Harewood faces acid test

Press, 24 September 1988, Page 41

Harewood faces acid test

BOB SCHUMACHER

Harewood’s day of reckoning in the Woodward Cup inter-club golf championship will be at Waimairi Beach tomorrow when it opposes the two teams which have dominated the competition in the last six years, Waitikiri and Christchurch. Harewood, eighth of the 10 teams last year, has won all five contests this season as has the defending champion, Christchurch, and their clash in the afternoon’s seventh round might well determine where the cup will reside until next season. However, Harewood has a major obstacle to clear in the sixth round before it can draw battle plans against Christchurch. It was at Waimairi Beach two years ago that Waitikiri stopped an advancing Harewood in its tracks in the seventh round, with an emphatic 6-2 victory. Waitikiri went on to win the title that year and Harewood, only once before the Woodward Cup champion, eventually finished runnerup. Waitikiri, too, is not without a chance of winning its fourth championship in the last six years, but draws against Coringa and Russley in earlier rounds have made it imperative for Waitikiri to win its final four fixtures. The record books certainly favour Waitikiri against Harewood. Harewood’s last sue-

cess was in 1981 and the recent losses have been heavy, the closest Harewood having got to Waitikiri in the last four years being Against Christchurch, Harewood has struck better success, with wins in 1985 and 1986 preceding a narrow defeat last season.

The Harewood-Christ-church match will bring together several of Canterbury’s foremost golfers in head-to-head confrontations. The Christchurch No. 1, John Williamson, one of three players with the perfect score after five rounds, will play

Mark Street, the winner of his last four contests and a player capable of beating the best in New Zealand on his day. Harewood’s No. 2, Stephen Street, is another with five wins. His rival will be in the in-form Rick Vincent who is pressing hard for inclusion in the Canterbury Government Life five-man team this year. Peter Maclachlan, Harewood’s No. 8, is the third player with five wins and another member of the leading team, Brent Street, has yet to be beaten. Another intriguing duel should be between the No. 3s, Hugh McLeod, the Harewood junior who won his last four matches, and the Otago, Canterbury and Wellington representative, John Sanders, unbeaten in four games since returning from Wellington. Apart from the Harewood trio and Williamson, Roy McLauchlan (Templeton, four wins) and Gordon Smith (Waitikiri, three wins and two halves) are other unbeaten golfers after five rounds. The draw is:— Sixth round: Russley v. North Canterbury; Central Canterbury v. Waimairi Beach; Coringa v. Avondale; Christchurch v. Templeton; Waitikiri v. Harewood. Seventh round: Coringa v. Waimairi Beach; Christchurch v. Harewood; Waitikiri v. Central Canterbury; Templeton v. North Canterbury; Russley v. Avondale.