Tough first hurdle for Coringa golfers

Press, 4 March 1989, Page 88

Tough first hurdle for Coringa golfers

By

BOB SCHUMACHER

Coringa starts its defence of the DB New Zealand Challenge Trophy club teams’ golf championship in the Canterbury district competition at Harewood tomorrow. The championship has three tiers — district, regional and national levels — and the Coringa captain, Brent Paterson, considers winning the district final as the hardest hurdle to clear. The Coringa team of Paterson, lan Carruthers, the left-handed David Murphy and Brett Kennelly, gave Canterbury its first national club title last year, and the three firstnamed players will be in the four-man team for the 36 holes tomorrow.

Kennelly, who has returned to Dunedin, has been replaced by Neville Brightwell, an acquisition

from Templeton’s Woodward Cup team.

Paterson believes that the winning team will have to finish under par for the 36 holes on the Harewood new course, a surprise choice of venue for the event.

“It’s like playing the Woodward Cup in one day, there’s a lot of hype going in from other teams,” said Paterson, who has been in consistent form this season.

Harewood, as Woodward Cup champion and with the assistance of a home course, must represent the main threat to Coringa. Mark and Stephen Street, the inform Alastair Sidford and lan Walsh comprise the Harewood team which has yet to finish in the top three of the district playoff. Christchurch, twice

Canterbury’s representative in the regional final, will have three of the province’s top rated players — John Williamson! John Sanders and Rick Vincent — in its quartet, the fourth member being the promising junior, Ken Collett. Templeton, with Alister McCall and Joe Gantley in the side; Waitikiri, which has included the two North Canterbury Woodward Cup players, Karl Mariu and Jason Sincock, to join with their fellow juniors, Lyndon Cron and Tony Christie; Waimairi Beach (Steven Greenall, Phil Smith, Phil Lindsay, Steven Priest) and Rangiora (Davitt Lavery, Glenn Allin, John Allin and Colin Nairn) are other fancied combinations. The best three scores in each round count towards the final aggregate.