AAGA 2nd Annual Taupo Amateurs
Day I
The 2015 Cricket World Cup formed the backdrop to the second annual Taupo Amateurs, with many of the competitors enjoying the NZ vs Bangladesh game in Hamilton on the Friday afternoon before heading down to prepare for Saturday’s opening round. Allegations of cricket match fixing was a hot topic in the media at the time, and there was a strong suspicion that the no-show by red team’s captain was connected to this.
Friday night involved much discussion on tactics and each team’s chances, and the pressure was clearly getting to many of the competitors on the first tee of day one, with 5 out of 7 players starting the round by washing their balls in the pond directly in front of the tee, a first hole blow-out unmatched in ATA history.
Day one competition was fierce, with David Rice eventually claiming the prestigious yellow balls, and Matthew Gabriel handed the pink balls with ample breathing room to the nearest contender. Red team’s missing captain substantially stacked the competition in their favour, and assisted in them claiming the day one teams victory, leaving Blue Team in charge of dinner and dishes. A spectacular dummy-spit was demonstrated by Blue Team memberThomas Loosley, resulting in a generous and well received offer to buy all players dinner at Lone Star in Taupo to avoid doing any dishes, a display unheard of in ATA history.
Day II
Day two opened with another stunning Taupo day, however fierce debate regarding the counting of a double tap/one stroke putt between the two main bogeyman contenders ensued on the opening hole, with the resulting count eventually adding pressure to the pink ball holders’ day. The competition for the bogeyman’s overalls was tit for tat all day, until David Lawrence made a breakthrough on the 16th hole securing his freedom, and ensuring Matthew Gabriel would be the first to wear the Bogeyman’s overalls.
Further controversy broke out over the rules regarding the Yellow leaders ball. Thomas Howard was forced to replay his tee shot on the par 3 17th after David Rice claimed the leader in real time should be using the Yellow Balls. This made for a tense final hole as Tom double bogeys the hole with Dave Rice hitting par. All square heading into the 18th and everything to play for. Thomas Howard owned the tiebreaker with 2 birdies on the back 9 meaning Dave needed to win the hole. With both on the green in 4 Dave’s 40 foot right breaking put came agonisingly close but left himself a tap in for bogey 6. Tom, with a similar distance to putt needed just the two putt, and he stepped up and calmly stroked his way to a glorious victory.
