Golf: Chipping in for a busy year on the greens

18 holes to summarise the NZ golfing year - a few of the triumphs, some tough breaks and time in the rough.

1 Dream Start: Auckland amateur Brad Heaven comes within one shot of winning the New Zealand Open at The Grange.

2 Tradesman's Time: Richard Best, who has been making clubs for a living, finishes seventh in the Open and 10th in the NZPGA to earn $42,000.

3 Penny's from Heaven: Rotorua golfer Penny Newbrook birdies three of the last four holes to shut out the Aussies in the New Zealand women's strokeplay.

4 Amen Corner: Chief executive Peter Dale and head coach Mal Tongue end their careers with New Zealand Golf in tears and tantrums. The book is still being written.

5 Advance Australia: Hardly fair but the Aussies sweep the board at the men's amateur champs in Taupo. At least the weather was good.

6 East is East: A hole with real teeth - Kevin Chun's - as he gets a taste of teenage toilet humour from Bradley Iles and Riki Kauika in Malaysia.

7 American Tragedy: Iles again and no joke as he suffers life-threatening injuries in a fall from a golf cart in the US.

8 Scaling Heights: North Harbour youngster Samuel Shin, whose other passion is the piano, wins his age group and comes second at the Junior British Open.

9 Sayonara: Marnie McGuire, our most successful woman professional during her years in Japan, decides to put away her clubs. She had just turned 17 when she won the British amateur championship in 1986.

* Time for a cup of tea at the turn while NZ Golf finds a new chief executive, an elderly morning talk host recovers from choking on his dentures and the Bay of Plenty Golf Association decides whether it's fair on the men for Penny Newbrook to play pennants.

10 Enu Where She Was: While everyone else thought she was in Korea, Enu Chung's father reveals that she was home in Auckland studying when the national selectors decided she should be replaced in the Espirito Santo team.

11 Tate's Great: Stacey Tate steps into the Espirito team and with Newbrook and Sarah Nicholson, New Zealand finish ninth.

12 Just Joshing: Josh Geary avoids the toothbrush scandal and finishes fifth individual in the Eisenhower as Chun and Kauika fade. But beer tents and bad language interrupt his travel plans.

13 Old is Good: Bob Charles tours the country raising money for junior golf and melanoma awareness.

14 Young is Better: Jae An wins a world junior tournament in Fiji and two 13-year-olds fight out the final of the Auckland women's provincial championship.

15 Golden Yen: David Smail strikes a blow for the Kiwi professionals by winning another tournament in Japan. He's now two up on his wife, Sheree.

16 Taking the Michael: Michael Campbell blows hot and cold on the idea of Gulf Harbour as the venue for a European Tour-sanctioned Holden NZ Open.

His views on Holden cars are eagerly awaited.

17 Bay of Plenty: So full of good players that they win both the men's and women's provincial titles, the men's for the third time in a row.

18 Marriage Lines: It's still apparently legal for men and women to get together so New Zealand Golf and Women's Golf are going to give it a go in the New Year. Let's hope the putts sink in 2005.

* Over a beer in the clubhouse we celebrated Michael Long's return to the USPGA Tour, Tim Wilkinson earning his Nationwide Tour card, victories for Gareth Paddison in the Victorian Open, Mahal Pearce in the Dunedin Classic, Kevin Chun in the Tasmanian Open, Bradley Iles in the Australian strokeplay, Doug Holloway in the Malaysian Amateur and Sarah Nicholson in the New Zealand matchplay. Nobody was interested in my three-wood from the rough to the 18th green at Middlemore.