Golding hoping to take hot run into final

There's a touch of a fairytale about Omanu making the final of the Bay of Plenty pennant competition

If in-form Omanu golfer Jordan Golding's half the player tomorrow that he was on his home track two weeks ago, he's going to take some stopping as the top qualifiers look to put the seal on a stellar Bay of Plenty championship pennant season.
Golding is riding the crest of the wave and goes into tomorrow's championship showdown at Omanu against No 3 qualifiers Tauranga having set a new benchmark for playing the parkland course.
The 16-year-old Mt Maunganui College student took 63 shots off the blue tees to get around Omanu on a club day two weeks ago, eclipsing Mike Wilson's nine-year-old course record by a shot.
After birdieing the short par-four 1st - not too dramatic a start to the round with plenty taking that route - he went on the rampage, throwing down six more birdies at the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th holes for a seven-under par front nine that consisted of just 29 shots.
His back nine was positively sedate by comparison, with Golding picking up shots on the 13th, 14th and 15th, mixed with a solitary dropped shot on the genteel par-four 16th.
"I was annoyed with that bogey," he said, "because it should be one of the easier holes, but I drove it up the right and you're pretty much stuffed from there."
Golding, Omanu's strokeplay champion and runner-up at the under-19 New Zealand Maori nationals in Te Awamutu, said he was shaking his head on the 10th tee at how his round was unfolding.
"The best thing was I held it together for another nine holes, whereas in the past I might have let it slide."
Golding's previous best at Omanu was a three-under 69. There was some conjecture whether his 63 was a new record, played off a temporary tee on the 18th, but the hole is rated and the score counts.
He didn't even drive the ball particularly well that day but puts the streak down to a hot putter on the day and new-found accuracy with his irons.
"If I was missing [fairways] I was missing in fairly good places and then hitting it close. I made one 25 footer [for birdie] but there were a few in there from three feet."
Golding was introduced to golf five years ago by his grandfather, former auctioneer Murray Norris, who picked him up some clubs. A few hits and the teenager was hooked and he ditched rugby to make golf his sole sporting focus.
A year ago he was playing in Omanu's senior A pennant team but was promoted this season and is unbeaten in singles, playing everywhere from No 3 down to No 6.
He saw a bit of last weekend's semifinal, won eventually by Tauranga in a playoff against Mt Maunganui, but said no one in the team had a preference for their opponent tomorrow.
"I'd give us a good chance against either side on our home course. We've got nothing to prove and we'll go in as underdogs in a lot of people's eyes."
Omanu can't even confirm a playing eight for tomorrow, with manager Merv West saying the team would be sorted today with a couple of players uncertain because of work commitments and another struggling with a rib injury. Tauranga is expected to put out the same lineup that played in the semifinal.
"There's been a couple of hiccups this week but we're not dwelling on it," West said.
"We'll put eight out and I'm confident those eight will do the job asked of them."
Omanu's rise to round-robin winners has a touch of the fairytale about it, with the club languishing in the senior A division until they were promoted last year.
"There's an aspect [to Sunday's final] of the guys just thinking it's great to be there, having done well to come through round-robin on top, but there's a bit of determination to go out and win the thing."