Zack Swanwick leads Taradale school to victory
Zack Swanwick leads Taradale school to victory
Zack Swanwick led Taradale High School of Napier to victory in the New Zealand Secondary Schools' Final at Pleasant Point Golf Club in South Canterbury.
Caption: The Napier school of Taradale High won the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Championship in South Canterbury last month. From left to right are team manager Simon Rutherford, Kayla Van De Ven, Zack Swanwick and William Rollings.
Swanwick, along with Kayla Van De Ven, and William Rollings, combined for a team score of four-under par to beat pre-tournament favourites King's College of Auckland by six shots, with Swanwick taking out the individual honours with rounds of 68 and 69.
Van De Ven was equally as impressive, shooting two counting scores of her own with rounds of 70 and 73, finishing in a tie for fourth.
The Taradale trio are all members of Napier Golf Club, which has only re-opened for play in early August following the devastation of cyclone Gabrielle.
Swanwick was proud of the team considering the difficulties the region had suffered.
“Napier Golf Course has only just re-opened again, and that’s the course we are all members of,’’ Swanick said.
``It’s been tough because we haven’t had a course to practice at, but that doesn’t matter, as we are all out there doing our best.”
Swanwick trailed Kings College’s Ryan Xie on the individual standings after the first day and got off to a challenging start, going out in one over par.
However, his golfing pedigree was on full display over the closing nine, making four birdies and a bogey to beat Xie by a couple of shots.
Van De Ven also stepped up, trading three birdies with three bogeys and a double to bring Taradale High School home comfortably.
Kings' College took home the silver medal, while bronze was shared between Christchurch’s Burnside High School and Auckland’s Pinehurst School.