It was a Waikato two for two at the New Zealand Strokeplay Championships in Christchurch.
Luke Toomey won the men’s division and Chantelle Cassidy won the women’s. Both are from Waikato and both were winning the titles for a second time.
Toomey’s latest win at the Christchurch Golf Club at Shirley came in dramatic fashion following a playoff with Jonathan Cane from Wellington.
The playoff went two holes before Toomey prevailed and he somehow wondered if the death of a close friend helped him get across the line.
“I guess I’m just feeling incredibly blessed, someone was looking down on me today,’’ Toomey said after the win.
“My thoughts were with a close friend who recently passed and he obviously made some things happen for me out there. Surprised, yes, but incredibly happy as well.
“I guess it’s special because I have never closed out a victory from so far behind. So knowing I had to finish strong, and doing just that was very gratifying.”
Toomey was sitting comfortably in the clubhouse not expecting to dust off the clubs again until Cane couldn’t quite seal the deal.
Cane found the trees with a three iron off the 18th tee and make bogey, which forced the playoff.
The first playoff hole saw both players missing very good birdie opportunities in front of a packed clubhouse to force it to a second playoff hole.
Returning to the 18th tee, Toomey had some frustration to get rid of and ripped his drive to the front of the green to have a chance for eagle.
A beautiful lag putt made things easy for Toomey with Cane sliding his birdie putt passed the right edge to give Toomey the honours.
Said Toomey: “I knew if I could wing my way into a playoff I would have a slight advantage momentum wise, and having won this two years ago, I felt pretty confident and also a little lucky to be there. So the nerves weren’t too bad.”
Toomey is putting together an impressive resume and this only adds to punters questions of ‘when is he turning professional.’
“I have a few things to tick off before I turn pro, including winning a Charles Tour event, so there is no rush on that front.”
Chantelle Cassidy is also a multiple winner of the New Zealand Strokeplay after remaining calm under the pressure on the final day.
It has been three years since her 2013 victory but it wasn’t without a challenge as she won her second tournament in as many weeks.
“It feels really good to win it here at Christchurch Golf Club and win the battle against the Australian (Kirsty Hodgkins) today,” said Cassidy.
“The nerves weren’t too bad, I knew I had a two shot lead coming down 18 and then hit a whopping drive down the middle, so took the two putt to win, so it was great.”
After searching for her name on the trophy, it was hard not to notice the name of Lydia Ko has featured on the cup and Cassidy’s aspirations to continue her career and hopefully compete with Ko.
“I was there in the final group when Lydia won the event and it would be awesome if I follow in her footsteps,” Cassidy said with a grin.
Results:
Scores from the New Zealand Strokeplay Championship held from March 24-27:-
Christchurch Golf Club, Par 72
Men
285 Luke Toomey (Riverside) 74 73 70 68, Jonathan Cane (Royal Wellington) 71 66 72 76
286 Nicholas Borren (Otago) 72 68 74 72
287 Chang Gi Lee (Pupuke) 73 75 71 68, Jake Meenhorst (Huapai) 72 75 71 69
288 Ryan Chisnall (Greenacres) 69 71 73 75, Daniel Hillier (Manor Park) 73 74 65 76
289 Oscar Cadenhead (Clearwater) 74 72 77 66, Cameron Jones (Muriwai) 77 74 69 69, Chris Charlton (Riverside) 70 74 72 73
290 Inia Logan (Wakatipu Junior) 73 70 74 73, William Howard (Tauranga) 71 74 72 73, Nick Coxon (Riverside) 72 71 72 75
