It was a tough week at the office for the Aorangi golf men’s side at the hotly contested New Zealand Interprovincial tournament on the weekend.

Up against some red hot teams from around the country, the Aorangi team featured four Mid Canterbury based players; Cameron Grant, Josh Smith, Ryan Cockburn and Jeff Hewitt.

They started in promising fashion with a 3-2 victory over Northland in the opening of seven rounds of play at Whitford Park, near Auckland.

Grant and Smith were both victorious in their head-to-head clashes.

That result was to be the best for the Aorangi side however, because despite some solid performances, they were unable to head off another side during the week, finishing in 14th position of 15 teams.

The result could have been significantly better if close matches between Otago and Tasman had fallen their way, with the Otago game seeing them go down 2-3 and the Tasman game resulting with two all-square ties and one win from the five matches.

Smith was the best of the local players for the week, picking up two head-to-head wins and tying another from their six matches, but Tim Leonard was Aorangi’s player of the tournament, winning three of his matches and tying another.

Yesterday, the Aorangi women’s side kicked off their campaign in the equivalent tournament on the Akarana Course.

Rachel Eder, Sharon Bradford and Pauline Bell feature in the team with Angela Mowbray acting as manager.

By Matt Markham - © The Ashburton Guardian - 1 December 2020