The 2022 Men’s Masters South Island Interprovincial was played last weekend at the Motueka Golf Club which is set to host the NZ Freyberg Masters in a month’s time.
Canterbury sent a team with a few familiar faces as well as three new players to the event in Woo Bong Kim, James Howard, and Alisdair Reid. After familiarizing themselves with the course on the Friday the competition started on Saturday with the competition consisting of 6 amateur players from the provinces of Southland, Otago, Aorangi, Tasman, and ourselves. Over the course of the weekend, the teams played each other in a round-robin competition of singles match play off the stick, as per the established rotation of the “split draw” format for 5 teams playing 72 holes without a bye.
On the Saturday the Canterbury men got off to a positive start beating tournament hosts Tasman 4.5-1.5 combined with a strong 5-1 win over Southland. Notable performances included a pair of 5/4 victories for both Aaron Forsyth and Alisdair Reid in both their match up’s as well as Woo Bong Kim recording two victories playing from the number 1 position.
Sunday’s efforts unfortunately didn’t follow suit to the same level with a defeat to Otago 1.5 - 4.5 and a tie with Aorangi 3-3. James Howard performed well at the number 5 spot with a 4/3 win against his Aorangi opponent as well as a half vs Otago to go through the event unbeaten with 3 wins. Woo Bong Kim also recorded a victory vs Aorangi to complete the event with a 3 Win 1 Loss record.
In the end canterbury fell just short with recording 2.5 team points alongside their 14 games which was just bettered by hosts Tasman who managed 3 team wins. A runner-up finish but plenty of learnings and a good opportunity to spend time on the Freyberg course with that event just weeks away.
The final table can be viewed – HERE.
