The annual Canterbury vs. Aorangi fixture was played at Ashburton Golf Club yesterday with more players involved than ever. Both the Women’s and Master’s Men’s events were expanded to 10-person teams to allow both provinces to provide opportunities for a wider group of representative players to be involved. The men’s and Junior’s categories maintained their 8-man and 4-man teams respectively meaning there was a total of 32 Canterbury players involved, including 11 debuts.
In the Women’s event, the Templar trophy remained in Canterbury’s hands with the team winning by a margin of 13-7. Four ladies made their debut for Canterbury in Junie Chang, Mikana Suto, Aroha Minhinnick, and Sora Kishida. There were several close matches throughout the day, as well as the added test with Canterbury’s 9th and 10th players required to give shots to their respective opponents. Junie Chang has a positive debut with wins 3/2 and 6/5 playing in the 8 position. Other players to have two wins on the day included Canterbury Golf TDP members, Lexi Thomson-Hall (7), Zaria Bourne (6), and Alisia Ren (3.)
In the Men’s Canterbury came away with a comprehensive victory by a final margin of 13-3. There were debuts to David Zohrab who won his afternoon match 7/5 and Tom Lee playing in the number 1 spot winning his morning match 5/4. The middle of the order had a very solid day with Peter Lee (7), Scott Manyweathers (6), Dean Harvey (5), Dom Brettkelly (4), and Cooper Moore (3) all winning both matches. Dean Harvey coming away with a 7/5 and 7/6 pair of performances with Moore also impressively winning his matches 7/5 and 5/4.
In the Masters, there were debuts for Paul Fitzsimmons and Leon Yee, both of whom were able to record victories in the morning and afternoon respectively. After the morning round, the two teams were tied at 5 points apiece, with Alisdair Reid recording a notable 6/5 victory. The afternoon match was equally very tight with Aorangi eventually prevailing with 6 points including three 1Up victories and 2 halved matches. The final score was an 11-9 victory for Aorangi. Jonathan Stieller was the only unbeaten player for Canterbury with a half and 5/4 victory while Andrew Green recorded a notable 4/3 victory at the number one position in the afternoon.
Finally, in the Juniors, three of the four players were making their Canterbury debuts in Otis Holland, Louis Edwards, and Uny Shao. It was a positive day for the junior who despite some players needing to give shots went through unbeaten and won by an overall team margin of 6.5-1.5. Otis Holland (1) and Louis Edwards (4) won both their games.
Thanks go to the Ashburton Golf Club for hosting us and Aorangi Golf. The full results can be viewed – HERE.
