Teenagers have taken centre stage for the 36-hole finals of the national matchplay championships at Paraparaumu Beach today.
Sixteen-year-old Zoe Brake from Thornton near Whakatane will take on 19-year-old Dana Kim from Christchurch in the women's final while 18-year-old Wellingtonian Thomas Spearman-Burn will play 24-year-old Kevin Smithfrom Tauranga in the men's event.
Spearman-Burn is the younger by a couple of minutes of golfing twins and until now he has been eclipsed by brother Peter, who is a member of the New Zealand junior team to play Australia later this week. His appearance in the national final is remarkable because he has been off the scene for some time with a shoulder injury.
"This is my first tournament for seven months," he said. "But I'd practised a lot and I had a good build-up. I played well in the strokeplay and it's gone on from there."
Spearman-Burn had a battle in the semifinals to beat one of the emerging stars of the tournament, Aucklander Ryan Fox. The 21-year-old, with All Black father Grant on the bag, made the playoff for the strokeplay and won his way to the matchplay semis with a series of nail-biting finishes.
He fought back from three down to reach the 18th one down but found the rough with his drive and his second shot and finally conceded the hole and the match to Spearman-Burns' birdie.
Smith found form at the right time. He attributed his progress in the tournament to having national representative Leighton James as his caddie. "I holed more putts from 20 feet than I have for three months and he gave me the confidence."
If Kim can win today she will have completed a remarkable treble of victories with the North Island and national strokeplay titles already captured. But she was stretched to the limit to make the semifinals when the remarkable 13-year-old from Pakuranga, Cecilia Cho, took her to the 22nd hole before losing to an eagle.
In the semifinals Kim was too consistent for the defending champion, Larissa Eruera, a sixth-former from St Cuthbert's College, winning 3 and 2.
Today she will need to be at her best if she is to fight off Brake, who eliminated the last Australian in the field, Jessica Noh, 3 and 2.
