New Plymouth club pro wins Taranaki Open with two brilliant rounds

Dominic Barson & Tyla Kingi

Two brilliant rounds paved the way for club professional Dominic Barson to win the Taranaki Open, the opening event of this season’s Charles Tour.
Barson tied the course record on day two of the tournament when scoring an eight-under par 64 at the New Plymouth Golf Club at Ngamotu.
The score included an eagle three on the 527m par five ninth hole. Barson holed out with a nine iron.
But the outstanding round did not, at the time, inspire Barson to thinking he would go on to win.
“I can’t maintain it for the weekend,’’ Barson said afterwards.
“I know it’s hard to believe but I honestly don’t know where it’s going. I know it went straight today but I don’t know whether it’s going 40 yards left or right.’’
But it proved not to be just a one-off. Barson repeated the fireworks on the final day when scoring a seven-under par 65, without scoring worse than par.
It took him from one behind the leader at the beginning of the day to win in a canter by four.
Barson, 43, has been playing the Charles Tour events, or its equivalents, for many years and breaking through for his first win on a course where he is the club professional made it all the more special.
“It’s certainly very special to win one here,’’ Barson said.
“I turned pro when I was 16 and that’s a long time ago, so I must have played 50 or 60 of these events over the years, so it’s nice to finally win one.
“It’s an amazing feeling and I hit it really well today and carded no bogeys which was the main plan for the round.”
Barson said the win would not alter his ambitions as a professional golfer and it would be back to work on Monday.
“It’s straight back to business and I will be back in the pro shop tomorrow and Tuesday and Wednesday....”
Barson ended the tournament at 18 under par with scores of 70, 64, 71 and 65.
Second on 14 under par was Christchurch professional Shaun Jones while third, at 12 under par, was Masterton amateur Kerry Mountcastle.
In the women’s section a four-hole playoff was required to decide the winner.
Tyla Kingi (Opotiki) and Ela Grimwood (Gulf Harbour) finished the regulation 72 holes at 10 over par with a four-round total of 298.
Both players sunk clutch putts in the first three play-off holes to keep their hopes alive before Kingi broke the deadlock on the fourth extra hole and post her first win on the Charles Tour.
Kingi, the inaugural Junior Tiger winner, had been away from the game for a long time with illness so to see her bounce back in this fashion was extremely impressive.
“It’s great to be playing again after a bit of time off, so I am very pleased,’’ Kingi said.
“It was even better to have mum on the bag for the whole tournament.”

Taranaki Open scores

Scores from the Taranaki Open hosted by the New Plymouth Golf Club at Ngamotu from September 29-October 2:-
Men
(par 72)
270 Dominic Barson (New Plymouth Inc.) 70 64 71 65
274 Shaun Jones (PGA New Zealand) 71 68 67 68
276 Kerry Mountcastle (Masterton) 68 67 69 72
279 Sam An (Titirangi) 73 70 69 67, Grant Moorhead (PGA New Zealand) 67 69 75 68, Chang Gi Lee (Pupuke) 69 69 71 70, Steven Heyes (New Plymouth Inc.) 71 67 69 72
280 Nick Gillespie (Titirangi) 69 71 72 68
281 Kieran Muir (Omokoroa) 74 69 71 67, Harry Bateman (Muriwai) 70 72 70 69
282 Brad Hayward (New Plymouth Inc.) 73 72 70 67, Pieter Zwart (PGA New Zealand) 73 69 71 69, Martin Pettigrew (PGA New Zealand) 69 72 71 70, Josh Geary (PGA New Zealand) 71 72 69 70
283 Benjamin Campbell (PGA New Zealand) 76 68 70 69, Peter Lee (PGA New Zealand) 70 69 74 70
284 Lachie McDonald (Marton) 73 70 73 68, Daniel Pearce (Titirangi) 70 74 72 68, Brian Joe (Titirangi) 71 74 70 69
285 Troy Ropiha (PGA New Zealand) 70 68 77 70, Nicholas Davey (Mt Maunganui) 71 70 73 71, Fraser Wilkin (Royal Auckland) 69 69 75 72, Mark Hutson (Muriwai) 72 68 73 72, Victor Janin (Rotorua) 72 72 68 73
287 Mark Purser (PGA New Zealand) 72 75 66 74, Jared Pender (Te Puke) 70 70 73 74
288 Wesley Jeon (Whitford Park) 75 72 70 71, James Devlin (PGA New Zealand) 69 71 76 72, Mark Brown (PGA New Zealand) 71 72 73 72, Douglas Holloway (PGA New Zealand) 69 75 71 73, Daniel Graham (PGA New Zealand) 71 70 74 73
289 Fraser MacLachlan (Millbrook Resort & Country Club) 70 74 75 70
290 Mathew Holten (Clearwater) 77 70 74 69, Jordan Loof (Royal Wellington) 74 74 70 72, Matty Tiplady (Maungakiekie) 73 69 76 72
292 Joonsang Chung (PGA New Zealand) 74 74 74 70, Hayden Beard (Mt Maunganui) 68 77 74 73, Will Song (Whitford Park) 72 72 73 75
293 Travis Stewart (New Plymouth Inc.) 72 76 73 72, Cameron Jones (Muriwai) 74 73 69 77
294 Mark Kennard (New Plymouth Inc.) 76 72 76 70, Steven Han (PGA New Zealand) 73 74 75 72, Benjamin Joseph (Inglewood) 72 72 76 74
295 Andrew Searle (Tumahu) 75 73 74 73, Aarun Langton (Opunake) 76 72 74 73
299 Adam Hawkins (Australia) 72 76 78 73
300 Shanon Holden (Pakuranga) 77 71 77 75, Kyle Wong (Remuera) 70 76 77 77
301 Karl Knedler (Tauranga) 73 74 72 82
Women
(Par 72)
(Tyla Kingi won in a four-hole playoff)
298 Tyla Kingi (Opotiki) 75 74 78 71, Ela Grimwood (Gulf Harbour Country Club) 73 77 75 73
300 Brittney Dryland (Titirangi) 73 76 72 79
301 Chantelle Cassidy (Riverside) 76 75 75 75