Perrys picked for Oz events

Waikato amateur golfers Mat Perry (Hamilton) and Emily Perry (Lochiel) – who are no relation – will represent New Zealand in the Australian Amateur in Perth from March 18-24.

Mat Perry, representing New Zealand for the first time, is one of six men in the team while Emily Perry is part of the four-woman team.

The tournament will be played on the Lake Karrinyupp and Mt Lawley courses.

Lochiel jumped to the top of the Newstalk ZB division one pennants race with a 12-0 thrashing of Ngahinapouri at Ngarua-wahia at the weekend. Cambridge and Walton are tied for second after they shared the spoils with a 6-6 draw.

On their home course, Ngaruawahia had their first win of the season, beating Waitomo 7-5, while Hamilton scored their first two points with a 7 1/2-4 1/2 win over Matamata.

In division three at Piopio-Aria, both Kevin Hall (Piopio-Aria) and Geoff Seebeck (Cambridge) both scored holes in one.

After two rounds of women's pennants, Lochiel lead division one on four points with Ngaruawahia, Tokoroa, Hamilton, Walton and Matamata all on two points

Waikato had their worst performance in recent history at the SBS Invitational at Invercargill last weekend.

Waikato's five-man team of Mike Worsfold, Leonard Morgan, Jason Boobyer, Luke Toomey and Gavin Cortesi finished a combined 11-over par and were 33 shots off winners Auckland.

Team captain David O'Brien said missing four of the province's top five players made life hard for the young side who were inconsistent.

Waikato No1 Les Miller pulled out for health reasons while Mat Perry, Aaron Leech and Tane Robson all played in the Riversdale Cup in Australia.

O'Brien said exposing the young team to top-level competition was likely to benefit the province in the long run.

Matamata's Boobyer was the best of the Waikato team shooting a three-under-par 72-hole total of 285.

Last-minute replacement Cortesi was next best with 287.

- © Fairfax NZ News