Men's open tournament - Poverty Bay Golf Club

EMERRE & HATHAWAY MEN’S POVERTY BAY OPEN SEPTEMBER 24-26, 2026

The countdown to the start of the 2026 Emerre & Hathaway Men’s Open Golf Tournament at Awapuni Links in Gisborne is on.

The process of taking entries proved successful once again and very quickly reached a full field of 112 confirmed entries plus reserves.

The system we use to allow golfers from the local Tairawhiti Golf District to enter the event two weeks ahead of golfers from other districts has again worked well and has not disadvantaged our very much appreciated ‘out-of-towners’.

As a result, we have 74 players entered from the local Tairawhiti District (Poverty Bay, Gisborne Park, Patutahi, Waikohu, Tolaga Bay and Te Puia Springs) and 36 players from other New Zealand districts.

And once again it is a quality field. As of the time of writing we have 57 players on single figure handicaps. The top 16, according to current handicaps, ranges from +2.2 to 2.2. The next sixteen is 2.6 to 5.3. Qualifying day will be a battlefield.

In the field are eight former Poverty Bay Men’s Open champions.

Waka Donnelly (1989, 1990, 1992, 1997, 2005, 2008, 2010)
David Solomann (1995)
Tony Akroyd (2007)
Peter Anderson (2018)
Willy Brown (2012, 2022)
Anaru Reedy (2021)
Mark Smith (2023, 2024)
Glenn Soloman (2025)

The full list of entries is posted with this newsletter.

THE COURSE:

We will again be playing the Alternative Open Course which we first set up in 2023 and has been well received by those taking part in the Open. This is designed to make the sequence of holes played easier for spectators to follow, for the admin of running starts from two tees from the clubhouse area, and for creating more accessible finishing holes for matches starting from both the front and back nines.

The Poverty Bay Golf Club looks forward to seeing you all at Awapuni Links on Thursday, 24 September.

Your entry fee provides:

2 x 18 rounds of qualifying stroke play on September 24
4 x 18 hole rounds of matchplay in divisions on September 25 and 26
1 x optional practice round on Wednesday September 23

It also includes:

Entry to Craig Investment Partners $20,000 Hole-In-One Challenge
Entry to BDO-Emerre & Hathaway Nearest to Pin Challenge
Neighbourhood Pizza night on Thursday evening
3 x BDO-Sean Shivnan Pharmacy lunch packs
Friday Night Calcutta Banquet meal
Saturday night BBQ
Chance to win prize in seven divisions

Cooked breakfasts will be available in the Dining Room each morning at $15. Plus! A coffee cart will still be on site by the Swing Room Pro Shop each morning for those who want a barista style coffee to get their big day started.

The Craigs Investment Partners $20,000 Hole-In-One Challenge is on again. This is a classic hole-in-one promotion, set up on our notorious par 3 11th (or the 15th playing the Alternative Course). All players have one chance during the first round of qualifying, and the first person to score an “ace” will win the money. That’s $10,000 in cash to the player and a corresponding donation of $10,000 to local charity The Sunrise Foundation.

Your entry fee also includes a change, or in fact several chances, to win our popular BDO-Emerre & Hathaway Nearest to Pin Challenge. The Nearest To Pin winners from each of the Par 3 holes during both rounds of qualifying on Thursday will take part in a final on the 18th fairway on Saturday at the completion of the tournament. There will be one Wild Card chosen on Friday night with the condition that the person who is drawn must be present in the clubhouse. Plus, we have added one more spot – there will be a raffle for one more place. Potentially there will be eight golfers lined up on the 18th on Saturday with two attempts each from 100 metres of getting Nearest To The Pin. However if one person wins more than one approach during qualifying, they will be given two chances per win.

That’s it for now. We look forward to seeing you all at The Open in September.

THE ENTRIES:

