Off the tee: Narrow win for revamp

Auckland golf clubs have voted for a radical revamp of their men's interclub pennant competitions.

By a narrow majority they have opted for a competition that will see clubs field teams including juniors, masters and handicap players as well as the elite senior players.

Next season the top division, playing for the Bissett Shield, will have six teams made up of 12 seniors, four masters, eight handicap players and four under-19 players.

They will have home-and-away matches with no playoffs.

All players will play singles with no foursomes and all but the handicap players off the stick.

The other divisions, while including all four categories in each team, will be tailored to the club strengths, with only 10 seniors in the second division of six teams and eight seniors and six handicap players in the bottom division.

On this season's results Auckland, The Grange, Manukau, Titirangi, Whitford Park and Akarana will be in the first division, Howick, Pukekohe, Maungakiekie, Remuera, Aviation and Onewhero will form the second division and Formosa, Pakuranga, Waiuku, Maramarua, Clarks Beach and Wattle Downs will be eligible for the third division.

When it proposed the revamp the Auckland Golf Association cited among the advantages of this system the encouragement of club spirit and a reduction in tee time taken up by pennant competitions.

The system adopted will run for three years with a review after the first year to iron out any anomalies.

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New Zealand representatives Mark Smith (Springfield) and Brad Shilton (Te Awamutu) will use the Auckland strokeplay at Pakuranga this weekend to fine-tune their games for the upcoming Nomura Cup in Australia.

With Wellington-based Bradley Iles and Mathew Holten they leave next week for Port Douglas where the cup will be contested by 17 nations from the Asia-Pacific region in team strokeplay.

A field of 84 will contest the Auckland strokeplay over 72 holes with 16 to progress to the matchplay championship two weeks later at Whitford Park.

Neither last year's strokeplay champion, Nick Davey of Bay of Plenty, nor the matchplay winner, Andrew Park of North Harbour, have entered.

An interesting entrant is the 1989 matchplay winner, Martin Phillips (Waitakere), who has regained his amateur status after a spell as a professional.

At the end of the tournament the Auckland selectors will name a team to play Wellington at Wairakei on August 30-31.

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The two top-ranked amateurs, Bradley Iles and Mathew Holten will represent New Zealand in the Spirit International in Texas in October. They will be joined by leading women Kyla Welsh and Penny Newbrook (below) at the magnificent Whispering Pines course in Houston, Texas.

The top 20 countries, based on results from last year's world amateur teams championship, have been invited to this event, which was first held in 2001.

Waikato's Mark Purser and Hawkes Bay's Doug Holloway will represent New Zealand at the Singapore Open Amateur at Sentosa Golf Club on September 9-12.

New Zealand has an outstanding record in this 72-hole championship with Holten and Shilton finishing first and second last year. Tim Wilkinson and Gareth Paddison, both now turned professional, had a similar clean sweep in 2001. Eddie Burgess won in 2000.

Four juniors will contest the annual Jack Newton International Junior Classic in New South Wales in October. Kevin Chun (Auckland), Thomas Campbell (Otago), Richard Moors (North Harbour) and Aaron Leech (Wellington) will compete in this Australian age group event at The Oaks Golf Club at Cessnock, north of Sydney.

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Sarah Nicholson (Hutt) beat Stacey Tait (Huapai) 1-up in the Ellis Rose Bowl Championship at Hamilton Golf Club on Sunday.

The first division was shared by Chris Wilson (Inglewood) and Debbie Wells (Matamata).

Their final went down the 19th and beyond before darkness fell and they decided to declare a tied match.

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When you play a four-team round-robin and you beat your three opponents, you'd expect to win the competition, right?

Not when the competition is a women's quadrangular involving Northland, North Harbour, Auckland and Waikato-King Country at South Head and Helensville.

Auckland beat the other three teams last weekend, but because the contest is decided on the number of individual games won, they were pipped 33 points to 28 by hosts North Harbour.

Auckland have yet to be beaten in the past two years of the contest. They have also yet to win the title. They are not amused.

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Pakuranga have won the Betty Faesen Cup, the premier Auckland women's pennant contest, for the first time.

Their team included Jessica Park, Da Som Lee, Akane Iijima, Kathy Irwin, Ingrid Jagersma, Sandra Campbell, Gaylene John and Anne Chan.