New format whittles down best of the Bay

A new selection format trialled this year has given Bay of Plenty's Booth Shield junior rep team its most well-rounded lineup yet heading into the annual interprovincial fixture at Gisborne's Poverty Bay Golf Club.

Rather than picking a team straight from six trial days held through the region during the year, the top 30 golfers qualified for the seventh and final 36-hole selection trial at Te Puke three weeks ago.

From there, the top four boys' and girls' players went straight into the Booth Shield lineup, with the Bay of Plenty selectors adding two players to round out their 10-strong lineup.

Bay manager Owen Kendall said what they had ended up with was a more equitable selection criteria that rewarded current form.

"We used to pick a squad based on average net scores over the whole year's trial days, but the problem with that was that some players were having net 60s early on in the piece which skewed things slightly. A great score at the start of the year isn't much help in October, and often their handicaps were coming down 15 shots in that time as well," the former national amateur representative said.

"We used our six trial days this year as qualifiers for the last 36 holes at Te Puke, where from the top 30 golfers it was the top four in a first-past-the-post format. Players were qualifying by 0.2 of a shot so it was all pretty even."

Kawerau nine handicapper Zane Rangihika is the only player to return from last year's Booth Shield team which finished third.

They will be up against Poverty Bay, Hawke's Bay, Taranaki, Wellington, Waikato and Northland on Sunday (36 holes) and Monday (18 holes) with each team's best seven net scores counting in each round.

Tauranga 14-year-old Con TenCate and Omanu's Alannah Campbell (15) were the top qualifiers, with the Bay team's handicaps ranging from Rangihika's nine through to Samatha Cooke's 30.

"Depending on what the course rating is there's extra shots for being a girl competing in a men's competition (although still off the women's tees), so if we've got some of our girls hitting the ball well and scoring well then it's a big advantage once you take the extra shots off their score."

Bay of Plenty's Booth Shield team:

Boys: Shaun Campbell (Omanu), Eli Gordon (Mt Maunganui), Ben Summers (Omanu), Zane Rangihika (Kawerau), Con TenCate (Tauranga). Reserve: Kurt McKinnon (Omokoroa).

Girls: Jazmin Brown (Taupo), Alannah Campbell (Omanu), Samantha Cooke (Tauranga), Madison Gartner (Tauranga), Erikah Waiariki (Taupo). Reserve: Brooke Polley (Tauranga).

Managers: Owen and Pip Kendall.