Tessa McDonald had no time to celebrate her Poverty Bay Women’s Open victory on the Awapuni Links course yesterday.
Not long after she won the FA McFadyen-presented trophy as the division 1 (top 8) matchplay winner, McDonald was putting in her apologies for her absence from the prizegiving due to work commitments.
Apology was accepted. Organisers were happy enough to have such a quality player competing at the Emerre & Hathaway-sponsored two-day tournament featuring 58 players - 40 of those entering the matchplay competition held over five groups of eight.
McDonald was the top seed and red-hot favourite to collect her fourth McFadyen trophy - mother Karen McDonald having also won it in 2014 and 2017.
Long-time Hawke’s Bay-Poverty Bay representative Tessa lived up to her No 1 status with a 4 and 3 defeat of Omanu Golf Club member Debbie Noble in yesterday morning’s final.
McDonald looked set to wrap it up early at 5-up after eight holes and 2-under the card. To her credit, Noble fought gamely and a birdie on the ninth put her 4-down at the turn.
A couple of uncharacteristic mistakes by McDonald opened the door a little for Noble, but she soon slammed it shut for a comfortable victory.
McDonald cruised through day 1, beating Ōpōtiki’s Sarndra Tiopira and Electrinet Park’s Karen Hay on the same hole - the 13th.
In other finals, Chrissie Courtman (Hamilton) beat Megan Allen (Poverty Bay) in the Sandown Trophy division 2; Maxine Francois (PB) beat Paula Kane (Royal Auckland and Grange) in the Awapuni Trophy division 3; Kirsty Shaw (PB) beat Viv Bell (PB) in the Waikanae Trophy division 4; and Rachel Young (Putaruru) beat Robyn Ngatai (Te Puia Hot Springs) in the Nick’s Head division 5.
2024-09-17T17:27:50Z dg43tfdfdgfd