It has been close to four decades since the Harewood Golf Club lifted the sought-after Woodward Cup, but that drought ended at McLeans Island on Sunday when the team claimed their first title since 1988. The team were already thanking their lucky stars following a dramatic late entry into the semi-finals following the last round robin matches last Sunday. After finishing the regular season tied with Russley on match wins, the full extent of the competitions conditions of play was required with an inititial look at the two team’s individual match wins, which was also tied, it then went to the outcome of the round robin match between the two teams, which unbelievably was also a tie! As per the conditions of play, the fourth placings divider condition was a coin toss, which Harewood managed to come out on the right side of.
Riding of that good fortune the Harewood men came into the Finals Day with nothing to lose when they took on unbeaten defending champions and top seeds Clearwater. But the script didn’t go as many expected with the team taking the battle to the favourites from the outset with James Howard soon going 4Up in his match at the top of the order vs recent Match Play champion Sam McGill, with many of his other teammates also getting off to positive starts. Howard managed to hold off the expected late charge from McGill to win 3&1 with his Harewood playing partner Otis Holland also winning his match 6&5. Clearwater young guns did the job in their matches with Cooper Moore winning 4&3, James Mordaunt winning 5&3, and Brodie Ferguson winning 3&2. However, with Harewood’s Josh Smith and Cameron Powell winning their matches, combined with Sam McCarroll’s half they managed to get to the magic 4.5 points to claim a 4.5-3.5 upset victory. In the other semi-final between 2nd seeds Waitikiri and 3rd seeds Christchurch, this was an even tighter contest! The teams could not be separated after regulation with a 4-4 scoreline. Waitikiri’s points coming from the wins from Warrick Davey, Kieran Sharvin, and Nathan Arnott, alongside Brett Turner and Alex Kelliher’s halves. Meanwhile for Christchurch the wins came from Ethan Lam, Tim Leonard, and Jason Sincock as well as halves from Uny Shao and Harry Weeds. Onto a play-off the tie went, and it took a total of three holes to decide it. Played between Warrick Davey and Tom Lee, the match looked destined to go Waitikiri’s way on the second play-off before Lee chipped in to progress the match to a third, where he was able to pull through to send Christchurch to the final.
With the sun shining in the afternoon the final was played in front of a healthy crowd of club supporters who turned out to support their respective teams. With Christchurch one of the competitions most prolific there were many who though they could prevail again, but there was also a lot of support for the Harewood men who came into the match with that morning round upset momentum. And it was the momentum that continued with Harewood continuing to play strongly and form narrow leads in most matches. An early dominant victory to Samuel Watkinson 7&6 over Mika MacDonald got them an early point on the board, this was soon followed by wins to the Scott pairing of Scott Manyweathers and Scott Tobin. With three wins on the board and lead in several other matches it was looking very likely that the 37-year wait for a Woodward title was on the cards, but as expected Christchurch were not prepared to roll over. Wins to Uny Shao and Ethan Lam kept them in the contest but with Cameron Powell then winning his match 3&2 they knew just a further half point was required to seal the deal. With both Josh Smith and James Howard respective matches all square they just needed a half in either of those matches, and that came when Josh Smith was able to roll in a short put on the 18th to confirm the win. The win marked Harewood’s third Woodward Cup victory in the cups history with previous wins in 1964 and again in 1988. Howard’s eventual half meaning the final result was a 5-3 victory, a memorable one in a competition which gets better and better each year.
The Blank Cup competition also included a double round day with their semi-finals taking place in the morning before their afternoon final. In the first match, defending Blank champions Avondale took on fourth seeds Templeton, while in the other contest Hororata took on Coringa. Of the four teams in the semi-finals, all but Templeton were competing for the opportunity to gain promotion into Woodward Cup in 2026 so there was plenty on the line. In the first match Avondale, perhaps as many predicted proved too strong for their Templeton opponents with their middle order doing the heavy lifting with wins through positions 2-5 from Daniel Vesty, Mac Mitchell, Teariki Tangiiti, Riki Borrell, and Richard Sinclair. Templeton managed wins in the other three matches but a 5-3 scoreline was enough for Avondale to advance. In the match between Hororata and Coringa, it was a slightly more one-sided contest. Coringa were in control seemingly throughout with wins in the 1, 3,4,5 & 6 positions as well as half giving them a total of 5.5 points. Hororata’s Mark Weatherly, who had previous won the competition’s Individual salver award managed a win alongside his teammate Mike White and Al Sime’s half, but an eventual 5.5-2.5 scoreline saw Coringa advance to take on Avondale in the final. The final was a close fight with all but one match making the 15th hole and a total of 5 different 2 & 1 margins. Avondale’s top order gave them a good start winning in positions 1 through 3. Coringa’s middle order however contributed well winning 3 of the 4 matches, but with a win at the bottom to Avondale’s Nathan Andrews a total of 5 points was collected by the east-side men bettering Coringa’s 3 to claim their second successive Blank Cup trophy. They will be looking to finish their season on a high when they take on Waimairi Beach in a couple of weeks’ time in the Woodward Cup promotion/relegation match.
In the third interclub competition of the day we saw the teams from Clearwater and Waitikiri meet to contest the Simon Cup final. Both sides came into the day off the back of narrow 4.5-3.5 victories in their respective semi-final matches, with Clearwater knocking over top seeds Waimairi Beach and Waitikiri overcoming Rangiora. When the two teams me earlier in the season it was Waitikitri who came out on top 5.5-2.5 so many would have expected them to start on the front foot. However, that wasn’t to be the case with Clearwater storming to leads in most matches. Oscar Cadenhead got Clearwater’s first point on the board wining comfortably 6 & 5 which was followed by wins at the 2, 3, and 4 positions. The matches between the respective 5’s & 6’s were tight however and eventually finished in tie’s giving Waitikiri their first points. However, with wins again to Clearwater’s 7 and 8, an eventual 7-1 scoreline secured a convincing win to Clearwater. In somewhat of a silver lining for the Waitikiri team, with Clearwater already having a Blank team, they will get the opportunity to play the promotion/relegation match to try and make their way up a division, that match will be against Bottle Lake.
In the final match of the day the teams of Christchurch and Avondale competed for the Thompson MacDonald trophy. This competition consists of 6-person teams and normally operates under a home and away format in contrast to the above competitions. Christchurch especially had a keen interest in this match having dropped down a division last year they, knew if they could win this match they would secure automatic promotion back into Simon Cup for 2026. It was Christchurch who started the best lead by player manager Mark Dunn getting the first point on the board when he won 2/1, this was followed by further wins at the 4 and 5 positions by the exact same scoreline showing the close competition between the two opponents. Avondale then hit back with wins to Paul Costello and Glenn Willoughby to give them hope, however Christchurch held their nerve with number 1 Kevin Martin securing the decisive win 3 & 1 to confirm the title and the bounce back to Simon Cup.
So, another full day of premier men’s interclub action in which full club pride and competition was on display. Our thanks go to the McLeans Island Golf Club for hosting the big day and also to all the various club supporters that came out to support their respective sides.
The full results can be viewed – HERE.
