Bonnington leads posse of young guns

At the green age of 23, Wellsford player Brad Bonnington is considered the experienced old head of the Northland's senior men's team gearing up to contest the annual Interdistrict Quadrangular at the Waitomo Golf Club.

Bonnington has been a part of the Northland senior team since he was 16, mentored by older players in the past. But this year, Northland's golfing youngsters have come to the fore, and the selectors chose an up-and-coming side to contest this weekend's senior competition against teams from Auckland, Taranaki and Waikato.

Bonnington will go from being mentored to being the mentor when he tees off tomorrow morning in the matchplay tournament.

"It's a very young team compared to other years where we always had older, experienced players," Bonnington said.

"This year, we even have a couple of players competing with the Northland junior team at Cambridge, in the North Island Junior Interprovincial Championship - Sean Masters, who won last weekend's City of Whangarei Classic, Chase McKeown, Thomas Neylon and Kevin Kruse."

Sherwood Park's Ethan O'Shea and Waipu's Braden Keown are also competing at the junior interprovincials which conclude today, and they are part of the Under-16 team - alongside Waipu's Liam Young and Bay of Islands/Kerikeri's Taylor Gill, who will also compete at Waitomo this weekend.

"It's definitely a team that looks good for the future but I think we have a fairly good chance of upsetting a few of the teams as a lot of the guys will have quite a bit of golf under their belts," Bonnington said.

The event would show the new-look Northlanders where they stood.

Heavyweights Auckland would be the team to watch out for, while Northland would aim to win their matches against Taranaki and Waikato, whom they had defeated convincingly last year, he said.

Talented teenagers Kadin Neho and Luke Brown were unavailable for selection, chosen after Sunday's City of Whangarei Classic at Sherwood Park Golf Club.

Neho and Brown were selected for the Srixon New Zealand Golf Junior Academy, based on their outstanding performances this year, and head to a training camp in Auckland this weekend, after the interprovincials.

The pair are a big loss to the Northland senior side but with the likes of Northland 54 Hole winner Lee Neumann, the consistency of Bonnington and Masters, and the other up-and-comers, the young team will head confidently into this weekend's tournament.

Northland senior men: Brad Bonnington (Wellsford), Lee Neumann (Northland), Alex Neely (BOI Kerikeri), Sean Masters (Kaitaia), Michael Macdonald (Northern Wairoa), Chase McKeown (Waipu), Thomas Neylon (Waipu), Kevin Kruse (Rawene).

Northland U16: Ethan O'Shea (Sherwood Park), Braden Keown (Waipu), Liam Young (Waipu), Taylor Gill (BOI Kerikeri).