RGC on Tour - 10 September 2019
North Harbour Masters
The North Harbour Masters was played August 23-25 with one round each at Omaha, Hellensville and Muriwai.
Continuing his fine form at Masters level, Scott Robertson took home the title after rounds of 73-72-80 (the latter in atrocious conditions at Muriwai). All the best to Scott and he builds towards the Freyberg Masters that begins November 4 in Timaru.
Also in the field was Thai Leng (10th), Dell Bain (14th) and Matthew Willis (21st).
NZ Secondary Schools Championship
Cromwell hosted this event on September 2nd.
Nathan Smith 13th= after rounds of 74-79
Kelly Wu 19th after 76-79
Karl Jorgensen 34th after 81-82
All 3 above were part of the St Kentigern College team that finished up 3rd behind Mcleans College who defended their title.
NZ Under 19s
After one days rest the New Zealand Under 19 (and age group) began also at Cromwell GC. Remuera players in action were:
Daniel Freeman, 25th, 75-74-76 (3rd in Under 15s)
Karl Jorgensen 46th, 80-77-75
Nathan Smith, 49th, 76-76-82 (19th in Under 17s)
Eamon Wairepo, 63rd, 81-80-78 (10th in Under 15s)
Jamie Lansi, William Kelly and Sky Kang all narrowly missed the cut.
Great too see such a strong RGC representation at the event.
Cam Harlock – University of North Texas, Texas
https://meangreensports.com/index.aspx?path=mgolf
College life is so much more than what I had expected it to be. The university has been second to none on almost every level. Particularly around the living side, living with all of the other freshman athletes means that I’m constantly surrounded by likeminded people who want to make a career out of their respective sport. This makes it so easy to get to know people and I will admit the accent helps on that front too.
As far as a daily schedule goes, depending on afternoon or morning practice it will be around 4 hours of mandatory practice and then most of the boys hang around longer to really work on our games and develop our skills. We practice at a course called Maridoe which most of the members will go as far as to say it’s easily one of the toughest golf courses in the country. If you shoot a 72 around this course, you’re playing to a +8.5 handicap as a reference!!
Our first event of the season is at Trinity Forrest down at SMU, we have 9 rounds of qualifying so quite a lot with myself sitting 6th so far after 3. Still a long way to go so it’s very exciting.
The first month has been surreal, experiencing life as a college athlete is truly amazing. Right from getting a lesson on the range from Lee Trevino and hitting balls next to Tony Romo (both members at our club) to going to our first football game with over 25,000 people!! There’s a long road ahead and a lot of hard work but I’m putting the pedal to the metal and am looking forward to putting my game in a competitive place.
Connor Barker Update from Winthrop University, South Carolina
https://winthropeagles.com/index.aspx?path=mgolf
The first month of life at Winthrop has been amazing. First of all, the people here have been so awesome and accommodating, and making my transition into college life that much easier with how welcoming everyone has been.
Day to day schedule is pretty jam packed. We practice at Rock Hill Country Club and Springfield Golf club as our 2 main facilities. Practice typically runs from 12:30 through to 5:00 Monday to Friday, with qualifying for tournaments often being played; Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Classes go Monday-Thursday and classes often start at 8am-midday and night classes at 6:30-7:45.
My first qualifying series consisted of 4 rounds. I finished with rounds of 73,67,69,69 (-10) to finish front of the team. Unfortunately, our first tournament was abandoned due to damage from Hurricane Dorian and so the team will have to wait 3 more weeks before we can finally get the Fall season underway.
Overall though, have loved my time here in the USA and more typically South Carolina the first month and look forwarded to getting into tournament play and really getting into a regular routine.