Historic title for Taranaki golf team
Saturday, Dec 04 2021
Will Johnston
Photo: NZ Golf
For the first time, Taranaki’s golf team can call themselves national champions.
Sam Jones, Cameron Harlock, Ben Joseph, Andrew Searle and Joesph Doyle formed an unbeaten team at the New Zealand men's interprovincial tournament at the Ashburton Golf Club.
Taranaki beat Hawkes Bay 3-2 in the final on Saturday after they beat Wellington by the same score in the semi-final.
In the 71st year of the event, Taranaki had the bye in the first round on Tuesday. They then went onto beat Tasman 3-2, Northland 4-1, Aorangi 3-2, Hawkes Bay and Wellington 3.5-1.5 and Manawatu/Whanganui 4.5-0.5.
Searle, the team’s captain, said it was amazing to get over the line.
“This feels really good,” he said.
“We’ve had plenty of support from everyone back home all week. Our phones have been blowing up since the results got through. It’s great to play so well and bring it home.”
Searle played in nine tournaments, four with Canterbury and five with Taranaki.
It was a nervous wait for Taranaki before the title was sealed.
After Doyle and Searle won their matches, it was over to Joseph and Taranaki number one Jones.
Joseph recovered from a shaky start to lead by one shot through nine holes. Birdies on the 10th and 13th holes with a couple of bogeys from opponent Tyson Tawera, was enough to win his match 3-2.
Mako Thompson grabbed a point for Hawkes Bay and beat Jones by one shot, but it was enough for Taranaki to bag the title.
Jones, 2019’s New Zealand amateur championship, was the player of the tournament.
He said the key for the team all week was taking it one match at a time.
“We had a few close matches early that we managed to pull through and we performed better against the tougher sides,” he said.
Jones said it tops off a good year for Taranaki sport.
“I think we were taking after the Taranaki rugby side, who went 10 zip this year, and we managed to go through eight zip.”
Despite losing his final match, he said there was no sour taste in his mouth.
His putting went well and kept him in a lot of the matches.