Taupo Golf Club
Sunday 23 February 

The defending Australian team may think the ‘door is slightly ajar’ or even ‘swinging with opportunity’ after their very successful day at the Taupo Golf Club, winning all three matches in the Foursomes, and then two of three Fourball matches in the afternoon.

However as the deadly Southland pair of Robyn Boniface and Robyn Pullar showed, the game can swing, with a mixture of determination coupled with 3-birdies on the last three holes, and the ‘door can swing shut’.

Boniface, the New Zealand captain, drilled a 20 metre putt on the par 4, 16th to make the first of their birdies, to give some light on what had been a tough back nine, played in cold, heavy rain, trailing their Australian opponents since the 7th hole.  Their opponents, Jacqui Morgan, the Australian captain, paired with Helen Pascoe, were not going to capitulate easily however, coming back with a birdie on the short par 4, 17th only to find the New Zealanders also made an equally impressive birdie. 

It was down to final putts on the 18th hole, the other two Fourball matches having finished, with Australia claiming both. The cool New Zealand captain then drilled another putt, for a two on the par 3, 18th. The match was New Zealand’s, 1up, and which prevented a ‘dead-rubber’ going into the next day’s singles. And importantly gave the Kiwi team a very positive, much needed, boost to finish the day.

The singles match play list was then announced by the captains, the Australians having the honour of first pick. Morgan announced Kim Burke to lead the team out, who is no stranger to wining on New Zealand soil, having won the New Zealand Senior Women’s Match Play in 2017. ‘Bang’, Boniface countered with the announcement of herself to take on Burke, no doubt wanting to lead her team out tomorrow. With only six matches to be played, it’s hard to pick a ‘marquee group’ but this lead pair will be one to watch, this writer believes, potentially setting the pace for what might come.

Second out will be local Diana Syer, the current New Zealand Women’s Mid-Amateur Champion, and who will take on Australia’s Sue Wooster. This will be a match of local knowledge and form vs a wealth of international experience that Wooster brings to the match.

Both players in the third match have won the New Zealand Senior Women’s Championship; Australia’s Sandra Dawson, a one-time winner, against Robyn Pellow, who has hoisted the trophy twice. Pellow has a strong band of supporters who have made the journey down from her home course, Ngaruawahia. Pellow will want to reward their support for sure, but Dawson will not be an easy opponent. 

Matches four and five see Australians Helen Pascoe and Carman Palframan play Bright Holford and Robyn Pullar respectively. Morgan has placed herself at the back of her team, wanting to have a strong finish if need be, and will take on Julie Gee, the new cap for New Zealand, in the last of the matches to be played. 

Australia, the defending team, won the Trans-Tasman Cup in the inaugural tournament played in Adelaide, 2018, by one point. With five wins already on the board, they would rightly think they have a ‘sniff’ of the 2020 tournament but the Kiwis will come out fighting. The results of the day’s matches do not demonstrate the competitiveness and the way many games see-sawed back and forth, so as with sport at all levels, the singles could be anyone’s to claim.  

Results Foursomes: Pascoe / Palframan (Aus) bt Holford / Syer (NZ) 2up; Dawson / Wooster (Aus) bt Boniface / Pellow (NZ) 2up; Morgan / Burke (Aus) bt Pullar / Gee (NZ) 3 and 2

Results Fourball: Palframan / Dawson (Aus) bt Syer / Pellow (NZ) 5 and 4; Morgan / Pascoe (Aus) lost to Boniface / Pullar (NZ) 1 Down; Burke / Wooster (Aus) bt Gee / Holford (NZ) 3 and 2