Top Whangarei golfer sets sights on big time

With a jam-packed year of golf behind her, Caroline Bon leaves for Spain tomorrow, hoping an extra year's experience will help her win a playing card on the Ladies European Tour.
The equation is the same as last year - finish in the top-30 after two tournaments at the Murcia Q-School and get a full playing card in the world's only professional women's tour.
The Whangarei 23-year-old only needs a slight improvement on her efforts in the pre-qualifying tournament last year to make the final qualifying group - and then she will be just four good rounds away from a chance at the big time.
"My goal is to go there and qualify. Last year I just missed the cut to go to the final stage of the competition, the top 70 went through and I was 71st," she recalls ruefully.
She vowed to return after the near miss and leaves confident in her game after a build-up that included a trip to Argentina for the recent world teams championships playing against many of the top amateurs she will see at Murcia.
Her selection in the team was no fluke, reflecting her success in this year's amateur competition with improved consistency and several wins attributed to hard graft.
"This year I played 17 events in the first five months, so I've got so much more tournaments and wins under my belt and I think I've now got more strategies to help me get what I want out of my game," she said.
"I've gone through a different track of doing things - of making things exciting for myself, so I now feel I own my golf a whole lot more, so I think that's a huge change so I should do better than last year - but at the end of the day golf is a fickle game and often comes down to the bounce of the ball." Her game has developed particularly over the last six months, when she has done little else but practise and play golf.
She is grateful for the goodwill of Whangarei businesses and organisations that have helped her to bankroll the trip yet retain her amateur status in case she is not presented with a LET Tour card for Christmas.
"I'd like to thank Pak N Save, the Kauri Club, Educare North, Chilltech and the people of the Northland Golf for their support in helping to make this trip possible," she said.
If she does qualify for the second qualifying tournament, which runs through December 15-19, the second round field will be step up with a large number of professionals and exempted players joining the field.
But she has bested professionals before in her career and believes if she can get her foot in the door, she may just eke out an existence on tour.
"The bonus is that I do have family all though Holland, so accommodation will be fine, but travelling and playing will be expensive but where there's a will there's a way - that's what I've been doing for the last 10 years so why stop now."
This year she will be accompanied by her boyfriend Billy West, who is getting a crash course in caddying she said.
"He's going to be my caddy, I've been training him up (she laughs), but to be honest I don't need anyone to give me golf advice because I know enough," she said.
Three other Kiwis - all professionals - Auckland sisters Wendy and Angela Hawkes and Wellington's Sarah Nicholson will also make the journey to Spain to try and gain entry into the LET.
Bon and West return home on Christmas Day hoping to be able to "follow the sun" and play golf all year round next year starting with the Australian and New Zealand Open.