Ashburton born-and-bred golfer Daniel Pearce scored a huge win in Queensland, after almost blowing a good lead.Photo Bob EnglebrightAshburton golfer Daniel Pearce almost blew an eight-shot lead but held his nerve to win the Queensland PGA Championship on the weekend.

Pearce, a member of the Ashburton Golf Club, was in a commanding position heading into Sunday’s final round at the City Golf Club in Toowomba but a horror run of bogeys in the middle of his front nine during the final round threatened to throw all the good work out the window.

After starting the day with a birdie on the first hole, Pearce then went on a bogey run through holes five to eight to bring himself back to the field.

An eagle on the 10th allowed a little breathing space before a bogey on the 18th brought him back to level with Matthew Millar, who stormed up the leader- board to force a playoff.

The first two playoff holes went to par with both players producing some quality golf, but Millar broke on the third hole putting his tee shot into a bunker and Pearce was able to two-putt his way to victory.

And despite the nail-biting way in which he achieved his first win on the tour, the 28-year-old found positives in how things panned out.

“Winning is winning, it’s awesome for the confidence,” he said.

Pearce picked up close to $19,000 for his efforts in the tournament and has moved himself into the top 20 on the PGA Australian Order of Merit with the victory.

With a confidence building win behind him, Pearce was already looking forward to the coming challenges for the remainder of the year as he continues to search for a spot on a Main Tour somewhere.

Those pathways might open themselves up if he can carry his form to China in the next few months.

“I’ve got status up in China, so I’ll be playing the PGA Tour of China when it starts around May and I will also be playing the remainder of this season in Australia.”

One of the big bonuses of the success for Pearce is due to his victory he is now exempt for the Australian PGA Tour next year – a position he has never found himself in before.

“I haven’t been exempt going into a year before so it really helps.

“Hopefully I can build on this and have a really good year and jump onto a tour somewhere.”

2017 has already been a big one for the Ashburton born and raised golfer with his wife, Sarah, giving birth to their first child four weeks ago.

Initially, Pearce’s plan was to stay at home with his family but an 11th placing at last week’s New Zealand Open gave him the confidence to have a crack at Queensland – a decision that turned out to be the right one with a view to his career on the greens.

By Matt Markham © The Ashburton Guardian - 21 March 2017

Ashburton College’s Aidan Campbell (right) at the Aoraki Secondary Schools Athletics this week Photo suppliedMid Canterbury athletes produced some solid results at the Aoraki Secondary Schools Athletics in Timaru on Wednesday with records falling and a number of victories coming from students of Ashburton and Mt Hutt colleges.

A large group of students from both schools made the trek down to Timaru after having to wait an extra 24 hours following the postponement due to the weather on Tuesday.

Ashburton College grabbed 25 wins throughout the day with some impressive results by a number of individuals.

They shone particularly in the under 16 girls’ category in the running events, clean sweeping the five running events with Emily Armstrong and Natasha Waddell winning the lot between them.

Waddell grabbed herself an Aoraki record in the process running her 1500 metres in 5.05.23, bettering the previous record, set in 2001 by four hundredths of a second.

The under-16 girls carried their running form through to the relay where they also set a record in the 4×100 metre relay.

Taonga Mbambo claimed himself a record in the Under-16 Boys’ 3000 metre record too.

The long-distance runner not only broke the record, he smashed it with his time of nine minutes and 33.13 seconds, bettering the previous record by 48 seconds which was set in 2012.

Ashburton College’s fourth record came from Anthony Van Aspern in the 400-metre event for athletes with a disability.

Van Aspern was in particularly good form winning the 100 metre and 200 metre events as well.

Mia Pearson was the other college student to taste multiple successes as she won both the high jump and the 80-metre hurdles event.

For Mount Hutt College, Aimee Elliott, competing in the under 19 girls’ category, was one of the star performers with a win and two seconds in the 3000 metres, 1500 metres and 800 metres respectively, breaking school records in all three events in the process.

Younger sister Courtney Elliott won the 3000 metres in the under-14 girls’ age group while the school’s other victory came from Blynz Monsanto in the under-16 girls’ javelin.

Mount Hutt College had new records set by Monique Johnson in the under-14 girls’ high jump with a leap of 1.43 metres and from Brea Roderick in the under 15 girls’ 3000 metres with her time when finishing second also under the previous best Aoraki record time.

A number of students from both schools will now go on to compete at the South Island Secondary Schools Athletics Championships.

By Matt Markham © The Ashburton Guardian - 17 March 2017

Annemieke Burgerhout. Photo suppliedAshburton College Year 12 student Annemieke Burgerhout has won one of just two national scholarships awarded for a nine month study stint in Japan.

She departs next month and will immerse herself in the Japanese language and culture while studying at Osaka Kun-ei Girls High School .

Annemieke impressed scholarship judges with her initial written application, that included a 300 word bio and her reasons for wanting to study in Japan.

She followed that up with a successful telephone interview.

Annemieke said she was proficient in writing and understanding the Japanese language, which she had been learning since Year 9, but was less fluent in speaking it.

She admits to both nerves and excitement ahead of her trip and is swatting up on Japanese protocol and customs.

She will be a home stay student and will be reunited with three students from Osaka Kun-ei Girls High School who visited Ashburton College last year as part of an exchange between the sister schools.

In contrast to her school routine in Ashburton, she is likely to face a train trip to get to school in Osaka and will also need to attend school three Saturdays out of four each month.

She will wear the Japanese school uniform and must also be involved with an after-school club of some sort.

The appeal of Japan, says Annemieke, is its history, language and culture.

“I hope to come back more proficient in all aspects of the language,” she said.

Annemieke Burgerhout has just started studying the Korean language online and hopes to tackle the subject of linguistics when she goes to university.

By Mick Jensen © The Ashburton Courier - 16 March 2017