Pictured at The Grange: Jayson Bukuya, Crowd Goes Wild presenter Josh Kronfeld and son Arlo, Ben Matulino and Albert Vete.
Feleti Mateo was in the winning team and Nathan Friend was the top individual when the Vodafone Warriors staged their annual charity golf day at The Grange in Auckland on Friday.
With the tournament run on a stableford points format, Mateo helped the Kaptiv8 Ply Ltd team to a total of 126 points, five clear of Fidleity Life which had Vodafone Warriors assistant coach Andrew McFadden on board.
Mateo also won the prize for the straightest drive on the 18th while Friend was the leading individual with a tally of 43 stabelford points.
The prize for each player in the winning team was a trip to Sydney for a Vodafone Warriors game and a range of Vodafone Warriors apparel from Canterbury of New Zealand.
Other Vodafone Warriors featuring in the prizes were Manu Vatuvei and Glen Fisiiahi. Fisiiahi won the nearest the pin contest on the 15th while Vatuvei had the longest drive on the 16th for players with handicaps of 13 plus.
Mind you, The Beast didn’t get his drive away so well when he was invited to give the tournament a ceremonial start teeing off on the first. Lining up his tee shot, the big man was all focus as the competitors gathered around … only when he made contact he found he was the victim of a prank. The ball he was given was a trick one, exploding on impact much to the amusement of everyone.
Vodafone Warrior Chad Townsend, who has enjoyed a few rounds at The Grange on his days off, was in the fifth-placed BLK Sport team while Konrad Hurrell was in the sixth-placed Red Bull team.
Shaun Johnson went desperately close to snaring the biggest prize of the day. With a Suzuki 2WD S-Cross the prize for a hole in one on the par three eighth, Johnson put his tee shot within a few centimetres of the cup.
The teams competed for an outstanding array of prizes put up by sponsors. Those who supported the event were Vodafone, Canterbury of NZ, Lion Nathan, Red Bull, dtr, Bendon, Mandron Masonry, Roof Co, Harveys Real Estate, Papakura, Carters – Henderson Branch and Coverstaff Recruitment. The Grange course was in exceptional condition for the tournament.
The event raised funds for the new Warriors Forever Fund, which has been set up to provide support for former Vodafone Warriors players who may face hardship in their lives.
The entire NRL squad was on hand throughout the day, many of them playing in teams and others helping with a round-the-clock barbecue and handing food and beverages out to players on the course.
There was a strong media presence as well with SKY Sport, the Crowd Goes Wild, Fairfax Media, One News and Vodafone Warriors TV all capturing the event on video. Fronting the Crowd Goes Wild team was presenter and former All Black Josh Kronfeld (along with his little helper son Arlo).
Results:
Teams (stableford):
126 Kaptiv8 Ply Ltd (including Feleti Mateo)
121 Fidelity Life (including Andrew McFadden)
120 Aegean Homes Ltd
118 Image Centre Group
117 BLK Sport (including Chad Townsend)
116 Red Bull (including Konrad Hurrell)
Individual (stableford):
43 Nathan Friend
42 Samuel Ashton
42 Kingi Ngamanu
Putting competition: Chris Hull and Simon Macroft
Nearest pin (15th): Glen Fisiiahi
Straightest drive (18th): Feleti Mateo
Longest drive (16th): 12 handicap and under: Anthony Buchanan; 13 handicap and over: Manu Vatuvei
