PALADO AND CANE DO THE DOUBLE

Back to back Wellington titles for Gabrielle Palado.

Gabrielle Palado was grinning in the rain, on the way to defending her Wellington women's strokeplay title with a two-shot victory over Darae Chung at Manor Park.

A 12-year-old golfing prodigy stood in the way of Gabrielle Palado defending her Wellington women's strokeplay title, and it took till the final round to eventually subdue her.

The Manor Park teenager won by two shots on her home course over Shandon's Darae Chung, the national under-13 champion whose spectacular rise towards the senior ranks continues.

Chung held a two-shot lead after 54 holes, belying her several years of golfing experience, before the Wellington rep No 1 Palado came home with a five-over final round of 78 in the wet. With the highly impressive Chung shooting 82 it was a four-shot swing as Palado finished on 321 and even shed a tear afterwards as the gravity of her win sunk in. There was 10 shots back to third-placed Erika Cui.

A year ago Palado cruised home by 14 shots at Te Marua before claiming the double in the matchplay with victory over Te Rongopai Clay in the final.

She'll now be top qualifier for next month's matchplay as she bids for the double-double and further confirmation of her status as Wellington's top woman amateur in the absence of US college-based Julianne Alvarez.

Speaking of double-doubles, men's rep No 1 Jonno Cane also retained his title and will also look to again complete the matchplay side of the equation next month.

Cane beat Peter Spearman-Burn by four shots in a strong men's field missing only Daniel Hillier of the top players as he contests an Asian tournament.

An opening round of 68 from Cane set the tone, and after back-to-back rounds of 71 he teed off the final 18 holes with a five-shot advantage over the well-performed Spearman-Burn.

Promising Manor Park youngster, George Barralet, was another five shots behind Spearman-Burn in third after a final round of 76. Regular Wellington reps Kerry Mountcastle and Ben Slaven were tied for fourth, a shot further back, with Nelson visitor Andrew Drummond next best.

Selectors will now pick their rep teams for the Shand Cup quadrangular in a fortnight.

COURTESY OF STUFF.CO.NZ