Mid Canterbury golfers Sharon Bradford, Catherine Knight and Jen Shepherd, along with Timaru golfer Lynda Brown represented Aorangi in the New Zealand women’s masters tournament last week at Ashburton.
More than 50 women aged 40-plus, representing 14 teams, took part in the interprovincial team event, run by Golf New Zealand and hosted by Ashburton Golf Club.
It was won by Waikato (with a Stableford score of 384), second was Northland (371) and third Auckland (358).
Brown said teams played 18 holes on Friday’s opening day, followed by 36 holes on Saturday and 18 holes on Sunday.
‘‘The greens are pretty amazing, very slick,’’ she said, of the Brandon Course.
Brown has a four handicap and was a member of the Timaru Club.
She was a seasoned player in the masters with at least 10-plus tournaments under her belt.
She said playing against some of the top masters women in the country, a few who had been professional, lifted her game.
‘‘It always does when you are having to be serious about it,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s amazing you get to see all these amazing golfers, that’s why I’m here,’’ she said.
‘‘They’re from all over the place from Northland right through to Invercargill, it’s amazing.
‘‘It’s a really good tournament and the club has presented the course lovely.’’
Brown finished round one against players from Napier, Invercargill and Rotorua with 26, but got her best score of 33 in round three. She finished the competition on 107.
The team, which saw Knight withdraw after round two and replaced by Wanda Campbell, finished with a score of 302, ahead of Wellington on 300.
It was not the first time the Ashburton club has hosted a national tournament.
In 2021 it hosted the New Zealand men’s interprovincial tournament and years earlier, the national women’s interprovincial, as well as under 21, under 19 and under 16 junior tournaments too.
