Henwood was for Henwood to play in the Te K final in the morning and hope it finished early enough for him to whip over the Bay and join his mate in the BG final.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, it was murder on the dance floor in the Bryan Cup subsidiary final for Barns-Graham Cup round 1 and 2 losers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got putted off the course,\u201d said Pete Anderson after he and Marcus Gray lost 3 and 2 to Peter Clayton and Laurie Owen. \u201cI reckon they holed 200 feet [61m] of putts between them.\u201d<\/p>\n
That performance was summed up by Owen when he sank a 10m birdie putt on the par-3 sixth hole for the half after teenager Gray put his tee shot to within a couple of feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe sank some great putts,\u201d Clayton said.<\/p>\n
Mark Norman and Lee \u201cPikey\u201d Hewson won the title no one wants to qualify for, the Barns-Graham Plate for those who don\u2019t make the BG Cup top 32.<\/p>\n
After surviving a back-nine semi-final comeback by Rowan Clark and Simon Jeune \u2013 they were 5-up after 11 holes before eventually winning on the 17th \u2013 Norman and Hewson defeated Darryl Grant and Jason Lloyd 5 and 4 in the final.<\/p>\n
Hewson\u2019s putter was hotter than a welding iron, prompting former BG champion Norman to comment: \u201cWho said you couldn\u2019t putt?\u201d<\/p>\n
TUESDAY \u2013 Veterans\u2019 Stableford: V. Richardson 37, D. Keast 36, S. Andreassen 36, B. Read 35, P. Clayton 34, B. Morrissey 34.<\/p>\n
SUNDAY \u2013 Men\u2019s Stableford, Division 1: B. Morgan 37, M. McMenamin 35, A. White 35, M. Harris 35.<\/p>\n
Division 2: C. Morton 41, C. Carmody 37, N. Jones 32, A. Baldwin 32, C. Hensley 32.<\/p>\n
Twos: S. Andreassen, J. Situ, A. Reedy, J. Kerekere.<\/p>\n
Nearest to pin: K. Tamatea.<\/p>\n
SATURDAY \u2013 Men\u2019s Stableford, Division 1: D. Jenkins 34, P. Anderson 33, D. Patumaka 33.<\/p>\n
Division 2: K. Marshall 34, R. Chalmers 33, C. Morton 32.<\/p>\n
Twos: A. Reedy.<\/p>\n
Nearest to pin: A. Reedy.<\/p>\n
P\u0101tutahi<\/p>\n
T\u0101whirim\u0101tea didn\u2019t get the memo.<\/p>\n
That didn\u2019t stop an intrepid field of golfers from turning up in celebratory mood for the second edition of the award-winning P\u0101tutahi M\u0101ori Matariki Open on Friday.<\/p>\n
Last week\u2019s heavy rain forced the closure of the course and threatened to prevent any play in the tournament, which in its inaugural year won Event of the Year (community participation) at the 2025 NZ Golf national awards.<\/p>\n
Organisers were always going to go ahead with the 19th hole hakari and, after discussions with the Tahi\u2019s greenkeeping team, gave play the green light, albeit without carts.<\/p>\n
It contributed to a reduced field of 64 and the original 28 teams registered were slashed to 11. Others who didn\u2019t play turned up for the after-golf drinks and kai.<\/p>\n
Co-organiser Kennedy Sarich said some of the older and medically cart-bound players decided to \u201cget out there\u201d via the Waewae Express and were \u201cnothing short of inspiring\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sarich was also among the top scorers on the day. Not only did she win the women\u2019s Stableford with 90-23-67, for 40 points, she was also part of the winning team \u2013 The Big M \u2013 comprising herself, partner Dom Wilson, Eddie Brown Jnr and his son Watene.<\/p>\n
William Brown made the trip home from Rotorua, where he is chief superintendent at the Arikikapakapa course, to win the men\u2019s gross with even-par 70. Frances Tupara (71) was the women\u2019s overall net winner, and Watene Brown (80) won the junior gross.<\/p>\n
These three won entries to next year\u2019s Aotearoa M\u0101ori nationals \u2013 William Brown being a former winner of the senior men\u2019s title.<\/p>\n
Despite the setbacks, organisers were delighted with how it turned out and gave thanks to all the sponsors, helpers and players.<\/p>\n
