The New Zealand Secondary Schools Golf Championships are held in conjunction with the New Zealand Age Group Championships, the tournament is run by New Zealand Golf and is the pinnacle tournament for Age Group golfers from around New Zealand. This year the tournament was hosted by the Pukekohe Golf Club in Auckland. Golfers are split into two age divisions, U16 and U19 where they compete over three rounds (54 holes) over three days. After two rounds the field in each division is cut to the top 20 golfers and ties and then those athletes continue to play the final round to decide the overall winner in each division. The golfer with the lowest combined total over the three rounds is then also awarded the title of NZ Secondary Schools Individual Champion.

This year St Bede’s had two golfers competing, Cooper Moore in the U16 division and Charlie Hoban in the U19 division.

This was the first time Charlie had competed in a National tournament and had rounds of 81 & 83 for a total of 22 over par. Unfortunately this meant Charlie did not go through to the final round, however finishing 42nd out of 59 golfers in the U19 division was a great effort and experience.

Prior to the tournament, Cooper was tipped as one of the favourites to compete for the U16 title. In round 1 Cooper put a great score on the board shooting a 6 under par 65 which included 6 birdies an eagle and 2 bogeys to give himself a four shot lead over the 47 players in the field. In round 2 Cooper shot a 1 under par score of 70 to have a combined total of 7 under par and held a slender two shot lead heading into the final round on Friday. The final round was a great battle with the three golfers in the final group all playing some outstanding golf. Cooper stood on the final tee with a one shot lead and then played a superb shot into the 18th green followed by a 15 foot birdie putt to win the NZ U16 title and finishing his final round of one over par 72.

Cooper's combined total of (65,70,72) 207 was good enough for him to beat all the U16 & U19 golfers (106 players in total) to also be crowned New Zealand Secondary Schools Individual Champion.

Congratulations to both Copper and Charlie.