Macgregor Seniors’ Close Championship
A
stunning display on the greens at Clearwater Bay Golf Club earned Joe Pethes his second successive MacGregor Hong Kong Seniors’ Close Amateur Championship early May, a resounding nine stroke victory over the rest of the field. Terry Collins finished in second place, two shots ahead of 2006 champion Matajiro Nagatomi in third. “My short game was good all week,” said Pethes, 62, the current non-playing captain of the Hong Kong international men’s team. “The course was set up beautifully; the greens were in excellent condition and I managed to hole a lot of putts. That’s really what it came down to.” Opening with a solid 74, which gave him a three shot advantage over Collins and Bob McKirdy, Pethes increased his lead to an unassailable eleven strokes after firing a sensational 2-under-par 68 on the second day, his lowest ever competitive round. “Nearly everything went in,” grinned Pethes, who only needed his putter 28 times during the course of the round. The Hong Kong Golf Club member was a blistering 4-under par through fifteen holes before back-to-back bogeys at the 16th and 17th took the shine off an otherwise flawless display. The final round proved to be a cakewalk for Pethes. Never in danger of relinquishing his lead, he cruised to the easiest of 74s and wrapped up the championship in style. Other notable performances included Motonobu Yanai’s final round of 71— the low score of the day—which rocketed him up the leaderboard and into overall fourth place and victory in the 55-59 age division. McKirdy and Martin Clinch took the honours in the 60-64 and 65-69 age division respectively, while Hugh Staunton’s three round total of 250 won him the 70 and over category.
Terry Collins splashes out Bob McKirdy placed fifth
Pethes Putts His Way to Second Seniors’ Title
Richly deserved: a second title for Pethes
Photography by Patrick Leung
Hot putter and stellar short game key to Joe’s victory
RESULTS – TOP 10 OVERALL 1 Joe Pethes (74-68-74) 2 Terry Collins (77-76-72) 3 Matajiro Nagatomi (78-75-74) 4 Motonobu Yanai (79-84-71) 5 Bob McKirdy (77-79-80) 6 Don Moore (82-77-79) 7 Kwong Kam-shui (82-82-78) 8 Ted Ling (79-83-81) 9 Fursy Chung (82-79-83) 10= Dai Xiao-ming (84-81-81) Wong Yick-chiu (84-80-82) Rob Chipman (79-81-86)
216 225 227 234 236 238 242 243 244 246 246 246
Another solid event for Don Moore
Former champion Matajiro Nagatomi tees off on the third
60-64 age division champion Martin Clinch 22
HK GOLFER・MAY/JUNE 2008
Motonobu Yanai at the fifth WWW.HKGA.COM
WWW.HKGA.COM
HK GOLFER・MAY/JUNE 2008
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