Burnside High School have had another successful year of Golf.

The Burnside High School winning Mixed A team from 2016 repeated their winning performance again this year, in the Canterbury Secondary Schools’ Stroke Play Championships at the Russley Golf Club, on Monday 06 March, beating Christchurch Boys’ High School on a countback. The team of Amelia Garvey, Juliana Hung and brothers Hiroki Miya and Hayato Miya scored a gross total of 224 points, with Juliana scoring the second top score of the day with a gross of 72. Hiroki was the third top scorer on 76, with Hayato placing 5th with a round of 79. In the end, it came down to Amelia’s round of 86 on countback, for us to take out the overall win. So, from winning this event, our team qualified to compete in the NZ Secondary Schools Golf Final, to be held this year in the Hawkes Bay in September. Boys High also qualified to compete in this same tournament, due to a new rule that two schools from each region could now compete in this Final.

Our Mixed B team came a credible 3rd place at the Canterbury Secondary Schools Strokeplay Championships, with a total gross score of 244. Their team members were Jasmine Rou, Amy Weng, Jake Hosking and Thomas James.

The Mixed A team then went on to compete at the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Golf Final, held at the Hawkes Bay Golf Club on Monday 04 September. Their biggest rival was going to be Christchurch Boys’ High School, and in the end they lost to them to place 2nd after two hard-fought rounds, with a total score of 429 (compared to Boys’ High score of 421). Amelia top scored with 142, Juliana 146, Hiroki 147 and Hayato 148 – a fantastic group score which the team were still proud of.

Amelia, Juliana, Hiroki and Hayato have all had individual successes during the year also, representing Burnside High, Canterbury and New Zealand.

Amelia:

At the recent school Sports Awards evening, Amelia won the night’s supreme award - Principal’s Cup for Outstanding Achievement in Sport. Amelia is a member of the Canterbury Women’s Golf team, playing at No. 1. In March this year, Amelia won the New Zealand Women’s Amateur Stroke Play Championships in Hastings and earlier in February won the South Island Women’s Stroke Play title. In May, Amelia was selected in the NZ Women’s Golf team to contest the Queen Sirikit Cup in China. At the NZ Age Group Championships, after the NZ Secondary Schools’ Team Golf Final in Hastings, Amelia placed 2nd in the U19 Girls Championships.

Amelia was awarded the title of New Zealand Eagles Golfing Society Golfer of the Year, previous winners include Sir Bob Charles and Lydio Ko. She made the cut in this year’s LPGA Tour event in October, the New Zealand Women's Golf Open at Windross Farm in Auckland, where she was, after the first round, the joint-leading Kiwi with Lydia Ko.

Amelia won the major individual Zonta Secondary Schools Sports Award this year for Outstanding Young Sportswoman. She has also secured a scholarship to the University of Southern California where she will join the Golf programme in July 2018.

Juliana:

Juliana has also had a great year. She was awarded the Canterbury Golf Order of Merit (Women and Junior), was the winner of the New Zealand South Island U19 Championships, New Zealand Stroke Play Championships she placed 3rd, the South Island Stroke Play Championships she placed 2nd, and was the winner of the Otago Stroke Play Championships.

Juliana was selected for the NZ Golf Junior squad playing in the Australian Girls Amateur Championships in April and also the Srixon Internationals in October. She also qualified for the LGPA New Zealand Women's Golf Open at Windross Farm, Auckland in October.

Hiroki:

Hiroki has also had a busy successful year. He has been a member of the Burnside High Mixed Golf A Team for the last four years. This year he won the South Island U17 Men’s Championships, and came 4th in the U19 event. He was the winner of the Nick Faldo Series Asia NZ Championship, and the overall winner of the Canterbury Age Group Championship. At the recent NZ Age Group Championships in September, he was 2nd in the U19 Boys, and overall was tied for 2nd place.

Hiroki was a member of the NZ Men’s Development Golf Team.

In conclusion, we are sad to lose Amelia as a Year 13 student, and wish her all the best for her golf scholarship in the States next year, but we have a rising star in Year 9 student, Amy Weng, who will be a welcome addition to our Mixed A team for the coming years.

Mrs T Taylor