On Wednesday December 14 Golf Southland celebrated a hugely successful year at the Golf Southland Awards Breakfast in Invercargill this morning.
National title-winning teams, the Southland men’s team – which won the New Zealand Interprovincial for the first time in the tournament’s 61-year history – and the women’s masters team – which won the national women’s masters tournament for the third consecutive year – were recognised for their superb efforts this year and were met with loud applause in recognition of their fantastic achievements.
Former All Black halfback Justin Marshall was the guest speaker and presented the following awards:
Southland Male Golfer of the Year – Vaughan McCall
Vaughan, a member of the Gore Golf Club, has had an outstanding year which has seen him travel to Fiji, Argentina, Singapore and Australia representing New Zealand. He won the South Island Amateur Strokeplay in February, placed fourth in the Australian Amateur in Melbourne in March and was a recipient of the prestigious Michael Campbell Scholarship. He was ninth in the Asian Amateur Championship, was in the New Zealand team that finished second in the Nomura Cup in Fiji, and was ninth in the Juan Carlos Tournament in Argentina.
He was also in the Southland team that won the New Zealand Interprovincial and then went on to play in the New Zealand Open, finishing T45, and T2nd Amateur.
Southland Female Golfer of the Year – Robyn Boniface
Robyn, a member at Queens Park, is a well-known figure in golfing circles and has had another great year on the golf course. She won the New Zealand Women’s Seniors Matchplay in February and won the Southland Matchplay Championship in October. She won the Southland Women’s Champion of Champions, also in October, was a core member of the women’s masters team that won the national title and also was the top ranked individual at the New Zealand women’s masters tournament. She was also the Queens Park ladies champion.
Southland Junior Golfer of the Year – Sam McCracken
Sam is a member at both Otautau and Tuatapere golf clubs and, at just 16, hit a hole in one earlier this year. He is a talented golfer with plenty of potential. Golf Southland golf development manager Jenna Gainford said it was not only Sam’s talent with the clubs that saw him be a deserved winner of the junior golfer of the year title.
“He puts so much amazing work into his game, he’s loyal and dedicated to the clubs he is a member of and he spends time coaching a lot of the kids coming through,” she said.
“He’s a great role model for the kids to look up to and he works really hard.”
Services to Golf Award – Stuart Riordan
Stuart, a life member at Riversdale Golf Club, was recognised for his outstanding service in administration, maintenance and coaching. He has been club secretary for 29 years, has been a member of the Southland Eagles Society since 2002 and has been senior club champion eight times. He has coached youngsters at the club for more than 20 years and has also put a huge amount of time and effort into course maintenance.