In spite of heavy rain last Saturday morning, the first Telecom Golf tournament drew a large field.

Some of the golfers who had planned to play on Saturday morning decided to pull out and try for better conditions in the afternoon.

Unluckily for them, the afternoon conditions improved but there were not enough empty places to include them. I did tell them last week that the tournament would be popular.

Once again there were some good scores in this two-day stableford competition.

In fact, the cut-off for prizes on Saturday was 40 points.

I was lucky enough to play in the group which included Moeroa Turua. Moeroa was showing her best form ever as she tamed the course.

One of the many memorable shots was on the par 5 sixth hole when her second shot hit the pin. If she hadnt left some of her putts short, she could have finished with even more points. However she had to settle for gross of 83 and a total of 50 points.

This was a remarkable effort and set her up with a 6-shot lead after the first round of the tournament.

Darrel Brown also had a great round and finished next on 44 points.

On 43 points were Daniel Webb (with the round of the day with a 67 off the stick), Tuakana Marukore and Bruce Manuela.

Pape Aviu, Ned Howard, Maara Kenning and Russell Hynd followed with 41 points while Royle Brogan snuck into the top ten with 40 points.

The second round of the tournament on Easter Monday saw much better conditions for the shot-gun start and more good scores were expected.

The top 12 leaders from Saturday were seeded to start off on the first tee.

Scores for the day couldnt be repeated from Saturdays highs but there were still some very good rounds.

I know Moeroa Turua was nervous about competing in direct competition with her fellow players but she held it together to score another 40 points.

Although other players scored more points on the day, such as Aroiva Akama (43), Teinaki Howard (42) and Ngatupuna Manuela (41), their scores were not enough after their first round for them to be a danger to Moeroa.

So the clear winner of the Telecom major prize was Moeroa Turua with a total of 90 points.

After a gallant effort on the second day with 39 points, Darrell Brown came in 2nd with a total of 83.

Royle Brogan and Tuaine Marsters both came in with totals of 80. Tuakana Marukore and Aroiva Akama both finished with 79 points and Ngatupuna Manuela, Teinaki Howard, Ned Howard, Bruce Manuela and Maara Kenning all had 78.

This was a very enjoyable tournament and we are very grateful for the interest and support that Telecom has shown by their generous sponsorship.

This Saturday is the first round of another very popular competition, the Air New Zealand Tournament. With an airline ticket up for grabs there is sure to be some hot golf played in this bogey competition.

The second round of the tournament will be held on May 7.

So come on you golfers and make the handicapper smile once again, as he did last weekend.