The 27th Edition of the CNZ National GC Championship was held in Nelson from 6-11 January.
12 pairs took part in the Doubles, split into two blocks of six and played over the opening Monday & Tuesday. Only the top two pairs from each block advanced to the knockout.
In Block A, husband and wife pair Chris & Jenny Clarke (both Canterbury) won 9 of their 10 games, closely followed by brothers Logan & Reece McCorkindale (Canterbury & South Canterbury) with 8 wins from their 10 games.
Block B saw U21 GC Champion Levi Franks (Canterbury) and his partner Michael Lauer (Nelson) finish on top with 9 from 10 wins, with Josh Winter & Myles Duggan (both Canterbury) winning 8 from 10 to earn their place in the knockouts.
The remaining eight pairs in the Plate section were divided into two blocks, and played as single round robin 13 point games to determine the Plate finalists. The Plate final saw Angus Coulter (Bay of Plenty) & Josh Freeth (Auckland) beat Paul Kaiser & James Duggan (both Canterbury).
In the knockouts, the final was contested between Jenny and Chris Clarke and the McCorkindale brothers, after both pairs won their semi finals without dropping a game. In Block play the finalists shared one game win each. Logan & Reece McCorkindale won the first game 7-3, and would prove too strong again in the second game, winning 7-3.
The Singles took place from Wednesday to Saturday, competed by 19 players split across two blocks. The top four of each block advanced to the knockouts.
Logan McCorkindale dominated Block A, dropping only one game. He was joined by Josh Winter, brother Reece and Vincent Commarieu (Nelson) in the knockouts. Levi Franks was equally dominant in Block B losing only one game throughout Block play. Angus Coulter, Josh Freeth and Michael Lauer joined Levi in the knockouts.
Ten players took part in the Singles Plate, a single round robin with the top two players qualifying for a best of three final. Both Paul Kaiser and James Duggan finished on 8 wins with Kaiser’s only loss coming from his game against James, while James dropped his only game against the ageless Doug Nottage. Duggan took the first game 7-5, with Kaiser fighting back to win game 2 7-3. In the decider Paul Kaiser kept his cool and won 7-4 to secure the GC Open Plate.
In the best of three knockouts, the two block winners Levi Franks and Logan McCorkindale continued to show good form winning their respective quarter finals in straight games. The other two semifinals were decided in three games with Angus Coulter overcoming Reece McCorkindale and Josh Freeth beating Josh Winter. After a slow start to the singles event Josh Freeth continued his improving form in the semifinal beating Levi Franks in straight games 7-4 & 7-4. The other semifinal saw Logan McCorkindale drop the first game against Coulter before bouncing back and secure his spot in the final with a 6-7, 7-3 & 7-5 win.
Meanwhile, Josh Winter would go on to win the Bowl section, beating Michael Lauer 7-6, 7-6 in the final. Angus Coulter won the Shield beating Levi Franks in a very tight 19 point game 10-9.
The final saw both players taking their chances with Freeth winning the first game 7-3, McCorkindale bouncing back to win game two 7-6 before Freeth regained the momentum to win game three 7-3. In the potentially final fourth game McCorkindale kept his composure to win 7-4 and a chance to defend his title from last year in a deciding fifth game. Logan McCorkindale, as he did at last year’s event, dominated the final game 7-2 to win back to back titles and adding the Singles Title to the Doubles he won with his brother a few days earlier.
CNZ would like to thank the manager, referees, volunteers, players and supporters for making the week a success. Congratulations to all the winners!
