The 2022 Canterbury vs Aorangi annual fixture took place yesterday at Ashburton Golf Club in the first official representative fixture of the season. Canterbury came away with a pleasing day of results with wins in the men's, women's, and juniors and a draw in the Masters to cap an undefeated day. Another highlight of the day was the Canterbury Golf debuts of 8 players across the different teams.
In the men's event, Canterbury was dominant throughout taking out the morning's reverse single match play 7-1 with wins to debutant players Shaun Allan 3/1, Cooper Moore 3/2, and Sam McGill 1Up. With wins to Daniel Laughton 5/3, Jordon Latter 4/3, and Andrew Green at number one 4/3 Canterbury comfortably took control of the fixture ahead of the afternoon's play. Moving on to the singles match up's in the afternoon it was the turn of the final men's debutant Yuki Miya to get his first Canterbury senior men's victory as he won 1Up vs Alex Kelliher, turning around his morning's narrow 1D defeat. Cooper Moore had the most dominant afternoon victory 6/5 closely followed by Jordon Latter 5/4 and Andrew Green 5/3 who also completed doubles for the day alongside Daniel Laughton. The final score came in at 12-4.
In the Women's event, the contest was much closer as a Canterbury team mixed with experience and youth took to the course. The team featured two players on debut in Nicky Webb and Zaria Bourne, the latter of which had a first up 3/2 victory. Wins to fellow teenagers Lexi Thomson Hall 2/1 and Vanessa Lim 4/3, both giving up shots to their opponents, as well as a big 8/7 victory by Jasmine Clancy and Catherine Bell 4/3 at the top of the order, gave the team a narrow 5-3 victory after the morning play. On to the afternoon which saw some more victories for the Cantabrians with Nicky Webb securing her debut victory 6/5 and Catherine Bell recording the standout performance winning 8/7. Wins to Mel Newburn 1Up, Lexi Thomson Hall 6/5, and Jasmine Clancy 3/2 saw the team home for a final overall result of 11-5.
The Master's event was by far the closest fixture for the day with both provinces sharing the spoils in the morning and afternoon rounds. Two players were on debut for the master's in James Howard and Simon Edwards and both had morning victories 2/1 and 1Up respectively. In the afternoon Andrew Dufton 1Up, and Jason Sincock 4/3 recorded victories while Alisdair Reid 2/1 and James Howard 1Up also had wins to complete doubles for the day. The overall result finished at 8-8.
Finally, in the Juniors a positive day was had with all players tasting victory. With several canterbury players having to give up a large number of shots to their Aorangi opposition the boys played well to take out the morning match up's 4-0 and afternoon 3-1. Ethan Lam had the largest morning victory 7/5 and Max Edwards the best in the afternoon winning 6/4. Overall the team triumphed 7-1.
Alongside the day's 8 debuts it was also special to see a rare father and son combination with Simon Edwards (Masters) and Max Edwards (Juniors) having the opportunity to represent their region together at the same event.
Thanks go to Ashburton Golf Club for hosting and our neighbours Aorangi for the day.
Full results can be viewed - HERE.
