Off the tee: Big names but still long wait for Waikato

Waikato will take one of their strongest line-ups in years to Christchurch next week as they try to break a 15-year drought at the men's inter-provincial team championships.

It was at Whangarei in 1987 that they last won the trophy, completing a hat-trick of successes and bringing their total to seven since 1951.

At Sherwood Park last year they reached the semifinals, only to be beaten by North Harbour, who succumbed to Bay of Plenty in the final.

Leading the Waikato team at Coringa next week will be Brad Shilton and Mathew Holten, just back from helping the New Zealand team to victory in the Southern Cross Cup in South Africa.

The other team members, Mark Boe, Mark Purser and James Gill, are all members of the national Titleist Academy. Shilton and Holten are the only survivors from the Sherwood Park line-up.

The remarkable thing about Waikato's drought is that during that win-less period Philip Tataurangi, Steve Alker, Michael Long and David Smail, all now successful professionals, played for the province.

They played with and followed in the pitchmarks of such stalwarts as Colin Taylor, Alan Smith, John Gatley, George Lasker and Paul Cadogan, who shared in the hat-trick of wins.

Joint favourites next week must be defending champions Bay of Plenty, who claimed their first ever title at Sherwood Park. They have retained that winning team of Mark Smith, Jae An, Terry Hong, George Kinghorn and Jason McIntosh.

The Bay beat Auckland, Waikato and Northland in the lead-up Garrard Shield last month and Smith was a member of the Southern Cross winning team.

Auckland, who have not won this title for eight years, have opted for youth with teenagers Kevin Chun, Travis O'Connell and Ross Valentine. Logan Holzer remains at number one and former New Zealand representative Richard Hislop brings vast experience to number three.

Ironically, Auckland open their campaign against Hawkes Bay, whom they beat at Hastings last weekend. They are in the same section as Bay of Plenty and Waikato, which will make their task harder.

Beaten finalists North Harbour are in the other section but they have only Josh Carmichael back from last year and will struggle to make the semifinals.

Home teams traditionally do well at this event and Canterbury, who lost to Bay of Plenty in the semifinals last time, must fancy their chances of going a step further.

Australian Ryan Haywood is again at number one and Nick Fry and Matthew Peter survive from last year. They are joined by Brad Stuart and David Rattray.

Wellington, who have won the trophy seven times since 1990, were disappointing last year and had a troubled start to this season but Brad Iles is probably the best amateur in the country and Dimitrios Amos is highly rated.

But in this section Otago, with the ultra-consistent Brent McEwan at number one and new recruits Jim Lapsley (ex-Southland) and Andrew Hobbs (ex-Canterbury), look potential semifinalists.

The Coringa course is flat but, at 6400m, very long. Play begins on Tuesday. There are two rounds on Wednesday and Friday and one on Thursday. All teams have six matches and a bye.

The semifinalists on Saturday morning will be the top four on points irrespective of which section. The final is on Saturday afternoon.

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New Zealand Open champion Mahal Pearce was the best of the New Zealanders in the A$100,000 ($114,000) Queensland PGA at Emerald Lakes over the weekend.

After a first round of 65, the Dunedin professional tied for 13th with a four-round total of 272.

Victorian David Diaz took first prize after a playoff with Aaron Townsend (NSW) after both had finished on 266.

Of the other Kiwis to make the cut on this Von Nida Tour event, Ben Gallie was 31st, Martin Pettigrew 40th and Alistair Sidford 45th.