Waipu's Chase McKeown found instant fame at the Waipu Golf Club by becoming the first club member to win the Bream Bay Classic yesterday.
McKeown finished with a solid, if unspectacular, three-over 75 to win the title by six shots after his nearest challenger after 36 holes, Auckland's Nick Voke,fell away with an 80 on the final round.
The teenage golfer - he is 17 - was a part of the Whangarei Boys' High School team that won the national secondary schools title at Waipu two weeks ago and now he has tasted individual success at his own club's biggest tournament of the year.
"Winning such a prestigious competition at my own golf course is really important for me and I'm really proud of the way I handled it all today," McKeown said.
He had to battle strong winds and showers on Saturday.
"Conditions were really bad with torrential rain and gale-force winds but I just kept my head down and played on and in the end the course played pretty well," he said.
Yesterday brought near-perfect conditions and McKeown's Northland teammate Sean Masters made the most of them to fire the best round of the weekend with a 68.
After an exhausting recent schedule of golf, McKeown now has a week off before the Tauranga Open next weekend.
A good result there is likely to convince the Northland selectors that he is ready to play interprovincial golf if the classic win hasn't already.
Omaha's Mike Leeper finished in a tie for second with a final round of 71, with Royal Auckland's Fraser Wilkin, but Leeper finished as the runner-up after a countback.
Titirangi's Brittany Dryland was the winner in the women's competition with rounds of 86, 84 and 78 for a total of 248, well ahead of Kylie Jacoby with 256.
