‘Freakish’ Open-ing

BAY of Plenty representative team coach Jay Carter was rubbing his hands in anticipation after his eight-man squad booked half the top 16 field on a history-making qualifying day at the FMG Poverty Bay Open here yesterday.
The championship course record of 66 survived, the qualifying record did not as the fresh-faced BoP boys, perhaps predictably, dominated proceedings, and set up a mouth-watering matchplay battle for the Keiha Cup top 16 title on the Poverty Bay links.
Rotorua’s Landyn Edwards was the star of yesterday’s 36 holes of strokeplay qualifying. Edwards carded a five-under total of 139 — 4-under 68 followed by 1-under 71 — to comfortably seal the No. 1 seeding by six shots from BoP team-mate Craig Hamilton (74 71) of Tauranga’s Omanu course.
There is no official records for qualifying over its illustrious history but seven-times Poverty Bay Open champion Eric Gordon said he could not recall such scoring in his 50 years of competing at the tournament.
The BoP squad were entered into the Open as Poverty Bay is hosting the national interprovincial next month. It is a trial for their five-man team as well as a chance to familiarise themselves with the course.
Coach Carter was delighted to have all eight players make the top 16.
One of them, Andrew Stewart, provided the highlight of the day with a hole-in-one on the 11th hole. Stewart, from Tauranga’s Omokoroa course, sank a seven-iron on the 175-metre hole to record his third ace.
It was part of a freakish series of three holes. He made birdie on the 10th, one on the 11th then fired two drives out of bounds on the par-five 12th and made 10. He still managed a 77 and followed up with 73 in the afternoon to qualify sixth.
As if having eight in the top 16 was not enough, another BoP player, David Feeney, qualified third with rounds of 75 73. Former Poverty Bay-East Coast junior representative golfer Feeney, the son of former Poverty Bay senior rugby team coach Paul Feeney, has been in and out of the BoP junior team, as well as representing the province at the Southland Invitational interprovincial in Invercargill earlier this year.
Defending champion Waka Donnelly, striving for a record-equalling eighth Open title, needed a sensational last nine holes to restore confidence and seal his top 16 place.
The 41-year-old former PBEC rep, now living in Auckland, struggled to 79 in the first round and after a 43 in his opening nine of the afternoon round was staring at the possibility of failing to qualify for the top group.
He wiped out that prospect with a 4-under 32, including birdies on the last three holes, for a 75 to qualify 12th.
Gisborne teacher Paul Jefferson was the surprise package. He clinched a top 16 spot with 158 (83 75) and was joined by only three other locals — Waikohu’s William Brown (75 76), Te Puia Springs’ Andrew Higham (79 76) and Poverty Bay’s Simon Jenkins (78 78), who has been based in Auckland for several months to pursue a potential pro career.
There were several other memorable moments over the day.
Don Griffiin recorded top net overall with 132 despite making 12 on the par-five 12th in his afternoon round.
Gordon nearly made it two aces on the day when he put a five-iron to within half-an-inch to the right of the hole on the 154m second.
Doctor Murray Smith proved golf can be a dangerous game when he sprained his ankle climbing over a fence to retrieve his ball.