Teremoana Hardie wins second air ticket

It seems that many Rarotonga golfers are learning more and more about how to handle 36-hole tournaments.

The winners now seem to come from those who play consistent golf over the two Saturdays.

It will be interesting to see if the same strategy works for the 2012 Rarotonga Open golf tournament sponsored by the Scotty Bauer Pro shop in Whitford, New Zealand.

This 54-hole tournament is to be held from May 24 to 26.

However, last Saturday was the final round of the Air New Zealand Tournament and some of the leaders from the first round fell by the wayside when they could not achieve consistency in their play. We can all, at times, play what is an exceptional game of golf (for us), but the inability to play a really good game twice, or more, in a row is one of the many reasons that we are all still playing amateur golf.

After a first round score of +8, leader Pomare Pokipoki let his concentration slip badly and finished with a -5, putting him well out of the running with a +3 total.

Some of the others on the leader board after the first round suffered the same fate.

While there was a 5 point spread over the top 10 players of the first round, there was only a 2 point spread over the top 10 of the second round.

Teremoana Hardie, after her first round score of +5, showed that it was no fluke and improved to come in with a +7 for the final round and a total of +12.

This was good enough to win over Junior Ngatokoroa who was also a model of consistency with two +5s and a total of +10 to claim second place. Tere was the grateful recipient of an Air New Zealand ticket for a trip to Auckland.

This follows her win of an Air Rarotonga ticket to a Southern Group Island in March.

Rita Howard was on hand to graciously represent Air New Zealand and present all the wonderful prizes which were generously supplied by Air New Zealand, who, once again, sponsored this ever-popular tournament.

The other major prize winners were – 2nd Junior Ngatokorua (+10), 3rd Tingika Elikana (+8) and 4th Alice Pilkinton (+7).

On the day, Sonny Karati had the Best Men’s Round with a 69 and Alice Pilkinton Had the Best Ladies’ Round carding a 77.

This week is the Handicapper’s Tournament, which is a stableford competition and the major prize is well worth winning. There will also be a lucky draw prize for those who play but you must be there at the club when it is drawn.

Some players are still arriving at the last minute. You should be at the tee, ready to play, at least 5 minutes before your tee time.

As they say, golf is not just a game – it’s an addiction.