The Chronicles

Eight years after claiming the inaugural Birdie, Thomas Loosley found himself at the top of the leaderboard once again in 2022 — a testament to consistency, golfing evolution, and the ability to get absolutely nothing out of 36 holes and still somehow win. TA09 was a return to form for the founding father.

The Rumble at Turangi provided its usual theatre, with survivors dropping one by one across the back nine before a tight Showdown on the 18th. The Snake Pit was crowded, and the Champions' Banquet — as ever — stretched deep into the Taupō evening.

TA08 arrived after the disruptions of the preceding year and the field attacked the fairways of Tauhara and Turangi with renewed hunger. The event continued to grow in legend and lore, with the Waikato Float, the Snake Pit, and the Champions' Banquet all reaching new heights of ceremony.

The competition remained fiercely contested across both courses. Veterans and debutants alike found that the STFU-C handicapping system ensured no one could afford to rest on reputation alone.

2019 was the year Joe O'Sullivan finally did it. Years of near-misses and bridesmaid finishes gave way to a wire-to-wire commanding performance across both Tauhara and Turangi. O'Sullivan played Stableford golf befitting a champion, converting NET birdies when they mattered and grinding pars when they didn't.

His elevation to the Grand Table and command of the UE Mini Boom were moments the field won't forget. David Rice meanwhile carried the weight of the Bogeyman Overalls from the 18th green — another chapter in a storied career for the big Green Beret.

Half a decade of Amateurs golf. The tournament had grown into something beyond what its founders imagined — a full-blown institution with its own rules, its own lore, and its own very particular brand of humiliation for the bottom finisher.

By the fifth edition the trophy cabinet contained names that had been competed for and some of the tournament's idiosyncratic traditions — the Snake Pit, the Waikato Float, the Bogeyman Overalls — had become inseparable from the event's identity.

TA04 saw the Amateurs Shield — and the Ryder Cup format matchplay battles at its heart — continue to define the team competition. Four teams contested the quadrant matchplay with increasing intensity. Every drive on the first tee carried the weight of collective pride.

The on-course contests continued to throw up moments of drama: the Lundy, the Bango, the Phelps, and the dubious honour of The Drongo became firmly established as part of the Amateurs fabric.

By 2016, the Amateurs had found its rhythm. The 36-hole NET Stableford format over both courses rewarded consistent golf and punished days where the handicap failed to rescue a struggling scorecard. The Waikato Float had cemented its place as the event's cultural heartbeat.

The Green Snakes made their early editions count — the fedora changing hands with each three-putt, the pressure building as the 19th hole approached and group members tried to palm off the snake like a live grenade.

The second edition arrived carrying all the ambition of a sequel that knew it had big shoes to fill. Lesson one from TA01: people would travel for this. Lesson two: the Bogeyman Overalls needed to be a real item of clothing.

TA02 refined, expanded, and deepened the tournament's character. The Snakes were modified, the Boosters gained new names, and the Champions' Banquet became the ceremonial centrepiece it remains today.

Every legend has an origin. In 2014, a group of mates drove south to Taupō with a collection of mismatched clubs, a rough idea of the rules, and absolutely no idea they were about to create something that would still be going strong a decade later.

Thomas Loosley claimed the inaugural Birdie — an honour that sits differently from all that followed it. To win the first edition of anything is to set the standard against which everyone else is measured. The trophy was simple. The golf was earnest. The evening was long.

There was no Bogeyman Overalls yet. No Snake Pit. No Wheel of Repercussions. Just 36 holes of golf, a leaderboard, and the first stirrings of a tradition.