Off the tee: Team-mates are a prize pair

New Zealand team-mates Brad Shilton and Mathew Holten were last night named joint winners of the Phil Tataurangi Trophy as Waikato golfers of the year.

The pair, along with Mark Smith from the Bay of Plenty and Bradley Iles from Wellington, will represent New Zealand in the Nomura Trophy for Asia-Pacific teams in Port Douglas, Australia, next month.

The Phil Tataurangi Trophy this year covers an 18-month period to bring it into line with the rest of Waikato's awards.

Shilton, a 23-year-old from Te Awamutu, during that period won the national strokeplay championship at Middlemore, the national under-23 title and was second in the Singapore open amateur. He represented New Zealand in the Eisenhower Trophy, world amateur championships.

Twenty-year-old Holten, originally from Te Aroha but now based in Wellington, won the Singapore Open amateur last year and reached the semifinals of the Australian amateur championship.

This season he was top individual at the under-23 teams' championship and the SBS Invitational. He finished 36th and leading New Zealander in the Clearwater Classic professional tournament in Christchurch.

Other Waikato awards presented last night included:

Club awards: Best annual report, under 350 members: Te Aroha; over 350: Lochiel. Best club business plan: Stewart Alexander Club. Best junior programme: Ngahinepouri. Club team of the year: Matamata men's pennants, division two. Volunteer of the year: Bill Kerr (Waikare). Service to golf: John Sturgeon (Tokoroa).

Player awards: Puahue Trust awards: Sam Thomas (Ngahinepouri) and Stephanie Slavich (Lochiel). Tertiary scholarships: Richard Wright (Matamata) and Brendon Seidel (Putaruru). Masters player of the year: Phil Hunter (Ngaruawahia). MVP junior: Mark Boe (Hamilton); senior: David Jackson (Lochiel).

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Hawkes Bay representative Richard Squire will be defending his title when the Bay of Plenty Open is contested over 72 holes at Whakatane this weekend.

The strong field of 84 includes most of New Zealand top amateurs including Mark Smith (Springfield), winner of last weekend's Waikato Winter Strokeplay at Lochiel. Two Australians have entered, Anthony Brown and Jon Abbot, both from Victoria.

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Peter Jacobsen's 21-year-old daughter, Kristen, a student at New York University, caught a bus to watch the last day's play in the Greater Hartford Open.

But when Dad won the tournament and collected the $US720,000 ($1.2 million) first prize, she rode home again in a limousine.

The 49-year-old Jacobsen became the sixth player over 40 to win on the USPGA tour this season and his Hartford win highlighted the explosion in prizemoney on the tour. When he won the same tournament 19 years earlier, his reward was $US70,000.

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Bob Charles, who is now 67, showed that he is still a competitive figure in the senior ranks when he tied for 20th place in Britain's Senior Open at Turnberry.

American Tom Watson won the title from Englishman Carl Mason after a two-hole playoff. Both had finished at 17 under after the unheralded Mason double-bogeyed the last hole.

The winning aggregate eclipsed Charles' own winning total of 11-under on the same course 14 years earlier.

This time Charles finished at three-under, one behind 50-year-old Craig Stadler, who won on the main US PGA Tour the previous week.

Another New Zealander, Simon Owen, finished 32nd on level par.

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Golf can be a cruel game. Former British Open champion Ian Baker-Finch quit competitive play when what had seemed so easy became too much to handle.

Now another former British Open champion seems to be fighting a similar decline. David Duval, who won the British Open in 2001, struggled way below the cut line at Royal St George's last month and last weekend pulled out of the Greater Hartford Open after shooting 83 in the first round.

The 31-year-old American has been in a two-year slump. He finished 80th on the USPGA money list last year and this season lies 194th after playing in 17 tournaments and earning just $US84,708.

Nobody is writing off such a talented player. He showed that he could still perform by shooting a course record 62 in the second round of the FBR Capital Open in June - but then he slumped to finish 28th.

Duval, son of a golf professional, who has won on the seniors' tour, was a major talent in college and vied with Phil Tataurangi and Michael Campbell for individual honours at the world amateur championships in Vancouver in 1992.

He has had 13 USPGA victories and in 1999 was world No 1, ahead of Tiger Woods. The same year he shot 59 in the Bob Hope Classic.

His poor form followed a back injury, which has left a legacy of swing problems, and the break-up with his long-time girl friend.