Golf: Rising young stars quickly burn out

By GREGOR PAUL

When Michael Campbell was leading the British Open after three rounds in 1996, New Zealand golf appeared on the brink of a golden era. Frank Nobilo, Greg Turner, Grant Waite, Stephen Scahill and Michael Long were all holding their own on the European and US Tours.

New Zealand was churning out respected professionals and it seemed only a matter of time before one captured a major.

But the big breakthrough never came, nor did the next generation of New Zealand's top players. Nobilo and Turner have retired, and despite Craig Perks' victory in the Players Championship last year, Campbell is the only one who looks remotely capable of winning a tournament at this high level.

In the last five years or so New Zealand has produced an endless stream of promising youngsters. Sadly, though, most of them have gone missing in action after leaping into the professional ranks.

Former New Zealand Golf coaching director Mal Tongue is in no doubt why that has happened. "It's an attitude thing. We are soft and have got to harden up. There is a view here that we don't need to compete against each other, we just need to have fun.


"We need to get all the right people in the right places _ that means the administrators administer, coaches coach, fitness coaches get people fit. We also need our players to compete against the best more regularly and that means the Australians.

"They have great golf courses and facilities in Australia and have a very hard attitude towards winning. One of the last things I did before leaving New Zealand Golf was take eight players to Australia and they did really well. That experience and exposure will have done the players no end of good."

One of those players who excelled on the trip to Australia was Brad Iles (see story p47), and the Bay of Plenty youngster, assuming his rehabilitation continues smoothly, remains by all accounts the best prospect in the land.

Iles and Brad Heaven, who came second in the New Zealand Open this year before turning professional, were certainties to make the Eisenhower team this weekend if injury had not denied the former and a change of status the latter.

Their absence created opportunities for 18-year-old Kevin Chun (Auckland), and 19-year-olds Riki Kauika (Wanganui) and Josh Geary (Tauranga).

Having been pressed into top-level amateur action a little earlier than their respective coaches would have liked, all three are seen as being a touch undercooked.

But New Zealand Golf high performance manager Graeme Scott believes that in time, all three could become top class professionals.

"They definitely have long-term potential," says Scott. "Each of these young guys has shown on any given occasion they can shoot low numbers. Riki Kauika made an excellent comment when he pointed out that the golf course doesn't know how young he is.

"The reality is that they will go on to turn professional. I think in the past New Zealand Golf and the PGA have not been as helpful as they could be to new professionals. We have had a huge turnover of players turning pro in the last 12 years. We are now working to put in place support systems."


The under-18 junior ranks are also in healthy shape with the likes of 14-year-old Sam Shin, who was runner-up at the Junior British Open this year, Jae Ann and Aaron Leach already competing successfully in major events both here and in Australia. Other players causing excitement are Matthew Blackbourn, Perry Hayman, Ben Wallace and James Hamilton.

All are capable of playing under par on the toughest courses and are widely considered to possess swings as technically proficient as any of the world's junior players.

Where the New Zealand system is perhaps letting them down is by allowing them to turn pro too soon.

Top level coach Murray Macklin says: "My belief is that the New Zealanders appear to be maturing a little bit later golf-wise than players from other countries.

"The biggest danger is that they turn pro for the reason that they feel they have done enough in amateur golf so the next step is professional golf. But in fact they are not ready yet for the professional game.

"The biggest pitfall is that they are turning pro before they are actually ready to compete and they find it too tough."

- THE HERALD ON SUNDAY