Off the tee: A slice of Heaven

Bradley Heaven reckons it's time he won the Bledisloe Cup again as top amateur in the New Zealand Open.

He won it back in 1996 at Paraparaumu as a 16-year-old from the Remuera Club and for the past two years he has returned home from his college career in the United States to finish runner-up for the prized trophy.

At Paraparaumu in 2002 he was pipped by Australian Adam Groom, who shot a final round 67 to finish fifth overall. Last year at Middlemore he started strongly but was beaten by Chris Johns.

This month at The Grange is likely to be his last Open as an amateur. He is midway through his senior year at the University of Toledo in Ohio and will graduate in May with a degree in business management.

His form has earned him an automatic place in the field for the Open at The Grange this month with Johns and the winning New Zealand amateur team at the recent Southern Cross quadrangular in South Africa - Bradley Iles (Wellington), Mark Smith (Bay of Plenty) and Waikato's top pair, Brad Shilton and Mathew Holten.

Selection criteria mean that Heaven can be considered for the next New Zealand Eisenhower Trophy world amateur championship team.

The tall Aucklander, who reckons the strength of his game is his lack of weaknesses, is planning a professional career, probably starting in Europe.

"There were three Irish guys in our team at Toledo and I have some good contacts over there," he says. "I've had four years touring the States playing golf and I'd like to have a crack at the European Tour.

"My form's been good this year. I stayed in the States for the summer and played a lot of top tournaments.

"It went pretty well and I won the William Campbell Trophy for the best aggregate in three tournaments. I was third in the North East Amateur in Rhode Island, fifth in the Players Amateur in Southern Carolina and sixth in the Portercup in New York."

When the college season resumed, Heaven was second in his home tournament at Inverness and won at Stanford, where he shot 64 in the first round and finished 12 under.

There are eight more tournaments when the competition resumes in the northern spring. Ohio has been too cold for golf since October.

After a Christmas on the family boat, Heaven is chasing some practice before the Holden New Zealand Open starts on January 15. In the past he has been able to warm up with the under-23 tournament at Taupo, but he is no longer eligible.

For most amateurs and quite a few professionals the road to the Open begins today with the first qualifying at three venues - Whitford Park in Auckland, Wainuiomata in Wellington and Russley in Christchurch.

The Auckland field has attracted the biggest entry of 175, with 45 players opting for Wellington and about 30 entering for Christchurch.

Thirty players from those venues will advance to the final qualifying tournament at Manukau on January 12, where they will be joined by 40 to 50 players, who either miss direct places into the New Zealand Open or who had been exempt to that stage. Usually about 25 places into the final field of the New Zealand Open are available from the last qualifying stage.

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All three Japanese players who competed in 2003 are returning to the New Zealand Open this month.

They are led by Kix Kawahara, who finished in a share of seventh at Middlemore in January. The popular La Bomba Imai, who made the cut, is back with Paku Kuniyoshi.

Kawahara has carried his form on to record his first victory in Japan this year, taking out the Georgia Tokai Classic. Imai also won late in the year at the Casio World Open.