The tournament was played in Cromwell with nearly 60 of the best young golfers from around the country competing in boys’ and girls’ championships.
The Eagles is a charity whose three main aims are to raise funds for the Halberg Foundation’s activity fund, which encourages disabled young people to take part in sport, to promote golf and to encourage junior golf.
In a statement, tournament co-ordinator Laurel Breen said three-person mixed teams representing 15 Eagles provinces, plus 12 invited Otago golfers, played 54 holes in cool conditions. Blustery winds tested the players although it was Cromwell’s more challenging greens that caught a few out.
After 36 holes, Oscar Guo, of Auckland, with rounds of 78 and 71 was one ahead of Futures Dunedin club member Connor Howes who scored 72 and 78. Otago’s Ricky Kang was in third overnight with rounds of 76 and 75 while Canterbury’s Jonathan Fry was fourth with 79 and 73.
The following morning Howes turned up the heat with a solid 72 to take the title with a combined gross score of 222, while Guo, not helped by an out-of-bounds tee shot on the 18th, finished 5 shots back on 227.
Fry (77) had a slight edge on Kang (79) to reverse their placings in the final wash-up.
While the boys had a clear winner, the girls’ championship went down to the wire and was decided on the 54th hole.
After 36 holes, Auckland’s Cherry Lee (73, 76) and Otago’s Yoonae Jeong (76, 73), from the Millbrook Club, were tied and a tight tussle ensued in round three. Lee was one better by the 53rd hole.
Jeong had an opportunity to force a playoff on the 18th but her 3-4m birdie putt slid just past the hole, while Lee chipped close from off the green and sunk her par putt. Lee’s 3-round total was 222 and Jeong’s 223.
Canterbury’s Junie Chang completed the 3 rounds in 226 as did Elise Barber, of Wellington, a great effort for the young 12-year-old who played on a scratch handicap at Cromwell.
In the girls’ net competition, Southland’s Xanthia Piggott found the conditions to her liking with scores of 66, 63 and 70 (199), followed by Josie Keast, Poverty Bay, on 207 and Niamh McGillicuddy, Hawke’s Bay, on 212.
The teams’ event was won by the Southland trio of Xanthia Piggott, Will Carson and Cooper Boyce with a combined 54-hole stableford score of 328.
Among the invited players, Future’s Wakatipu club member Toby Gallie had a 54-hole gross total of 225 (77, 74, 74), six shots clear of Chisholm Links’ Kairangi Koni on 231.
