Howard second in Auckland

William Howard came second in the Auckland Age Grade Golf U19 Champs over the two day tournament on Monday and Tuesday played at the Grange Golf Course.

On the first day Howard lead the tournament with a mighty 67 – three under par with one hole to go. But on the last hole he failed to make par, scored a double bogie and ended up with a 69 – one under par which was enough to lead the competition on day one.

On the second day Howard lead the field by two shots heading into the last two holes but again he failed to par the last two holes – he bogied the 17th hole and double bogied the 18th hole which gave his opponent Sam Arn a one shot win.

Howard concluded with a gross of 75. It is the third year that Arn has won the title. Congratulations goes to Howard for a big achievement. Howard and Arn have been selected into the NZ development squad and will be attending a camp during the rest of the week.

Other results from the Cook Islands contingent saw young Leo Roa from Araura Enua returning with a gross of 89 and 82 which was enough to be the eventual runner-up stableford winner of the U16 Boys Champ and won himself a brand new golf bag.

Day two of the tournament saw the weather deteriorate with heavy rain in the first hour resulting with a couple of holes flooded and the tournament was delayed by half an hour to allow for water to recess from the green. Other results Tony Turua with 86, 88 Teariki Smith 96, 88 Anna Howard 87, 100 Karika Karika 92, 90 Rotana Howard 88,88 Jojo 87, 95.

Coach Ned Howard was pleased and proud of the result considering that the course is hard and very long – 5949 metres, 2000 metres longer than the Rarotonga course and teeing off on blue tees where most of the senior national championships tee off.

The exposure has given the team firsthand experience of fast greens, how to approach pine trees, yardage and the different dog leg fairways to the green.

The team acknowledges Maki Karati who attended the two day tournament and assisted the team by giving advice to the team and also to the Grange Golf club officials for their great support. The team now heads to Whitford to compete in the Whitford Age Grade Tournament on Thursday and Friday before returning to Rarotonga on Friday evening.