Golf: Northland grasp Garrard Shield

The victorious Northland men's golf team at the Garrard Shield. Photo / Supplied

Northland provided a performance for the ages to clinch their first ever Garrard Shield title.

A 4.5-3.5 win over Auckland in their final tie put them level with Bay of Plenty on the leaderboard on both equal team points and individual points, meaning they share the trophy.

Playing at the Dunes Golf Resort in Matarangi, Northland put out an experienced side who made some strong plays down the final stretch to pick up the accolade.

Manager Sean Doel said the team put in a stellar effort.

"The lads went really well, we had good experience throughout the team," he said.

"The conditions were rough all weekend long but the guys handled the win and rain really well.

"It was the strongest Northland team that's been named in a long time so it was not surprising that we got the job done and our names on the shield.

"The boys are all enjoying being the first Northland team to etch their names on the shield."

Ben Kennedy and Scott Wightman both stood out throughout the competition, picking up two wins and a half each while Christian Nitsche made a clutch putt in his final tie to pick up a vital half point to get Northland the result.

The Northland contingent that went down to compete in the Garrard Shield and Ralph Cup included Kennedy, Wightman, Nitsche, Kadin Neho, Chris Shepherd, Alex Neely, Tarrin Rous, Dale Clarke, Brad Bonnington, Ben Bowmar, Taylor Gill and Jorrit Stamm.Shaun O'Shea and Doel were the managers.

Northland now look forward to the Interprovincial at Mangawhai in December.

The team named for the tournament is Wightman (captain) Luke Brown, Nitsche, Neely, Neho and Kennedy.