Golf: Locals show early class in nationals

Thomas Spearman-Burn (left) is enjoying good form while brother Peter has a shot at a national first in title wins. Photo / Kenny Rodger

First blood to the locals yesterday as the leading amateur golfers teed off at the start of the national men's and women's golf championships at Titirangi and Remuera.

Aucklanders Ryan Fox and Ben Wallace won the low-key men's foursomes with rounds of 71 and 67 for a total of 138, two under par, while Caroline Bon (Northland) and Larissa Eruera (Aviation) took the women's title with a one-under total of 145.

Shots of the day came at Remuera where Rotorua golfer Chantelle Cassidy holed in one on the par-three 11th and also holed from 115m for two on the par-four 14th. She and Charlotte Brooks (Walton) finished second, four shots back.

This morning Scott Arnold, the world's leading amateur golfer, will attempt to add the New Zealand strokeplay championship to the Australian matchplay title he won in Brisbane in March. Arnold, a 23-year-old from New South Wales, moves to the top of the world rankings as Kiwi Danny Lee turns professional.

Players from the Australian and South African teams at that event join the top locals to make the Titirangi field one of the strongest in years. Unusually in an era when the paid ranks beckon the leading players, both reigning champions are playing.

James Betts won the strokeplay title on his home course at Paraparaumu last year and Thomas Spearman-Burn from another Wellington club, Miramar, took the matchplay.

Thomas has continued his good form while his 19-year-old twin, Peter, has been the form player of the summer, winning the North and South Island titles and halving his match with Arnold at Wairakei. He could become the first person ever to win both island titles and the national crown in the same year.

The twins treated the foursomes as extra practice on a course they had not played before. Arnold walked the course.

The last Aucklander to win the strokeplay was Marcus Wheelhouse in 1993 and 1994. The leading contender to break that drought is Fox, who lost last year's title in a playoff and was a semi-finalist in the Australian matchplay this year.

Dana Kim, last year's women's champion, has turned professional. But New Zealand's Queen Sirikit team, Eruera, Zoe-Beth Brake and Emily Perry, are at Remuera along with the South Island champion, Cecilia Cho, and the North Island winner, Lydia Ko, who turns 12 this week.

The international challenge will come from Australians Rebecca Flood and Minsu Kim. The leading 32 in the men's and women's strokeplay will contest the matchplay at Titirangi from Sunday. The 36-hole finals will be on Tuesday.

The Titirangi course, designed by the famed Scot Alister MacKenzie, is notable for some testing par-threes. Remuera, formed in the 1960s from two 18-hole layouts around an old lake bed, has had millions of dollars spent in recent years to improve drainage.