All four seasons greeted the players in the fourth round of Woodward Cup at Russley Golf Club yesterday. Warm-ups started in warm and calm conditions, but this changed around the time players teed off where they met high winds, rain and even hail.
Russley turned things around and used their home venue to capture their first win of the season and a convincing one at that against Waitikiri. Wins to Reid Hilton, Ben Baker, Henry Bryden, Michael McAuley, Taylor Hosking, Hayato Miya and a halve match bewteen David Kelly and Chris Bond. Dominic Brettkelly also won in his last match before heading to Western Kentucky University on a Golf Scholarship - a big thank you to Dom for representing Canterbury over the years. This added up to a 7.5-0.5 win to Russley.
Templeton continued their strong collective play, making it four-from-four after beating Weedons 6-2. Sam Purdon defeated the previously unbeaten Anton Fouchee at the top of the order and he was supported by wins to Ryan Bellamy, James Robb, Dan Laughton, Rhys Wilson and Gregory Hey. Jonathan Stieller and Andrew Wylie had wins for Weedons.
Christchurch also made it four-from-four after narrowly edging past Harewood 4.5-3.5. In a tight match at the top of the order, JJ Love and Josh Smith's pivotal match ended in a half. Christchurch added wins through Richard Reed, Jason Sincock, Nick Franzman and Tom Turner. Matt McLean, Dan Lundt and Sam Watkinson had wins for Harewood who now find themselves in an unfamiliar position down the table.
Pegasus are showing all the makings of a championship winning team after keeping their unbeaten run going. Kazuma Kobori returned and had a good win against Nic Kay. Along with wins to Andrew Green, Shaun Allen, Peter Brinsdon, Brandon Parker, Rodney Van Steenis and Richard Sinclair added up to a 7-1 scoreline in favour of Pegasus. Peter Fox relished the tough conditions and had the solitary win for Coringa.
Bottle Lake and Avondale ended their tussle with shared points after a well earnt half. Cameron Grant who missed the first couple of weeks had a convincing win at the top for Bottle Lake. He was supported by wins to Kieran Sharvin and Jason Campbell. Avondale had three wins with Dan Moriarty, James Boswell and Nathan Andrews, along with two half matches between Nick Brennan and Jordan Pruden and also Tiaki Davis and Kris O'Neill.
Two big milestones were reached this week with Jason Sincock tying the record with Murray Brown for most Woodward Cup games played on 233 (122 wins in that span) and also Richard Reed playing his 100th game.
At this stage, a finals spot is still open for any team who can muster some momentum and have a strong finish to season, so there's still plenty to play for. With just three players with the perfect four-from-four wins record to date and multiple players on three and a half and three, individual honours are wide open as the contest for the Stan Rich Salver heats up.
Next week sees the competition shift to Templeton with the action kicking off at 11.30am.
Click here for Results
