The 2021 Waikato Age Group Championships were held on the 19^th and 20^th of July at Cambridge Golf Club. This tournament is run across 36 holes over two days and is split into three age groups, Under 14 Boys and Girls, Under 16 Boys and Girls, and Under 19 Boys and Girls.

In the Under 14 Girls division, Grace Kim shot a two-round score of 7 over par 151 to beat Emma Zheng by 3 shots and claim first prize. One shot behind Emma was Aya Esaki who finished third.

In the U14 Boys, Ryan Xie was clinical in his second round shooting an even par 72 to finish 4 over for the tournament and claim first place by 5 shots over Yicheng Wang. Johnny Zhou was another 3 shots back in third place.

In the U16 Girls, last years U14 champion Amy Im was in fine form shooting an opening round 3 under 69 followed by a 1 under 71 to claim first place over Chloe Lam by 7 shots. Rebekah Blackwell-Chin was another one shot back in third place.

The U16 Boys was a fiercely competed division, after an opening round 71 everyone was trying to catch last year's U14 champion, Robby Turnbull. It was Taranaki’s Jack Van Prehn who shot the low round of the tournament with a 5 under 67 to leapfrog Robby and take first place. Jack was 6 under heading down the 18^th hole but had an unlucky bogey to finish at 5 under. Waikato representative player Ben Ambler finished in third place with an even par 144 after shooting 1 under in his second round.

The U19 Girls division required a playoff to find a winner after both Aileen Du and Waikato representative player Ing Iadpluem couldn’t be separated after two rounds, both shooting 3 over par 147. Caitlin Maurice was one shot off joining them in a playoff after shooting 4 over. Both Ing and Aileen headed back up the 18^th to complete their first playoff hole. After both girls found the fairway with their drives, Aileen sent her second shot over the back of the green and Ing put hers 6 feet from the pin. Aileen then chipped on and put her par putt agonizingly close but had to settle for a tap in bogey. Ing showed that it wouldn’t have mattered as she calmly slotted her birdie putt to claim first place.

The U19 Boys division was all square heading down the 18^th between Ryan Rooney and Shinju Aoki. Unfortunately, Shinju put his tee shot just out of bounds and ended up having a double-bogey to finish 2 over for the round and put him into a 5-way tie for second place along with Rhys Thomas, Tae Min Kim, Henry Wang, and Jacob Murray who all shot combined scores of 2 over 146. Ryan managed to par the last hole to finish with back-to-back even par 72’s and claim first place.

Thank you to Cambridge Golf Club for allowing us to use their facilities and thank you to the volunteers who gave their time to help.

To all the players, we are looking forward to seeing you all again next year.  

For the full Girls Results - Click Here 

For the full Boys Results - Click Here 

Article added: Tuesday 27 July 2021