Golf: Men's team out for redemption

Chase McKeown

The Northland men's golf team is hoping to move on from last year's forgettable Toro New Zealand Men's Interprovincial in Hamilton.

Helping Northland's team of Kadin Neho, Luke Brown, Alex Neely, Sheldon Kearns, Lee Neumann, and Chase McKeown is their build-up to this year's competition, which has seen them check out the course at the Hamilton Golf Club (St Andrews) in advance. The tournament finishes on Saturday.

Manager Michael Macdonald says last year's 11th place finish - out of the 15 teams - has served as motivation leading into this week's tournament.

"We were disappointed from last year and that result has influenced the guys and how much more preparation they've been putting in," he said.

"Last year, we didn't do the prep work so this year we've gone down and learned so we can be firing from the first round.

"First and foremost we're looking to play well and, hopefully, the result will take care of itself."

Adding to the preparations has been the influence of Marcus Wheelhouse, a former world amateur number one, who has essentially acted as a strategy coach for Northland.

Wheelhouse, who is Kearns' personal coach, had been set the task to improve the team's tactics when playing the Hamilton course. His inclusion has been a welcome addition, Macdonald says.

While Northland has had limited game play build-up, they recently finished runner-up in the Garrard Shield at the Kerikeri Golf Club.

Macdonald felt that outing would prove crucial to their success in Hamilton, adding Brown's recent success would also help.

Brown claimed his first win on the New Zealand Golf Order of Merit in emphatic fashion earlier this month, with the 19-year-old from Parua Bay winning the Auckland Strokeplay title by 16 shots.

Macdonald, who will co-manage with Brad Bonnington, said the Toro Interprovincial was a great opportunity for provinces such as Northland to get one up on their big city counterparts.

The Toro NZ Men's Interprovincial is a teams matchplay contest with the top five golfers from the 15 provinces competing over seven rounds of matchplay.

There are two divisions based on the previous year's results and the final day of the event sees semifinals and a final to decide the champion.

The Toro NZ Women's Interprovincial will follow the men's event from December 9-13 at the Riverside Golf Club.