The Celebration of Golf at Waihi began on February 6/7 with the OJI 54 hole tournament, followed by the Expol Pro-Am 36-hole teams tournament a week later with one of 32 professional golfers in each team, and the Ryan Fox Fishing and Game Festival on Saturday, April 17 was the last chapter in the trilogy.

With 16 teams and some celebrities in attendance, including not only golfers Ryan Fox and Mark Brown but All Black selector Grant Fox, Blackcaps cricketer Neil Wagner, Murray Halberg Award winning rower Eric Murray leading the 18 hole Ambrose teams competition, it was an impressive line-up.

Heavy showers early in the morning were over by the time players and gallery assembled around the first tee to watch the pre-arranged longest drive competition between the celebrities, and as the longest hitter in the European circuit, Ryan Fox was tipped to win.

His mighty 335-metre drive straight down the first fairway was about 40 metres further than the others. Not only that, down on his knees, Ryan drove a ball as far as his fellow competitors. Awesome! The two-day competition combined fishing points with the team golf score, the overall golf winner was Fox's Team ‘Cooney Lees & Morgan'.

Another cause for celebration at Waihi Golf Club was Carol Leary's extraordinary good fortune to win a trip of a lifetime to compete in the Royal and Ancient Nine Hole Challenge on the eve of the 149th British Open Championship at Royal St Georges in Kent, England this July.

To qualify in the competition, open to all affiliated golf club members, individual scorecards over nine-holes had to be handed in by March 31, when nine names were randomly drawn from the 314,395 entries to compete in the ‘Make Time to Play 9'—Road to the Open Final, an event to promote nine hole golf by NZ Golf in a mixed field at Millbrook Resort's Coronet Nine.

Cherie Flannery from St Clair Golf Club and Carol Leary from Waihi Golf Club being two of the nine drawn at random, were the two leading scorers in this event and won the trip to England.

There will be 42 amateur golfers in the field: 18 from England, eight from Ireland, eight from Scotland, two from Wales, two from Australia, two from New Zealand and two from Royal St Georges.

Immediately after play on Saturday there will be a presentation of prizes and closing lunch. All travel to and from Royal St George's and accommodation costs for the night of Friday, July 9 will be paid for by The R&A, LOVE Golf Apparel, $500 per person grant, plus two season tickets to The Open Championship. Congratulations, with just a tinge of envy!

Womens' golf - 18 holes

On Monday April 19 Carol Leary, Jenny Tubman, Wendy Matutinovich (Silver Division), and Adele Gunning, Mavis Bruce and Karen Lee (Bronze) represented Waihi at the Bay of Plenty District Association Central Zone Silver and Bronze Matchplay pennants first round at Omokoroa. In the Silver division Mt Maunganui won the day with 65 points, closely followed by Waihi with 63, and in Bronze the winner was Otumoetai with 64, runner up Mt Maunganui with 56. The next round will be played at Mt Maunganui on May 24.

There was a stableford haggle and a putting competition for fewer than normal golfers on Wednesday April 21, probably because severe weather was forecast, but it turned out to be a beautiful day for golf, mostly warm and sunny, and the only clouds stayed in the hills. Stableford results: Rosalind Giffney 37 points; Helen Baynes , Kay Marshall 36; Jenny O'Dwyer, Michelle Libby 35; Jenny Wilson, Avon Gordon, Wendy Matutinovich 34; Karen Lee, Denise McConnon 33; Carol Leary 32; Sue White 31; Jeanette Culton, Diane Lewis, Annette Hetherington.

Twos: Sarah Tomsett. Hidden Holes: Karen Lee—9 points. Putting: Avon Gordon 27.

Katikati Dreamers Beauty Clinic Player of the Week: Rosalind Giffney.

Handicap Championship Matchplay results: Silver division round 2: Michelle Libby b Jenny Tubman; Anke Hermannsdorfer b Wendy Matutinovich; Susie Goodall b Jackie Robson; Carol Leary b Bev Ireland.

Bronze 1 division semi-finals: Avon Gordon b Diane Lewis; Kaylene Croker b Mavis Bruce. Avon Gordon will play Kaylene Croker in the final.

Veterans' Golf

There were only 30 players in the field on Monday April 19 for the Putting competition—depleted due to many regular players being away playing pennants. Putting results—Ross Fitness 27; Andrew McLennan, Bruce Rutter 28; Vivienne Lilley, Eddie Bruce 30; Sarah Tomsett, Mark Mora, Michael Bonnici 31; Bill Tiffin 32; Peter Robertson, Bev Ireland, Wayne Gamble 33. Twos: Dennis Tanner on 8.

Waihi's Nuggets and Quartz teams were at Tahuna on Monday April 19 gathering points and potential glory in the Waikato Veterans Association Zone 3 Pennants competition. A combination of soft fairways, heavy atmosphere, and challenging greens caused some very high scoring for the fifth of six rounds in the Waikato Vets Pennants competition. Both Waihi teams played steady golf, and John Giffney's outstanding round of 68 in the difficult conditions not only enhanced his team's score, but won the individual prize for the day's best nett score.

The Nuggets - (John Giffney, Tim Parish, Allen Sarjant, Earle White, Ken Purcell and Peter Maria) combined for 370 and outright first place, and Quartz— (Mick Goodall, John Libby, Allen Smith, Susie Goodall, John Purkis and Jim Evans) moved into second place with their combined for 368.

Placing at the end of the fifth round: Waihi Nuggets 1844; Waihi Quartz 1848; Tahuna Two 1856; Tahuna One 1859; Hauraki 1883; Paeroa Lefties 1897; Thames Pub Charity 1908; Te Aroha 1911; Paeroa Righties 1912; Thames Shortland 1937.

Now can Nuggets and Quartz hold their nerve and places in the field at the final contest at Te Aroha on Friday April 23? Of course they can—Go Waihi!

Nine hole golf

The weather on Tuesday was true to form—drizzle, rain and more drizzle, but it did not deter at least 23 players turning up for a round of golf. In the end, six changed their minds leaving 17 to brave the fairways in the wet conditions. There was one redeeming feature—it wasn't windy! Ladies Waihi Comp Stableford Division1—Mandy Piper 20; Christine Mercer 18; Lorraine Meyer 14. Division 2—Jill Morrison Jnr 24, Julia Nicolson 18; Lynda Thomson 17 (an amazing result for someone who is new to the game this year). Men Martha Stableford: John Vautier 17; Terry Paterson, Garth Pritchard, Rex Smith 13.

- Nan Hoggard