Freyberg Masters 2014 - daily update

DAY 1
Round 1:
The Wellington Masters team had a fantastic start to this years tournament being played at the historic and rather hilly Waitangi Golf Club. Despite the suspension of play for 2 hours due to severe rain which resulted in the flooding of all greens, Wellington managed to beat Otago 4 to 1. Stand out performances came from the 2 new "boys" of the team this year. A mammoth win of 6 and 5 to John Warrington alongside a comprehensive win of 3 and 2 by Mike Ursin. Both players really rising to the occasion and showing a lot of composure for their first outing in the masters competition. Team stalwarts Malcolm Gullery and Frank Borren both adding to the teams winning tally. Unfortunately, Darin Hiroki came up against a better opponent on the day and will have to try to turn things around in the next match.

Round 2:
The teams next match against Canterbury, started much later than scheduled, due to the lengthy rain delay earlier in the day. This meant that it was always going to be touch and go as to whether the round would be completed in the available daylight or not. Wellington started well out of the blocks again, getting into good position in most matches early on. However the effects of what was proving to be a very long day, seemed to take it's toll on a couple of the players especially during the later stages of their matches. It's obvious that fitness will come to play a fairly large part in determining the outcome of any match. Canterbury carried on their winning form from the morning and beat Wellington 3.5 to 1.5. The best result for wellington being the 2 up win by Mike Ursin, who remains unbeaten in the tournament so far. Mikes valiant effort was supported by a half point gained by Darin Hiroki, who seems to have put his result from the morning match behind him.
It's early days in the tournament but of the 15 provinces competing, the front runners are Auckland who have 2 wins and 7.5 points. Wellington are well placed at 5th on the leaderboard with 5.5 points.