Mariu disqualified

Press, 21 August 1989, Page 25

Mariu disqualified

The defending champion, Karl Mariu, had the best 36hole score but failed to retain his Rangiora open senior golf title on Saturday.

Mariu, a nine-stroke winner last year, confirmed his liking for the course with rounds of 75 and a one-under par 71, but was disqualified after his morning round for forgetting to sign his card. He was in good company. Five players were disqualified for failing to autograph their cards and another was disqualified for signing it incorrectly.

Mariu’s aberration was most unfortunate. The course was heavy and played long, the pin placements were most demanding and the greens became a little bumpy as a field of 128 twice negotiated the layout. But Mariu drove powerfully, played many fine approaches and chipped and putted with sound touch.

The title went to Waitikiri’s Lyndon Cron who will soon

leave for the United States on a scholarship. Cron had a brace of 755, his morning round consisting of 15 pars and three one-overs, at the first, thirteenth and sixteenth holes.

Cron, aged 19, dropped five shots in the second round, including two at the par-3 third when he hooked his tee shot and stopped short with his second. But Cron rifled in long irons to within half a metre of the flag to record birdies at the fifth and seventh to partly offset strokes dropped at the third, sixth and twelfth holes.

The North Canterbury representatives, Davitt Lavery and Colin Nairn, shared second, five shots behind Cron. Lavery would have been the halfway leader had it not been for a disastrous four-over eight at the eighth hole. He drove out of bounds and three-putted. Birdies at 10, 11 and 15

helped Lavery play the back nine in two-under par. Apart from Mariu’s 71, the best afternoon score went to the Templeton and Canterbury Freyberg Masters representative, Roy McLauchlan, whose 73, was an improvement on 10 shots on his morning score. Only seven golfers bettered 80 in the morning and 10 in the afternoon. Leading scores:— Senior 150 — L. J. Cron, 75, 75. 155 — D. Lavery, 76, 79; C. H. Nairn, 79, 76. 156 — R. McLauchlan, 83, 73. 157 — H. J. Henderson, 81, 76; A. Bishop, 77, 80. 159 — R. M. Vincent, 76, 83. 160 — K. L. Collett, 84, 76. 161 — B. Hanham, 82, 79. 162 — S. W. Sibley 78, 84; R. Townshend, 79, 83. Intermediate 161 — C. Start, 82, 79. 169 — K. Davey, 81, 88; W. Jones, 84, 85.

170 — N. D. Henderson, 87, 83; T. Russell, 85, 85. Junior 174 — E. Bone, 89, 85. 180 — J. Collier, 91, 89; A. G. Saunders, 85, 95. 182 — N. Shackel, 90, 92.