Off the tee: Excellence all year round

A family holiday in Fiji at the beginning of the year proved a lucky choice for 15-year-old Aucklander Natasha Krishna.

At that stage she had no idea she would be selected by Women's Golf New Zealand to play in the Aaron Baddeley world junior tournament this month.

But she practised on the Denirau course and the experience paid off as she finished third, one shot out of the playoff for first place with a three-round 215, one under par.

An Aucklander born and bred, Krishna has grandparents in Fiji and felt very much at home there.

But she has excelled in a range of tournaments in the past year. She had a top-10 finish in the Australian junior championships and won all her games playing for the Auckland provincial team in Invercargill.

She was a fourth-former at Epsom Girls Grammar, but will switch to the golf academy at St Kentigern College next year.

But first she heads to Perth on January 1 for the Junior Tasman Cup and the Australian junior championships.

Krishna was introduced to the game by her father, Krish, and started playing at the old pitch-and-putt course off Marua Rd, Ellerslie, with the encouragement of professional Dennis Sullivan.

She is a member of both the Remuera and Auckland Golf Clubs and is coached by Arron Harding of JK's World of Golf.

Krishna keeps fit with a gym routine and training for aerobics in which she has competed to level three. But golf is her passion and she hopes one day to turn professional.

"I practise every day because, if I don't, I think everyone else is out there and I'm one day behind."

She met Vijay Singh's family a couple of weeks ago and admires the US-based Fijian's practise routine, but her real hero is Ben Hogan.

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Peter Senior's victory in the Australian PGA at Coolum last weekend has rocketed him up the Australasian tour money list to third place. With just this week's Australian Open to complete the year, the 44-year-old Queenslander has won A$336,758 ($386,319).

Still leading the order of merit, despite being out with injury, is New South Welshman Andre Stolz with A$395,270. Englishman Paul Casey is second with A$348,678.

Top Kiwi is Mahal Pearce in 12th place with A$200,338.

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Left out. At a time when New Zealand is preparing to celebrate the career of Bob Charles, the first left-hander to win one of the four Major tournaments, none of the 75 team members at the recent national interprovincial contest in Christchurch played from the wrong side.

Two graduates from those amateur ranks, Gareth Paddison and Tim Wilkinson, are trying to sustain the lefty legacy among the pros.

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Phil Aickin has lost little of the form that made him a national representative before moving into the New Zealand administration.

Playing in a tournament introducing The Grange course to the media in advance of the Holden New Zealand Open next month, Aickin shot a one-under-par 69. His closest challenger was Peter Williams, who came straight from reading the television news to the tee.