Mount Maunganui golfer aims for three-peat at New Zealand Mid-Amateur

Golfer Dale Clarke won the Australian Mid Amateur tournament as the only Kiwi in the field last year. Photo / File

When looking at the favourites to win this weekend's New Zealand Golf Mid-Amateur Championship, it is hard to go past Dale Clarke.

Clarke returns to the Omanu Golf Course, in Mount Maunganui, this year aiming for the three-peat, having won the title in 2018 and 2019.

The difference this year? He's a local, having relocated to Mount Maunganui from Northland recently.

The annual championship is a 54-hole stroke play tournament by age group with a maximum handicap of 14 in the men's division and 24 in the women's division. As well as the national title, the top-placed New Zealand man and woman will be awarded a place in the 2020 Australian Mid-Amateur.

Clarke said going for a third win would be a good challenge.

"It would be pretty awesome to go three in a row so I'm definitely looking forward to it. I think the last two I've just been in a good frame of mind - nice and relaxed.

"I started playing golf when I was about 9 years old and I had a few years away with it in my 20s with work and my career so this is the second time around. I enjoy it more now, I think, I'm a family man now and I don't place as much importance on the result, I'm just getting out there and competing.

"Other than the obvious goal of playing the least amount of shots, at Omanu you need to stay out of the drains and putt well - make the most of the good greens there."

He said the Bay of Plenty was a good place to be based as a golfer.

"It's great, there's good courses and a good bit of competition. This tournament is unique in that it's an age group champs of sorts for over-30s. A lot of guys who play in these events are guys I grew up playing golf with.

"A lot of people have gone away from the game and back into it and it's nice to have a competitive environment without the young guns. It's a relaxed environment as well but it's very competitive, it's a well run event and we get a lot of overseas visitors playing in it too, which is pretty cool."

Clarke has played the Australian Mid-Amateur twice, his wins in the New Zealand event serving as qualifiers, and remarkably finished first in 2018.

"The recent one I didn't fare so well. It was good competition, it was in New South Wales so had a lot of top players, but it was also a really tough course and it beat me up a bit.

"It was a fantastic experience, though, and a huge incentive to win the New Zealand tournament."

NZ Golf tournament director Denise Langdon said with the Mid-Amateur being restricted to lower handicaps it meant it attracted high-level players.

"There are people that have represented their district both at an interprovincial and at a masters level entered in the tournament. We also have players from New Caledonia, we always get a group from there, and we've got a few from the US and Australia.

"[The Omanu Golf Club] have been great to work with, it's a good, challenging course and being this time of year and a bit of a holiday destination it's usually quite popular."

The 2019 women's champion Louise Mullard, of Australia, is not returning so the title will be up for grabs with a host of previous winners in the field.

The 54-hole stroke play tournament starts tomorrowand finishes on Sunday.