Golf: Northland men thrive in Great Northern Battle

North Harbour took out the Great Northern Battle at Mangawhai Golf Club. Photo/Getty Images

North Harbour proved too much for Northland in the annual Great Northern Battle at Mangawhai Golf Course.

Thirty players from each district were in the field which was made up by Open Grade Men, Open Grade Women and Masters Men divisions.

The Great Northern Battle is played in a matchplay format with each division playing for their separate honours. There is also an overall competition held with all players completing 18 holes for one point per hole win and half a point for a halved hole.

The North Harbour Women's side were very strong on paper and proved to be more than up for the challenge as they easily took care of the Northland Women with a convincing 7.5-2.5 win.

Northland wins were recorded by Sandy Doherty and Jo Taylor while Alayna Cox had a halved match.

North Harbour grabbed 104.5 points to Northland's 75.5.

North Harbour also dominated the Masters mens match, winning the contest 6-2 with Brett Dormer and Gavin Ashwell both recording wins. North Harbour outscored Northland 80 points to 64.

While the rest of the competition hadn't shaped up well for the hosts, there were some bragging rights still on offer in the Open Grade Men's competition.

Northland had put a very strong team together on paper with Luke Brown returning from overseas duties and fresh off a win at the Bream Bay Classic while another Northland stalwart Dale Clarke rejoined to the fold.

Northland managed to hang on to win the match 6.5-5.5, retaining their title for another year.

Wins were recorded by Lee Newman, Dale Clarke, Sheldon Kearns, Kadin Neho, Christian Nitsche and Luke Brown. Ben Bowmar halved his match with Northland outscoring North Harbour 111.5-104.5.

When combining all points, North Harbour were once again the overall winners for the competition with a total team score of 289 to Northland's 251.