Waikato Secondary School Matchplay Championships

From the 2nd to the 4th of September the NZ Age Group Championships were to be held at Ngaruawahia Golf Club. Unfortunately, due to the current COVID-19 restrictions the event had to be postponed. A silver lining to this was that Waikato Golf were able to hold its annual Waikato Secondary School Matchplay Championships that were supposed to be held back in April but were cancelled due to COVID-19.

The Waikato Secondary School Matchplay Championships were held on the 3rd and 4th of September in perfect weather conditions. In the morning of the first day all players played an 18-hole strokeplay qualifying round to determine if they were in division 1 to 4 and where they would be seeded in that division.

In division 4 the youngest player in the event, Isaac Steel defeated Heart Iadpluem. Isaac was 1 up heading down the 18th, Heart had a chance to send it to a playoff, but he just missed his 7-foot putt which meant that Isaac was declared the winner. Lauola Palamo took out division 4 plate after beating Thomas ter Beek 5 & 4 in the final.

The division 3 championship final saw Sam McArthur take on Rei Masters. It was a closely fought match that went until the 17th hole where Sam McArthur took it out to win 2 & 1. In the plate final Todd Higgs faced Ricci Putohe who was making his debut in the championships. Ricci put up a tough fight, but it was Todd Higgs who showed his class to win 3 & 2.

In division 2 Anthony East defeated Ben Ambler 3 & 1 in the championship final. Last years overall winner Sam Towers took out the division 2 plate after defeating Cole Tosland 5 & 4.

As to be expected, Division 1 was a very closely fought competition. After some tough quarter and semi-final matches the division one championship final saw Rhys Thomas take on Zahraa Bester, Michael Ellis faced Ing Iadpluem for 3rd and 4th and Jakob Bird took on Ethan Price for 5th and 6th.

Jakob Bird and Ethan Price went to the 18th hole before Jakob Bird was declared the winner 2 up. In the Championship Final and the 3rd and 4th final both matches were all square heading down the 18th. Each player had the chance to win their match with a birdie putt but all of them fell agonisingly short and were then required to replay the first hole as a playoff. In the playoff Michael Ellis defeated Ing Iadpluem to take out third place and Zahraa bester defeated Rhys Thomas to be crowned the 2020 Waikato Secondary School Matchplay Champion.