GOLF - NZ's top amateurs test best in North

A host of the country's top amateurs are set to descend on the Whangarei Golf Club next week to contest the Garrard Shield quadrangular tournament.
Emerging and established talent from Waikato, Auckland and the Bay of Plenty will battle it out with the best from Northland in the three-round tournament that traditionally precedes the Lion Foundation Interprovincial championships every year.
Each of the four provinces will name their five-strong teams for this year's tournament, to be held at the Timaru Golf Club in early December, at the conclusion of the Whangarei tournament - giving the tournament a tense ending.
The Garrard Trophy is a 10-strong senior teams tournament and is run alongside the Ralph Cup, a five-strong under-19 competition, which is also to be held at the Mt Denbigh course next week.
The Garrard competition was an important indicator of how the teams might fare at the interprovincials, Northland selector Roy Pelsky said.
"The weekend will act as a bit of a test for us," he said. "It's certainly a good workout and you get an idea of how you are playing, against three of the teams that will all be contenders come the interprovincials."
Pelsky has reason to be happy with Northland's prospects for the Timaru tournament with his two top players, Gary-John Hill and Brad Bonnington, both available this season, after missing last year's interprovincials due to a clash with high-school exams.
"I think everyone will be available for us this year which makes a bit of a change," Pelsky said.
Hill will play No.1 next weekend at the Garrard but Bonnington will miss the competition with school work more pressing.
His absence means the others move up a spot, with Waipu's Bruce Donaldson, a part of the Northland Veteran's team, slotting in at No.10.
Other new faces in the team in comparison with last year year's Garrard team are Northern Wairoa's Buddy Sherman and Sherwood Park's Ryan Cotterill, who are at No.8 and No.9 respectively. The new Northland No.4 Gavin Welsh, now playing for Mangawhai, has conveniently covered the absence of last year's No.4 Scott Wightman.
Waikato are the holders of the Garrard Shield after they edged out Bay of Plenty in a countback last year. The tournament starts with two rounds on Saturday and another on Sunday morning.
THE TEAMS
• Northland: Gary-John Hill, Iain Power, Jeremy Hay, Gavin Welsh, Michael Foster, Richard Pelsky, Craig Palmer, Buddy Sherman, Ryan Cotterill and Bruce Donaldson. Ralph Cup team: Kallum Brown, Terry Lamb, Ben Cross, Alvin Rapana and Brett Robinson
• Waikato: Jim Cusdin, Richard Wright, Mark Boe, Dong Woo Kang, Matthew Perry, Jason Walters, Gavin Cortesi, Stuart Baird, Paul Wood; Justin Morris, Peter Sin, Leonard Morgan, Cam MacDonald, Jason Boobyer.
• Bay of Plenty: Kevin Smith, Mark Smith, Jared Pender, George Kinghorn, Jason McIntosh, Andre Arthur, Dean Johnson, Kieran Muir, Nick Muller, Ben Guilford. Ralph Cup team: Ben Taylor, Andrew Stewart, Aaron Lougher, Michael Dean, Landyn Edwards.
• Auckland: Leighton James, Travis O'Connell, Steve Ha, Ben Davies, Fraser Wilkin, Tristan Ellis, Jason Mann, Ryan Fox, James Gardiner, Ben Kendall; RC: Zane Blundell, Timmy Tu, Campbell Rawson, Soo Chui Shin, Chris Cho.