291 Tom Parker (Russley) 70 75 74 72
292 Louis Dobbelaar (Australia) 74 75 70 73, Peter Spearman-Burn (Miramar) 71 73 73 75
293 Henry Spring (Whakatane) 76 74 70 73
294 Brandon Hodgson (Otago) 73 79 70 72, Thomas Spearman-Burn (Miramar) 76 72 73 73, Matthew McLean (Harewood) 78 70 71 75
295 Nathan Kim (Akarana) 71 76 73 75
296 Hiroki Miya (Russley) 77 76 71 72
297 Kevin Koong (Huapai) 74 73 74 76
298 Michael Toeke (Christchurch) 74 77 73 74, Tim Leonard (Templeton) 77 74 69 78, Guy Perry (Manawatu) 69 76 75 78, Leonard Powell (Clarks Beach) 71 73 73 81
299 Kerry Mountcastle (Masterton) 74 80 73 72, Luke Brown (Muriwai) 77 73 76 73, Andrew Drummond (Greenacres) 72 73 78 76, Joshua Bernhard Rookes (Waitemata) 73 73 75 78, Nic Kay (Coringa Inc.) 72 72 75 80
300 Reid Hilton (Russley) 75 77 77 71, Shaun Campbell (Omanu) 83 71 73 73, Charlie Smail (Walton) 73 80 73 74, Scott Ritchie (Coringa Inc.) 71 77 77 75, Will Hefferman (Australia) 76 76 69 79
301 Jared Edwards (The Grange) 73 76 73 79, Markopolo Fullepp (New Zealand) 74 76 72 79, Jason Gulasekharam (North Shore) 69 72 77 83
302 Benjamin Baker (Russley) 76 76 74 76, Brian Joe (Titirangi) 71 73 75 83
303 James Hydes (Peninsula) 76 77 77 73, Johnny Tynan (Titirangi) 74 77 77 75
304 Dominic Brettkelly (Hororata) 79 75 75 75, Marcel Boet (Christchurch) 79 74 74 77, Harry Hillier (Te Puke) 78 73 75 78, J J Love (Christchurch) 75 76 75 78
305 Ben Slaven (Royal Wellington) 77 77 75 76, Reid Perry (Manawatu) 78 76 74 77, Jonathan Goosman (Pakuranga) 73 76 78 78
306 Sung Jin Yeo (North Shore) 75 78 76 77, Richard Reed (Christchurch) 79 74 74 79
307 Kunaal Singh (Whitford Park) 78 76 77 76, Scott Manyweathers (Harewood) 69 82 75 81
308 Andrew Meng (Remuera) 73 81 76 78
309 Niklas Kampe (Germany) 78 75 78 78
310 Joe Tiplady (The Grange) 76 77 83 74, Jordan Woodall (Cambridge) 79 74 80 77
311 Sam Yoshifuji (Gulf Harbour Country Club) 76 77 79 79, Shiv Sabherwal (Manukau) 78 76 74 83
314 Davis Oh (Gulf Harbour Country Club) 77 77 82 78
321 Cameron Leigh (Cambridge) 73 79 79 90
Women
285 Chantelle Cassidy (Riverside) 72 69 70 74
286 Kirsty Hodgkins (Australia) 72 73 68 73
289 Alanna Campbell (Omanu) 72 70 74 73
296 Amelia Garvey (Kaiapoi) 70 76 74 76, Momoka Kobori (Rangiora) 74 73 73 76, Munchin Keh (Titirangi) 71 78 70 77
306 Rose Zheng (Pakuranga) 80 78 76 72
307 Juliana Hung (Russley) 84 79 69 75
308 Cheerie Tan (Australia) 75 77 78 78
309 Hillary O’Connor (Russley) 77 75 78 79
311 Euna Kwack (South Korea) 87 79 71 74
312 Brittney Dryland (Titirangi) 79 81 77 75, Carmen Lim (Manukau) 78 80 75 79
313 Shani White (Gulf Harbour Country Club) 77 84 75 77
314 Grace Senior (Wairakei International Golf Course) 76 80 81 77
315 Jeong Hyun Lee (Harewood) 78 76 78 83
317 Ela Grimwood (Gulf Harbour Country Club) 86 74 76 81
320 Jasmine Rou (Russley) 80 80 81 79, Katie Pryce-Jones (Peninsula) 78 83 77 82, Tidavadee (Fai) Tongdethsri (St. Andrews of Hamilton (Hamilton)) 85 76 76 83
321 Siyi Keh (Pakuranga) 85 75 75 86
323 Darae Chung (Shandon) 80 78 83 82, Jessica Crosbie (Harewood) 83 76 82 82
324 Elisha Crosbie (Christchurch) 78 87 81 78
326 Subin Wui (Pupuke) 83 78 83 82
328 Tara Raj (Wanganui) 83 85 82 78
331 Angela Gerken (Invercargill) 81 82 85 83, Silvia Brunotti (Gulf Harbour Country Club) 79 84 84 84
341 Eve Clarke (Nelson Inc.) 89 82 87 83
342 Grace Jung (Aviation Country Club of NZ) 84 84 84 90
347 Shontalia William (Boulcott’s Farm Heritage) 87 84 86 90
348 Amy Weng (Russley) 91 86 87 84, Rachel Eder (Clearwater) 81 87 93 87
354 Fiona Xu (Pakuranga) 89 82 94 89
370 Lara Giddy (Harewood) 89 91 92 98