Golf: Full honours at university

Aucklander Brad Heaven, who came close to winning the New Zealand Open as an amateur at The Grange in January, is making his final year of university golf in the United States a memorable one.

At the weekend he led the University of Toledo to their second Mid-American Conference Men's Golf Championship in three years. He also won the individual title thanks to a 3m birdie putt on the final hole for a two-under total of 214 for the 54 holes at Westerville.

Heaven entered the day in a three-way tie for first place and was able to avoid a four-way playoff with his birdie putt after bogeying the 17th.

Toledo won the team title by nine strokes from Ohio State and defending champions Kent State. Also in the Toledo team was former Northland representative Doug Batty, who won a share of the national foursomes title at Remuera in 1999 with Heaven, when they were both at Auckland Grammar.

Heaven was named the Conference Golfer of the Year for the third straight year in the awards ceremony and is the first individual to win the award three times.

Last month Heaven was named Male Scholar-Athlete of the Week by the Mid-American Conference for his performance at the Kepler Intercollegiate in Columbus, Ohio.

Heaven, an administrative services major with a 3.30 GPA (academic rating), tied for first with a two-under-par 214 (69-72-73) but lost on the second hole of a playoff with Kent State's Ryan Yip.

The MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week honour is presented to a MAC male and female student-athlete who has a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better and performs well during that week's competition. The winners are selected by one of the conference's faculty athletic representatives.

Heaven's win at the weekend was his second recent success.

He successfully defended his FirstEnergy Intercollegiate title with a 10-under par 206 (70-67-69), two strokes away from tying the tournament record.

He is expected to turn professional this year.

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Phil Tataurangi returned to competitive golf after a long injury break with two rounds in the Nationwide tour Chattanooga Classic last week. Tataurangi, who still has almost a year's eligibility for the US PGA tour, shot 72 and 77 to miss the cut.

Michael Long, who led after a first-round 63, faded to 51st.

Gina Scott, the pride of Kawhia, had the best NZ result on the European women's tour, finishing equal 10th at level par in the Portuguese Open. Lynnette Brooky was 28th at three over. The winner was Swede Cecilia Ekelundh.

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Eighteen players, including four under 16 years, have been included in the national academy development programme for the next 12 months.

James Hamilton (Tauranga), Perry Hayman (Wellington), Ben Wallace (Auckland) and Sam Shin (North Harbour) have been included in the programme for the first time.

Eisenhower squad member Mark Smith (Rotorua) and Brad Shilton (Waikato) have graduated from the academy programme. Shilton, who has been in the academy for seven years, and Smith will continue to receive targeted support from New Zealand Golf to assist their pursuit of international selection.

The full Titleist Academy for 2004-2005 is:

Bronze Squad: Hayman, Hamilton, Shin, Wallace.

Silver Squad: Thomas Campbell (Otago), Aaron Leech (Wellington), Richard Moors (North Harbour), Andrew Henare (Manawatu Wanganui), Josh Geary (Bay of Plenty), Kris Smith (Manawatu Wanganui).

Gold Squad: Brad Iles (Wellington), Mathew Holten (Waikato), Riki Kauika (Manawatu Wanganui), Doug Holloway (Hawkes Bay), Kevin Chun (Auckland), Mark Purser (Waikato), James Gill (Waikato), Jae An (Bay of Plenty).