Moore decisive winner of Canterbury champion of champions

By Neville Idour

Christchurch junior golfer Cooper Moore was a decisive winner of the Canterbury senior champion of champions event at Pegasus Golf Club.

Caption: Cooper Moore with his trophy after winning the senior club championship at the Waitikiri Golf Club in Christchurch for the third time at age of 14. File.

The then 14-year-old, who turned 15 just before leaving for the Junior Under 19 World Championships in Japan, really made no race of it against the 24 Canterbury senior club winners.

Playing with eventual second placed gross scorer Sam Purdon from Templeton, he was always a step ahead.

Following a birdie on seven he used driver on the 9th fairway from 225 metres and the sensational shot left him a two foot putt for an eagle to be four under par at the turn. It is rare to see even the world’s very best professionals use a driver from the fairway.

Another fine birdie from four feet after a wonderful approach shot on 10 stretched his lead. However his putter went cold for a period and a couple or bogeys on 11 and 12 halted progress. Then a couple of solid saves from several feet on 13 and 14 got him back on track.

A wonderful drive on the par four awkward 15th left him just five metres from the green and a birdie resulted. Nice pars on 16 and 17 then two cracking shots on the long par five finishing hole to just a few feet from the green led to a closing birdie.

Moore’s 67 was four shots clear of Purdon’s 71. Sam McGill, Aaron Neill and Kerry Branson were tied third with 73.

Other individual winners were Desmond Gong (Templeton) in the intermediate grade and Cameron Bartlett (Russley) in the junior grade.

Moore, who left for Japan after that win, performed admirably amongst much older boys. It is believed he and another 15-year-old were the only boys under 17 or 18 years old.

Moore scored 76, 75, 71 and 70 to finish tied 34th. He gives some credit for his excellent third and fourth rounds to Daniel Hillier who took the time while at the BMW International in Germany to phone Cooper and offer a few tips to help him. A fine thing to do for the youngster.

As with the other team members this was a new experience against the best in the world and Moore is already talking about what he would do better in two years' time.

His motto is a good one for one so young, “never losing, always learning.”

Back home in Christchurch he has some major events to target. The New Zealand Under 16 Championships in Timaru, Charles Tour events in Tauranga and at Clearwater in Christchurch, the Waikato Champs, plus the New Zealand Boys' Interprovincials and the New Zealand Men’s Amateur Champs in Hamilton are on his calendar.