Golf: Northland teen Neho claims Citrus Open

Kadin Neho has continued his good form at Kerikeri. Photo / Simon Watts @ BW MEDIA

Whangarei teen Kadin Neho has continued his recent run of hot form, chasing down the early leader to claim the Citrus Open in Kerikeri on Saturday.

Hosted by the Bay of Islands Kerikeri Golf Club, the 36-hole event doubled as a Northland trial for the senior and junior teams.

Early on it was Kerikeri golfer and defending champion Alex Neely who set the pace, his round one score of even par 73 one better than Neho and former Northland No1 Luke Brown (The Pines) who were tied for second on one over par 74.

The small deficit was quickly erased by Neho in the second round, starting with birdies at the first three holes followed by an eagle at the sixth and another birdie at the eighth to make it to the turn in six under par 31.

Bogies soon followed at holes 10 and 12 but were offset by birdies at 11, 15 and 17. The end result a seven-under par round of 66.

Neely too went under par, his one under round of 72 left him five strokes off the pace in second. A second consecutive round of 74 for Brown left him a further three strokes back to round out the top three.

This week, senior players head to Muriwai Golf Club for the North Harbour Strokeplay from August 15-17 before returning home to contest the final Northland senior trial for the year, the Bay of Islands Stroke Play at Waitangi Golf Club on August 23.

Citrus Open Top 5: 1. Kadin Neho (Whangarei) 74, 66 = 140, 2. Alex Neely (Bay of Islands, Kerikeri) 73, 72 = 145 3. Luke Brown (The Pines) 74, 74 = 148, 4. Lee Neumann (Northland) 76, 73 = 149, 5. Chase McKeown (Waipu) 78, 74 = 152.