Sarich, who followed up her winning efforts with the second eagle of her golfing career on Sunday, said it was \u201ca beautiful celebration of the new year and showcased the best of our members and our golfing community coming and spending the day together, remembering the year we\u2019ve had and the ones we\u2019ve lost, and looking upward for the year to come with good vibes and a whole lot of love\u201d.<\/p>\n
SUNDAY \u2013 Men\u2019s Stableford, Division 1: L. Anania 41, H. Brown 39, E. Brown Jnr 37, T. Hindmarsh 37.<\/p>\n
Division 2: M. Murphy 35, M. Pohatu 34, Z. Norris 33, M. Smith 33.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s Stableford: S. Gray 33.<\/p>\n
Twos: E. Brown Jnr.<\/p>\n
Jackpot: E. Brown Jnr, K. Sarich.<\/p>\n
Eagle: K. Sarich.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s four-ball best ball quarter-finals: E. Brown Jnr\/W. Brown def L. Anania\/M. Pohatu; M. Murphy\/Z. Norris def G. Brown\/S. Pohatu; J. Tietjen\/M. Smith def H. Brown\/G. Hawea; T. Hindmarsh\/A. Hindmarsh def B. McKenzie\/H. Harris (played earlier).<\/p>\n
FRIDAY \u2013 M\u0101ori Matariki Open, teams\u2019 competition: The Big M (Eddie Brown Jnr, Dom Wilson, Kennedy Sarich, Watene Brown) 1st; OMG (Hamish Harris, Butch McKenzie, Jon Priestley, Frances Tupara) 2nd; Jax Turei (Tom Hindmarsh, Calypso Hindmarsh, Tini Hawea) 3rd; Pohutukawa (Anaru Reedy, Wade Wesche, Jack Edwards, Dave Waihaki) 4th; Purple Gee (Shannon Toa, Blue Toa, Beau Toa, Lou Kriel) 5th.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s overall gross: William Brown 70.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s overall net: Frances Tupara 71.<\/p>\n
Junior overall gross: Watene Brown 80.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s division, gross: C. Hindmarsh 89 on c\/b from L. Holmberg.<\/p>\n
Net: F. Tupara 71 on c\/b from A. Tamanui-Nunn.<\/p>\n
Stableford: K. Sarich 40, J. Edwards 33 from M. Wesche, K, Torrez, K. Utting, R. Hiko, C. Holland.<\/p>\n
Division 1 men, gross: William Brown 70, W. Wesche 72.<\/p>\n
Net: D. Russell 69, L. Anania 70.<\/p>\n
Stableford: D. Wilson 37, S. Ratima 35 from J. Priestley, R. Foon, H. Harris, P. Milner, T. Hawea.<\/p>\n
Division 2 men, gross: P. Hokianga 80, A. Hindmarsh 83.<\/p>\n
Net: D. Williams 68, G. Brown 71.<\/p>\n
Stableford: Blue Toa 35, R. Ratima 34 from B. McKenzie, G. Holland, Beau Toa, T. Green, D. Kahukoti.<\/p>\n
9-hole Stableford winners: P. Rutene (women), A. Nimmo (men).<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s approaches: M. Wesche, S. Robertson.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s approaches: H. Brown.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s long drives: K. Sarich, T. Carrington.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s long drives: H. Brown, H. Tupara.<\/p>\n
Twos: D. Wilson, S. Ratima, Watene Brown.<\/p>\n
Hardest-working golfers: L. Waitoa, R. Ratima.<\/p>\n
Te Puia Hot Springs<\/p>\n
Bill Clark showed flashes of his Poverty Bay-East Coast representative days in winning the men\u2019s Stableford on Sunday with 78-12-66.<\/p>\n
SUNDAY \u2013 Presidents Cup round 3, net, LGU: H. McClutchie 78.<\/p>\n
Putting: I. Ngarimu 30.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s Stableford: B. Clark 36, H. Rasmussen 33, D. Goldsmith 33.<\/p>\n
Twos: P. Harrison, H. Rasmussen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They didn\u2019t. After knocking out Alex Kirkpatrick and Gray Clapham 2 and 1 in the handicap matchplay semi-finals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[88,786,446,7829,14984,10391,14980,8474,3435,456,14982,3434,14983,540,3433,44,11544,12058,54,14981,12059,594,476,1510,1084,14979,1033],"class_list":["post-36836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-88","tag-and","tag-around","tag-barnsgraham","tag-bays","tag-boys","tag-burning","tag-champions","tag-coast","tag-course","tag-didnt","tag-east","tag-exactly","tag-from","tag-gisborne","tag-golf","tag-intention","tag-mens","tag-news","tag-ngaruawahia","tag-pairs","tag-plan","tag-poverty","tag-results","tag-trip","tag-waikato","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}