Dooley and Hunter winning combination at New Zealand Amateur Mixed Foursomes Championships

The 25th New Zealand Amateur Mixed Foursomes has finished in style with the defending 2015 champions making it ‘two-in-a-row’ to retain the coveted NZ Mixed Foursomes Salver.
Grant Dooley (Huapai) and Claire Hunter (Pupuke) won their final today 5/4 against Simon and Anita Fraser (Riverton).
In reaching the final, Dooley and Hunter had a tough fight in their opening match yesterday, only managing to secure the win after 22holes, and being 2 down through the opening 9 holes.  Their first match of the day was against the 7th seeds, the local pairing of Andrew Aitkins and Nikki Shaw, who arguably ‘punched above their weight’ in the thrilling morning round.
John Anderson (Omarama) and Rebecca Calder (Omakau) took Dooley and Hunter to the 15th hole before they secured that match, 4/3, in the Championship’s semi final match.
The Fraser’s, seeded 8th by handicap, had a dream run yesterday with two well fought battles against the top seeds, Devon Headland and Fleur Reynolds (Muriwai), and then the strong, local pairing of Liz McRae and Ross Parry.  The Fraser’s needed all 18 holes to win 1up and take a well-deserved place in the final this morning.
In winning the 2016 New Zealand Amateur Mixed Foursomes back-to-back, Dooley and Hunter join only one other pairing in completing such a feat.  Anita Harkerss and Paul Bailey, both previous Canterbury representatives, won the title in 2010 and then again in 2011.
Past winners of the Salver, have included Una Wickham, Kay Maxwell, Brenda Ormsby, Phil Aickin and Grant Waite.  Plate winners in the Championship division were Chris and Meghan Blair (Remuera) with the two flights being won by Ross Parry and Liz McRae, along with Andrew Atkins and Nikki Shaw, all local Wanaka members.
A record 96 players entered making 48 pairs and six divisions.  The first division competed in a ‘gross foursomes’ match-play format with the other five divisions competing in handicap-foursomes match play.  Such was the split, that many matches in divisions two to six were fought with only a handful of shots coming in play.
Division two was won by Carrick Jones and Judy Muir, both life members of Wanaka Golf Club, who managed to defeat their opponents, the mother-son pairing of Liz and Hamish Hodgson, 2/1.  Plate winners were Mary and Neville Hore from Tokarahi.  Flights were won by Steve Roy and Eleanor Newton (Chisholm Links) and Jeff Couch and Anne McKenzie, yet another Wanaka pairing.
Lynne and Kurt Edmonds travelled from Matamata, in the North Island to compete in their second New Zealand Amateur Mixed Foursomes and were rewarded with the Division 3 title, winning 4/3 over Barry Wither (Titirangi) and Nan Johnston (Hamilton) in today’s final.
Otago board members Murray Nyhon (Balclutha) and Mary-Anne Kane (Tapanui) won the 4th division over locals Jeff Niederer and Maree Rose, 5/4.  
18 holes were needed by both the 5th and 6th division winners to secure their wins.  Phil Selby and Pamela de Beer (Wanaka) bet fellow club members Michael Thompson and Kim Badger 1up.  Same winning margin for Mike Robertson (Tapanui) partnered with Margaret Brookes from Mangawhai, against Don Senior and Alison Waugh (Pupuke) in Division 6.  Robertson and Brookes were paired by tournament organisers and only met in the opening round – a fortuitous introduction as it turned out.
The Plate winners in divisions 4, 5 and 6 were Jacob Jones and Sonya George (Wanaka), Alex and Sheryll Johnson (Matamata) and Tony Brent and Chris Scott (Wanaka), respectively.
The 2016 tournament was hosted by the Wanaka Golf Club, with stunning clear ‘Otago’ skies over the 2-day tournament, yet again.  It was the 2nd time that Wanaka had hosted the tournament, which was supported by sponsors, Bosch, Neff, Gaggenau, TaylorMade – Adidas and Akarua Wines.  
The 2017 venue will be announced shortly by PaR nz Golfing Holidays who manage the championship on behalf of New Zealand Golf Inc.   It is hoped, by many of the competitors, that it will return to Wanaka for the 3rd time; many prize-winners commenting on the ‘friendliness’ of the club along with the sportsmanship and camaraderie of the 2016 event.   PaR nz Golfing Holidays have confirmed that it will be held again over the Labour Weekend, timed to back onto the 2017 Millbrook Masters in Arrowtown.

For more information contact
Denise Langdon
NZ Golf Tournament Director
Phone +0275 662 385