Off the tee: Chipping in for team spirit

Auckland clubs will begin a new era of men's pennant championships when the first round is played on Sunday.

The clubs opted last season for a new format designed to minimise disruption for club members and promote club spirit.

In place of separate competitions for different classes of players the new regulations will pit teams of up to 28 players in head-to-head competition between individual clubs on a home-and-away basis.

The top division of six teams, playing for the Bisset Shield, will have matches for 12 senior, four masters, eight handicap and four under-19 players. Division two and three will have 10 and six seniors and the same numbers in the other grades.

Players can represent the club only where their handicaps are held and the aggregate of handicap players cannot exceed 80 for division one, 90 for division two and 100 for division three.

There will be promotion and relegation between the divisions, provided that clubs eligible for promotion can meet the senior player quota for the higher division.

Auckland and The Grange shared the Bisset Shield last season. On Sunday Auckland are away to Titirangi, The Grange entertain Whitford Park and Akarana host Manukau.

Howick, Remuera, Onewhero, Maungakiekie, Pukekohe and Aviation will contest division two and Maramarua, Formosa, Wattle Downs, Waiuku, Pakuranga and Clarks Beach are in division three.

Clubs will earn two points for a win and one for a tie in the 10-round contests, which will end on June 27. There will be no semifinals or final.

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Despite missing the cut in the Heineken Open last weekend, David Smail remains the best of the Kiwis on this year's Australasian money list.

Thanks to his share of the second place money at the New Zealand Open and a fourth placing in Bangkok at the Johnny Walker Classic, Smail has won A$131,866 ($146,000) to be fourth in the rankings.

Ernie Els, winner of the Heineken is not counted in the Australasian rankings, so Aussie Adam Scott with A$220,706 tops the list ahead of Auckland-based Peter Fowler (A$145,699) and New Zealand Open winner Terry Price (A$132,618).


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Waitakere's Martin Phillips, who won the West Coast Open at Muriwai by three shots from Logan Holzer on Sunday, was not available for the North Harbour team chosen for the first representative outing of the season at Invercargill.

The 35-year-old, who was reinstated as an amateur last year, was refreshingly honest about his reasons - he gets too nervous under pressure.

But anyone who saw his closing four holes at Muriwai would have no doubts about his ability.

He holed a long putt to save his par on the 15th, played a superb iron second to the tricky 16th, holed a long birdie putt on the 17th and used a driver from the fairway to seal his par on the last for a fine final round par 72.