Off the tee: Let the good times roll on

Mahal Pearce emerged from relative obscurity to win the New Zealand Open at Middlemore last January.

But when he defends his title at The Grange early next year, he hopes to have won a place on the lucrative European Tour.

The 27-year-old from Dunedin is a down-to-earth character and he was not swept away by the victory and the $126,000 winner's cheque.

Home in Otago this week he was itching to get back into tournament play after a frustrating winter with no tour to play on.

Pearce's win at Middlemore was not the end of his golden summer. At Kooyonga in South Australia in March he was third equal in the Jacob's Creek tournament, which is jointly sanctioned by the Australasian PGA and the US PGA's Nationwide Tour.

When the Australasian circuit wound down, Pearce headed to the United States for six weeks in May to try to get starts on the Nationwide Tour. He was a Monday qualifier for the Virginia Beach Open, won by fellow New Zealander Michael Long, but missed the cut.

And in the ferocious competition of pre-qualifying, where 150 players can chase six or seven places in the field, he did not get another tournament start.

He went to Britain for a couple of weeks to try to qualify for the British Open on the Prince's course, right alongside Royal St George's, where the Open was staged.

"I shot 73 and 75 and didn't make it, but it was a great experience. You could see the Open course getting drier and drier," he says.

"I watched the Open itself on TV in London. That's the only golf I want to watch on TV, it's something special - and there are no ads."

Pearce heads back to Britain next month for the first of three stages of qualifying for the European Tour. He will be playing at Chester, where he tried last year and missed out.

There are likely to be around 100 players and 20-25 will progress to the next stage. If he can make it on to the European circuit, Dunedin winters with a three-year-old son will be a thing of the past.

While the European Tour is a priority, his New Zealand Open victory has brought some important benefits.

He is guaranteed starts in the big tournaments Down Under, including the rich Australian Open this year. There are also three co-sanctioned European events over the summer.

Pearce will be at The Grange for the New Zealand Open in January. And this time everyone will know who he is.

* * *

Michael Long's bid to regain his US PGA tour card through the Nationwide Tour may be a close-run thing. With the top 20 on the money list earning their cards, Long has slipped to 19th with earnings of US$120,303 ($209,000).

The 21st player on the list is $5000 behind Long and there are nine regular tournaments and the rich season-ending finale to be played.

American Joe Ogilvie heads the earnings list with US$337,585.

* * *

Auckland and Wellington will play their annual clash at Taupo this weekend at a new venue, Wairakei. The Taupo Golf Club is unavailable because of its 75th anniversary celebrations.

Auckland, who lost the contest last year, have picked their team from those contesting the provincial strokeplay at Pakuranga last weekend, eliminating those older players who opted to play in the Waikato Masters.

Wellington will be without their New Zealand representative, Bradley Iles, and will have Shandon player Richard Pegg as No 1. Auckland are headed by the new strokeplay champion, Logan Holzer (The Grange).

The teams are:

Auckland: Senior, L. Holzer, F. Schwanner, K. Chun, A. Kim, T. O'Connell, R. Valentine, H. Broughton, B. Fabish, C. Saunoa, T. Marshall. Under 23, C. Thomas, J. Williamson, N. Ram, Jumbo Kim. Under 19, M. Simpson, B. Allan, James Kim, L. Stewart.

Wellington:Senior, R. Pegg, D. James, A. McNair, B. Stuart, A. Green, S. Kells, R. Barltrop, A. Leech, M. Webber, A. Church. Under 23, J. Dittmer, P. Hayman, J. Kenny, N. Broker. Under 19, H. Puha, B. Dick, J. McPadden, T. Taylor.