The stage is set for the 2025 edition of one of Canterbury longest running events, the Canterbury Match Play Championship – sponsored by The Clubroom.
Held this year at the Harewood Golf Club, the competition has close to 120 years of history behind it with the first men’s edition taking place back in 1906. The event, which is also a World Amateur Ranking Points tournament, now sees players compete in four championship divisions which include Men’s Open, Women’s Open, Men’s Masters, and u19 Men divisions. The format of the tournament will see an initial qualifying round take place on the Saturday afternoon, which will then determine the seedings for the round of 16 match ups in each division to be played on Sunday morning. From there, it will be continuous Knock-out round golf with the tournament progressing through from the round of 16 and quarterfinals on the Sunday, to the eventual semi-finals on Monday morning and ultimately the division finals on Monday afternoon. The majority of the 2024 division winners are again in the field alongside a host of other strong contenders.
In the men’s field, returning champion Sam McGill (Clearwater) will tee it up again looking to be one of the few players to go back-to-back. After his dramatic play-off hole victory last year out in Pegasus he will be keen to repeat that feat again this weekend. However, there is a large list of additionally capable players who he will need to fight off, including several Harewood locals which will be looking to make the most of their home course advantage. Leading that brigade is new Harewood member Ricky Kang, who has recently made the permanent move to Christchurch from his previous home base in Queenstown. The Otago representative player was the runner-up at the Canterbury Stroke Play Championship earlier this year, and with several recent rounds under his belt at the course will be one of the leading contenders. Other Harwood hopefuls include the evergreen Scott Manyweathers, a Harewood stalwart and Canterbury Rep, Manyweathers will be looking to maximise his intimate knowledge of the course to progress deep into the event’s final rounds. From further afield, Bay of Plenty representative Kevin Bang has made the trip south and will be looking to make a splash in his event in Canterbury, and will have some course knowledge having played the course last December as part of the Bay of Plenty NZ Interprovincial squad. There are also several young Canterbury hopefuls in the field with the likes of Canterbury representatives Ethan Lam (Christchurch) and Etienne Collier (Waimairi Beah) as well as some other experienced players like Cam Grant (Templeton) Dan Laughton (Templeton), Jake Roberts (Russley), and Aaron Neil (Bottle Lake), all of which carry match play representative experience.
In the ladies space, as is often the case for Championship women’s events in Canterbury, it is a wide-open field. Defending champion Lannie Inoue (Rangiora) makes a return after winning on debut at last year’s event. The Canterbury representative also has some Harewood course experience having represented the club in Pollock Cup, and will be looking to make a strong title defence attempt. She will be pushed by several North Island-based opponents with the sister pairings of Queenie Lang and Lulu Lang (Maungakiekie)in the field, who will be looking to make the most of their trip south. Other local hopes will sit with bunch of young Canterbury representatives including the likes of Junie Chang (Russley), Zaria Bourne (Waimairi Beah), Vanessa Lim (Russley), and Alice Fry (Russley) who all come into the event following a busy schedule of Pollock Cup finals, followed by lifting the South Island Interprovincial title last weekend in Pleasant Point. Last year’s runner-up Lexi Thomson-Hall (Clearwater) will also be one to watch after her impressive run in 2024.
In the Men’s Masters division, there are several familiar names who will be fighting for top spot. Defending champion Michael Bailey (Clearwater) will return and be pushing to hold onto his Masters bragging rights. He will face other strong Masters players including the likes of Aaron Forsyth (Waitikiri), James Howard (Coringa), and Kieran Sharvin (Waitikiri.) However, there are also couple of new names in the Masters space with Waitikiri’s Tony Boon playing for the first time following a very impressive Woodward Cup campaign this season, where he has won 7 of his 8 matches. Another new player in the Masters space is previous Canterbury Rep Jordon Latter who ticked over the 40-years + age milestone a few months back and will be one to watch throughout the weekend.
Finally, in the u19 Men’s division there is a string of exciting players to watch, and with defending division champion Mitchell Redmayne away playing another event this weekend, the stage is set for a new winner. One of the favourites will be 16-year-old Jame Mordaunt (Clearwater) who recently made his Canterbury Men’s team debut following a strong showing at the NZ Boys Interprovincial tournament in early October. He will be looking to get his name on the trophy for the first time having made it to the semi-finals in 2024. Other contenders include fellow Canterbury Golf TDP members Darren Kung (Waimairi Beach) and Maddi KiriKiri (Templeton), both of which are regulars at Junior events and are developing as match play players in senior interclub competitions. Other prospects include Aorangi representative Chrisjan Senekal (Ashburton) and also Kohl Thompson-Small (Hororata) who has been enjoying some success for his club at Blank Cup level this season.
Overall, a field packed with quality and worthy contenders which will no doubt make for some tight contests. With the greens staff at Harewood having worked very hard over recent weeks, the course is looking in fine order, which combined with some predicted northerly winds and thick rough should prove a good test.
To view the full Qualifying Round Draw – CLICK HERE.
To follow the Live Scoring throughout the event – CLICK HERE