1 Mark Smith Springfield +2.2
2 Glenn Solomann Waikohu +2.0
3 Ben Jujnovich Redwood Park +1.3
4 Josh Wilson Mount Maunganui 0.1
5 David Solomann Waikohu 0.3
6 Dan Collier Poverty Bay 0.9
7 Aaron Goddard Hamilton 0.9
8 Waka Donnelly Napier 1
9 Richy Apanui Te Puia 1.3
10 Anaru Reedy Poverty Bay 1.3
11 William Brown Rotorua 1.4
12 Jonty Kelt Royal Auckland 1.4
13 Scott Bernie Hastings 1.4
14 Marcus Gray Poverty Bay 1.7
15 Tony Akroyd Poverty Bay 2
16 Hayden Keast Poverty Bay 2.2
17 Chulainn Sowerby Paraparaumu 2.6
18 Pete Anderson Poverty Bay 2.7
19 Peter Kerekere Waikohu 2.8
20 Craig Palmer Poverty Bay 3
21 Daniel Schultz Hamilton 3.3
22 Simon Jeune Poverty Bay 3.6
23 Matt Henwood Park 3.7
24 Dwayne Russell Patutahi 3.8
25 Rob Cooper Waikanae 4.1
26 Corbin Smith Springfield 4.5
27 Nick Whyte Poverty Bay 4.8
28 Marcel Campbell Poverty Bay 4.8
29 Tim Neill Matamata 4.8
30 Mark Jefferson Poverty Bay 5.1
31 Sascha Apanui Omokoroa 5.3
32 Oliver Coxhead Redwood Park 5.3
33 Tim Mackie Waipukurau 5.4
34 Jack Bernie Hastings 6.1
35 Ian Loffler Gisborne Park 6.2
36 Peter Stewart Poverty Bay 6.2
37 Tim Adamson Tolaga Bay 6.3
38 Chris Coleman Hastings 6.6
39 Brad Reynolds Poverty Bay 6.7
40 Makau Phipps Te Puia 7.1
41 Harper Wilkin Royal Auckland 7.1
42 Aaron Ingoe Tieke 7.3
43 Bruce Yates Tolaga Bay 7.4
44 Willy Mortleman Poverty Bay 7.4
45 Hamish Douglas Poverty Bay 7.8
46 Carter Smith Springfield 7.9
47 Peter Clayton Poverty Bay 8
48 Alex Downey Poverty Bay 8.5
49 Andy Hayward Poverty Bay 8.9
50 Alex Meban Poverty Bay 9
51 Jack Kelt Royal Auckland 9
52 Nathan Walker Mount Maunganui 9.5
53 Terence Lewis Poverty Bay 9.6
54 Hamish Evans Poverty Bay 9.7
55 Michael Bond Gisborne park 9.7
56 Richard Foon Poverty Bay 9.8
57 Steven Hayward Tieke 9.8
58 Jak Rowe Poverty Bay 10
59 Anthony Pahina Gisborne Park 10.1
60 Joshua Hayes Gisborne Park 10.2
61 Jeremy Tucker Mout Maunganui 10.2
62 Henri Campbell Poverty Bay 10.2
63 Nick Greeks Poverty Bay 10.5
64 Dom Wilson Patutahi 10.6
65 Mark Higham Te Puia Springs 10.6
66 Clive Dean Poverty Bay 11.1
67 Allan White Poverty Bay 11.2
68 Alex Kirkpatrick Poverty Bay 11.2
69 David Jenkins Poverty Bay 11.3
70 Brent Colbert Poverty Bay 11.3
71 Hamish Witters Paraparaumu 11.5
72 Shaun Pahina Gisborne Park 11.6
73 Nicholas Hayward Tieke 11.8
74 Ian Logan Te Puia Springs 11.9
75 Dirk Bullivant Poverty Bay 11.9
76 Ross Chalmers Poverty Bay 11.9
77 Sam Howard Hastings 12
78 Jeremy Castles Poverty Bay 12.4
79 Neil Mackie Poverty Bay 12.5
80 Doug Kirkpatrick Mount Maunganui 12.5
81 Keith Marshall Poverty Bay 12.9
82 David Pirimona Poverty Bay 13.1
83 Carl carmody Poverty Bay 13.2
84 Marcus Grayling Tieke 13.3
85 Matt Mackintosh Poverty Bay 13.4
86 Mitchell Griffiths Mount Maunganui 13.5
87 Josh Adams Gisborne Park 14.2
88 Glenn Kane Remuera 14.3
89 Stuart Harbottle Poverty Bay 14.7
90 Andy Kupa Hastings 14.8
91 Toby Williams Tolaga Bay 14.9
92 David Gray Poverty Bay 15
93 Tony Thorpe Taupo 15.2
94 Andy Abrahams Poverty Bay 15.7
95 Paul Butlin Poverty Bay 15.9
96 Jared Barron Hamilton 16.1
97 John Pittar Poverty Bay 16.3
98 Luke Hayes Gisborne park 16.7
99 Gray Clapham Poverty Bay 16.8
100 Rob Wilkin Poverty Bay 17.2
101 Mathew Greeks Gisborne Park 17.8
102 Matt Innes Waikanae 18
103 Joe Sheridan Tolaga Bay 18.1
104 Jasper Holdworth Poverty Bay 18.5
105 Charlie Holdsworth Poverty Bay 18.5
106 Tim Sherratt Poverty Bay 18.8
107 Cary Hensley Poverty Bay 20.2
108 Neville West Poverty Bay 20.5
109 Runty Jackson Morrinsville 20.9
110 Thomas Leckie Royal Wellington 21.8
111 Sean Shivnan Poverty Bay 28.7
112 Alan Baldwin Poverty Bay 31.9