GOLF: Hook and slice not on Lynne's agenda

ANENDRA SINGH
When Lynne Roberts and two other players pushed their trundler down to the first hole at Napier Golf Club in January dressed as Happy Hookers, some old codgers gave them that look.
You know - that "now, now, now what have we got here" look! "We had fishnet stockings under on our shorts and big wigs on - mine was pink," says Lynne, 43, a Hastings Golf Club member who was playing in the Annual Art Deco charity tournament with Hawke's Bay representative Caroline Duff and Penny Reid.
But the trio wiped the smirks off the codgers' faces when they cracked their dimpled balls down the middle of the fairway, much to the amusement of Roberts' partner, Wayne Yule, who was preparing to tee off at the same time in the men's team.
"Wayne was saying their faces just went ... (expression of shock) oh, so they can play golf!" Roberts, of Havelock North, makes her debut today as a Hawke's Bay-Poverty Bay women's golf team representative during the annual Judy Pearson Salver competition against Manawatu at Dannevirke.
The four handicapper, who only started playing the sport four years ago because of a recurring right shoulder injury, is laidback and barely conjures up an image of a high-profile athlete.
"Golf not so hard on the body but there was a stage when I did quite a bit of cycling too, including a couple of seasons with Ramblers Cycling Club." But, like the codgers, it would be a grave mistake to draw that conclusion.
Roberts, the production development manager for Bayer CropScience, in Hastings, comes from a pedigree of top sportsmen.
Her father, Neil Roberts, of Christchurch, is a former Canterbury rugby representative who played alongside the likes of John Graham and Kevin Stewart, of Havelock North, who died a few months ago.
Her brother, Stuart Roberts, 40, represented the southern province as a strike bowler and batsman in cricket, going on to represent New Zealand in one-day internationals on the Pakistan tour in 1989-90 season.
Roberts, a Havelock North tennis Club, has represented the Bay in tennis and as a development player and cycled with the Ramblers. She has also played cricket for Canterbury, including a match against the Australians, and a lot of hockey.
In golf, she started as a 18 handicapper four years ago after submitting five cards, having played socially as a youngster with her dad's borrowed clubs.
But what a humble Roberts neglects to tell me, until I notice a golf-ball mounted trophy on the way out of her tiny Hastings office, is that she has in that short time nailed three holes in one - two at Hastings and another at Hawke's Bay.
Following five years of travelling overseas, including working in a skifield in Switzerland, and as charter skipper for yachts in Turkey, Roberts returned to Christchurch before coming to work in the Bay about 14 years ago.
"I'd quite like to improve my position in the team," says Roberts, who consults Hastings PGA professional Brian Doyle to help shorten her back swing.
In 2003, Roberts won the Hastings club's Majorie Holt Memorial Trophy in the winter handicap matchplay competition.
The salver is a matchplay event to be played as reverse singles over 36 holes.
It is selector Annette Latton's first team selection since becoming a non-playing captain.
Latton is keen on retaining the salver, with Roberts the only wildcard in an experienced line-up.