The special Easter competition held over 36 holes, played on Saturday and Easter Monday, saw 90 players compete for the honour of winning this Telecom CI Tournament at the Rarotonga Golf Club.

Saturday presented less than ideal golfing conditions with the day being very hot and steamy and all players controlled their game without trying to do anything too spectacular – or energy-sapping.

The morning players had the best of the conditions and this was reflected in the general scores.

Saturday’s round 1 set up a close competition for the final round with only two points separating the top 12 players on the day.

Leader for the day was John “JK” Kenning on a count-back from Des Eggelton, Robert Skews, Mii Tangitamaiti, Archie Moana, and Moeroa Matheson who all had 42 points in this Stableford tournament.

Rounding out the top 10 were Moeroa Turua and Kurai Foster with 41 points each and Chris Rahui and Glen Armstrong on a count-back from Tukai Engu and Teinaki Howard, all with 40 points.

Best round of the day from the men was shared by Ned Howard and Teinaki Howard both with 72 off the stick while it was Kurai Foster who was the best of the ladies with a 78.

Tom Vea had the longest drive of the men and Tania Karati outdrove all the ladies.

On Monday, the weather conditions weren’t quite as hot, at least not as hot as the competition. Going into the start there were about 20 players who could’ve won the main prize. Some with an outside chance really went for it and most paid the price of taking too many risks and trying to hit the ball too hard.

None of the leading ladies were able to repeat their standards from Saturday and in fact were not among the top ten on Monday.

Most players contented themselves with trying to play consistent percentage golf and for most of the leading men this paid off.

Ngatupuna Manuela was a prime example of this with 12 pars and 2 birdies in his round of 73 for 40 points to be the best of the day.

His double bogey 6 on the 14th hole cost him dearly.

Tom Vea once again walked away with the prize for longest drive from the men while Memory Akama won for the ladies’ longest drive.

However, it was JK who kept things steady and carded an 86 off the stick for 39 points and a total for the tournament of 81 points.

JK was the proud winner of a new mobile phone from Telecom Cook Islands.

Robert Skews came a close second with a total of 80 points and won a cordless phone.

Nga Manuela just missed out on the major prizes coming third on a count-back from Tukai Engu with 79 points.

All the top ten players also won phone cards and bottles of wine. All winners were presented with their prizes by Jules Maher, CEO of Telecom.

We would like to thank Telecom Cook Islands for their generous sponsorship and look forward to their involvement in the future.

This Saturday, April 14, is the first round of the Computer Man Tournament with the final round to be played on April 21.

This is another popular tournament and a large turnout is expected.

We would like to remind all members about the Lost Ball Rule. If your ball is not found within 5 minutes then it is deemed to be lost and another ball must be played from where the original ball was played.

If you are holding up play of another group you should call that group through.

Good luck to all golfers.