This Sunday see’s the return of Canterbury Premier Men’s Interclub competition as round 1 of the 2025 Woodward season tees off at Harewood Golf Club.
This year’s competition will feature all of the teams from the 2024 edition with Waimairi Beach managing to maintain their pace with their promotion/relegation match victory at the end of last year. Looking through the respective squads, most clubs again boast a lot of squad depth with a mix of experienced players and exciting young players featuring throughout.
Defending champions Clearwater fresh off their maiden Woodward Cup victory will be looking to go back-to-back after securing the title in 2024 in dramatic fashion in the final at Avondale where Stan Rich Salver winner Sam McGill made a huge clutch put on the last to see the team home over a gallant Russley team. Their squad includes the likes of Golf National Academy members Cooper Moore and Brodie Ferguson, alongside several other experienced master’s players. One new addition to their squad is Canterbury TDP member James Mordaunt who will be looking for his first taste of Woodward Cup action.
They will be challenged no doubt by last year’s finals day contenders with the likes of Templeton putting out a very experienced squad. Their roster includes no less than 10 players who have Representative golf experience which should serve them well come the business end of the season. Included within that are names such as Cameron Grant, Dan Laughton, David Zohrab, Dean Harvey and the list goes on. An exciting addition to the Templeton squad is Otago representative Phil Bungard who has moved up to Christchurch in the off-season and joined his former club once again.
Last year’s runners up Russley will of course be a team to watch too, their roster includes several well-known names such Mike Toeke, Adam Winter, and Jacob Roberts who will be looking to bring their experience and come to the fore. They will be complemented by several young guns who are not short of confidence, including the likes of Alfie Bell and Jonathan Fry. Beaten semi-finalists Christchurch Golf Club will also be looking to return to the top of the podium in 2025. Key names in their squad include Canterbury rep Tom Lee, Tim Leonard, and the experienced Jason Sincock. They have also brought in a couple of youngsters in the off-season in Ethan Lam and Uny Shao who will be looking to get their first taste of Woodward Cup action. One other new name in their list is Cody McMullan who was a former junior Otago representative.
Several other clubs too will be looking to grab the headlines with strong players littered throughout. Pegasus will likely be led by Golf National Academy member Yuki Miya fresh off an impressive 2024. He will be backed up by the likes of Marcus Mariu, Phil Stephens, Shaun Allan, and youngster Shunsuke Nakamura. Harewood’s squad also contains several well-known names setting them up as a strong threat to many opponents. Their leaders include Scott Manyweathers, Josh Smith, James Howard, and Otis Holland, all of which will be looking to make a splash in round 1 at home.
Bottle Lake include a couple of key names too with the ever-green Andrew Green likely to be their front runner, he will be closely supported by Aaron Neil and Mitchell Redmayne. Neighbours Waitikiri boast an experienced squad again with a core of master’s players including the well-known names of Aaron Forsyth, Brett Turner, Kieran Sharvin etc. Other key players for them include Kris O’Neil and Alex Kelliher. They have also recruited another perhaps surprise player in the experienced Warrick Davey.
Weedons Country Club, the sole representative from the Central region will be looking to represent their sub-region with pride. They continue with their mainstay players such as Johnny Stieller, Brad & Devon Nightingale, and Forde Hanson. They also have a couple of new additions in Gordon Carlye and Marshall Johnston who will be looking to help the team to a higher placed finish in 2025.
Our last team is seaside men from Waimairi Beach, who after a tough 2024 as a newly promoted team will be looking to use that first-year experience to help them for a more successful 2025. They have a mix of youth and experience with the likes of Etienne Collier and Darren Kung bringing the youthful confidence, they will be complimented by more experienced players such as Marcel Boet, Chadol Han, and Shane Whooley.
So once again, the scene is set for an exciting year. With the use of new Golf Genius software this year, supporters will be able to follow the action closer than ever with Live Scoring in action for every round. All the information for this year’s event including the draw and Live Scoring links can be found – HERE.
