1983 - Mother Of Five Gives Southland Golfers a Run For Their Money

1983 Southland women's golf championship saw mother of five, Colleen Roberts, caused an upset by beating long time former Southland champion Reta Guttery.

Colleen was playing off a nine handicap and had only been playing golf for 5 years and in which time she had given birth to her fifth child.  She was an inspiration to us all as her distant off the tee was immaculate and she was very strong with her irons.  She was also consistent round the greens and was only three over the card for the 17 holes.  Colleen won the 14th with a  birdie and the 15th to go 2 up and then halved the next two holes to take the win.  Reta said after the game she always thought Colleen would crack under pressure but to her credit she was in complete control. 
In the afternoon she was more off with her drives playing Rona Valli and three down after only five holes, Colleen had reduced the deficit to two holes and only two down with three holes to play. She made a birdie on the 16th and then won the par three 17th  with a par, after Rona hit a dreadful tee shot.  All square heading to the 18th Colleen hit a big drive, but appeared to play short and this left her with a 40ft putt.  She missed her putt for par and Rona canned a 6 footer to win the hole and the match.  This was a tremendous effort from someone that has only been playing golf for a short time and I always wonder what happened to Colleen after this competition.  Let me know.