The Women’s 36 Hole Silver, 36 Hole Open and 18 Hole Interclub Finals were played at Templeton Golf Club yesterday.
With dire weather forecasts and an overnight wind storm, players were delighted to enjoy a fine day at Templeton for the Finals. Templeton provided a good challenge with some fast greens and lush lies off the fairways. All games were played in good spirits and friendship.
In the 18 Hole Final Russley’s Jane Kim, Anne O'Keefe, Agatha Sim, Anne MacGregor, Lesley Martin and Ann Collingwood (pictured below l-r) made it back-to-back wins for the club in the competition, but not before Clearwater’s Philippa Cooke, Melanie Duff, Sue Clements, Cynthia Hampton, Sandra Howat and Chris Plimmer took the top seed to the wire, with the match locked up at 3-3 after 18 holes. It took a sudden death play-off on the tenth hole in the gathering dusk and a ten foot putt by Jane Kim on the first play-off hole to finally secure the win for Russley.
The 36 Hole Open Final result was more clear cut. With the morning foursomes giving Tai Tapu 1 the slight advantage, Tai Tapu’s Janet Nicholls, Grace Miller, Anne Siave, Julie Livesey and Carol Bates (pictured below l-r) proved dominant in the singles, making it four 36 Hole Open titles in succession for the club, defeating Weedon’s Sarah Lurajud, Pam Hughes, Val Fountaine and Christine McDermott 4.5-1.5. Tai Tapu 1 were thrilled to win, having previously lost several 36 Hole Open finals to their Tai Tapu 2 team mates.
The 36 Hole Silver Final between Waitikiri’s Cheryl Kemp, Suzette Eastmond, Rosalie Neaves and Pam Ellis (pictured below l-r, absent Kate Lagan and Jenny Ahn) and Clearwater’s Virginia Faass, Maree Saunders, Julie Battersby and Nicky Wright was a real cliff-hanger until the last hole of the day. The morning foursomes were tied one match each, then with two singles matches won and one lost in the afternoon, Waitikiri needed a halved match to win. Only the successful final putt by Waitikiri's no. 3 Rosalie Neaves confirmed a tied match and a 3.5-2.5 win for the Waitikiri team, their second 36 Hole Silver title in the past three years.
