And then there were four

A LONE “Coastie” stands between Bay of Plenty and glory at the FMG Poverty Bay Open which winds up today.
Te Puia Springs’ Andrew Higham was looking to follow in the footsteps of East Coast legend Peter Rouse, who won five Open titles between 1970 and 1983.
To do that, however, 24-year-old Higham needed to get past top qualifier Landyn Edwards (Rotorua) in this morning’s semifinals.
The other semi pitted former Gisborne golfer David Feeney, now of Tauranga, against Craig Hamilton (Omanu).
Edwards and Hamilton are part of an eight-man Bay of Plenty squad using the Open as a trial and to condition themselves for the national interprovincial being held at Poverty Bay next month.
Yesterday’s two rounds of matchplay went predominantly to seeding.
Edwards qualified first, Hamilton second and Feeney third. Higham, the senior club champion at Poverty Bay and Te Puia, was 13th but belied that position by getting rid of Hamilton’s brother James 3 and 2 in the first round.
It set up a quarterfinal with seven-time Open winner and defending champion Waka Donnelly (Peninsula), who started his golf in Te Puia Springs, shifted to Gisborne and now lives in Auckland.
Higham threw early birdies at the 41-year-old. Donnelly never really recovered and on the 15th conceded his chances of this year equalling Frank Gordon’s eight Open titles.
Polytech student Edwards was not in the sparkling form of Thursday, when he carded a 36-hole strokeplay qualifying score of 139 (68 71), but still played well enough to move into the top four with 1-up victories over Scott Harvey (Templeton) and fellow BoP rep Brad Kendall (Omanu).
Aquinas College student Feeney, who made the quarterfinals last year, never let his opponents in. He was rock-solid throughout the day, belting Simon Jenkins (Poverty Bay) 5 and 4, then brushing aside Andrew Stewart (Omokoroa) 6 and 5.
Stewart had a hole-in-one in qualifying and yesterday again produced one of the shots of the day — sinking a pitch from about 25 metres out to birdie the 18th and beat Sam Davis (Tauranga) on the 18th.
The talk of the day’s play, though, did not come from the first 16.
Seven-time Open winner Eric Gordon wound back the clock in his second-16 morning-round defeat of Gisborne Park’s Ian Whitley.
Gordon was 6-up after six holes, thanks to holing a short wedge shot for eagle on the first then chipping in from the bunker for birdie two on the second. He also birdied the sixth hole on his way to shooting 3-under 33 for the front nine and winning on the 12th.
His start brought back memories of a Poverty Bay Open many moons ago when Gordon sank bunker shots on the first and second holes — the second of those in front of a Gisborne Herald photographer who captured Gordon lying in the bunker laughing tears.
Top-16 matchplay results — Round one: Landyn Edwards (Rotorua) def Scott Harvey (Templeton) 1-up, Brad Kendall (Omanu) def Hayden White (Opotiki) 3 and 1, Andrew Higham def James Hamilton (Omanu) 3 and 2, Waka Donnelly (Peninsula) def Victor Janin (Rotorua) 5 and 4, Craig Hamilton (Omanu) def Paul Jefferson (Poverty Bay) 7 and 6, Hayden Beard (Mt Maunganui) def William Brown (Waikohu) 3 and 2, David Feeney (Tauranga) def Simon Jenkins (Poverty Bay) 5 and 4, Andrew Stewart (Omokoroa) def Sam Davis (Tauranga) 2-up.
Round two: Edwards def Kendall 1-up, C Hamilton def Beard 6 and 5, Feeney def Stewart 6 and 5, Higham def Donnelly 4 and 3.