Cane and Cui Win Harcourts Wellington Matchplay Titles
The 2018 edition of the Harcourts Wellington Matchplay concluded on a stunning Sunday afternoon around Royal Wellington GC with Jonno Cane and Jordan Loof battling it out for the Men's title and Darae Chung and Erika Cui facing off for the Women's crown.
In the Men's , Cane established a 2up lead after 9 holes, a clean 3 under front 9 getting him away to a good start. Loof responded with some great play on the back 9 to take the match all square down 18 with a final Cane birdie securing the trophy 1up.
This trophy, the H.M.S. Encounter Cup presented by the Australian Navy in 1913 after the vessel had been stationed in Wellington 1910 - 1912, has a list of winners that include A.D.S Duncan (8 times), H.A. Black, G.N. Tustin, R.J. Charles, Ian Woodburry, John Durry (5 times) Rodney Barltrop (8 times also) and a 17 year old J.Cane in 1995, now adding his name for a 3rd time.
In the Women's the provinces number one golfer who has enjoyed a stellar year nationally, Chung was looking to win this title for the first time, Cui the 2016 Champion and provincial team mate looking to prevail for a 2nd time.
Darae established a 3up lead after the 10th, but some near flawless golf in the next 8 holes by Erika saw the match square after 18 holes with Erika winning the 1st extra hole to come away victorious.
Thanks to Kurt Greve, John Spraggs and your respective teams at Royal Wellington, for providing course time and facility over a very busy holiday weekend - top drawer.
Finally and most importantly to Harcourts Team Wellington - 3 years of wonderful support around the Strokeplay and Matchplay events, simply outstanding.