Smart wins pro-am

Press, 30 December 1976, Page 13

Smart wins pro-am

! PA Hastings [ Geoff Smart, the unI attached Christchurch pro- ’ fessional, won the Flaxmere I Golf Club’s $l5OO pro-am [tournament at Hastings yes- ] terday with a two-under par 71. ; Smart, a former Australian I who has been working out of [Christchurch for the past five ! years, was the only player to I better par on the wind-swept ; 6472-metre Flaxmere course I to carry off the first prize of • $3OO. The former Hawke’s Bay [and Wellington Freyberg ! Rose Bowl representative, j lan MacDonald, headed home !the amateur field and finished ion 73 to head off the next ’two best professionals, Mark Tapper (Australia) and New [ Zealand’s Richard Coombes, 'who both earned $175 for | their one-over 745. Smart, who has played the [entire Australasian circuit since it began in Queensland , in October, looked set to rip i the course apart when he was I four under after seven holes ! with birdies at the first, third, fourth and seventh. However, he dropped shots on both par threes on the homeward nine. Of the 24 professionals to complete 18 holes only 10 of them broke 80. Paul Mahoney, with 75. took $llO. while Craig Owen. Barry X'ivian and Pau! Firmstone, who each shot 76, won $83.33 each.