GOLF - Strong nerves push North into 4th place

The new boys in the Northland under-23 golf team played like veterans to help their province to an unlikely fourth place at the national under-23 tournament in Taupo.
Little was expected from the team this year as they blooded Kerikeri's Jamie Dobson and Waitangi's Mitchell Price in the competition, but the debutantes proved everyone wrong by holding their nerves and shooting some low scores to help Northland into fourth place behind champions Wellington, Auckland and third-placed Tasman.
"It was their first tournament and neither of them have been playing a lot of golf recently, so we thought that finishing midfield might be a pretty good result. But in the end we punched well above our weight," team manager Graeme Hill said.
Both youngsters found the Taupo Golf Club to their liking, with Dobson scoring 78, 75, 82, 74 while Price scored 75, 74, 75, 73 after two rounds on Monday and two on Tuesday on the par-72 course.
The scores helped the more experienced top-three of Gary-John Hill, Brad Bonnington and Lee Newman propel Northland up the leaderboard.
"It got really tight on the second day with Northland, North Harbour, Taranaki and Hawke's Bay all competing for fourth but we finished off well, which is a change for Northland. Their players had some battles and we were able to hang on to our position," Hill said.
In the end Northland finished just four shots behind Tasman, in third, while Hawke's Bay and Taranaki finished three shots behind Northland, with North Harbour a further five shots back.
Meanwhile, Mangawhai No3 Newman did not even bother to attend the under-23 strokeplay championships in Hastings last week - preferring instead to try his luck in the North Island under-19 championships in Hamilton this week.
"He didn't think he was good enough to go to Hastings for the New Zealand tournament and you might've agreed with him on the first day, but on the second day, he woke up a different person," Hill joked.
Newman had a shocker on the first day with rounds of 80 and 91, but then had a 20-shot turnaround on Tuesday to finish with scores of 71 and 76. The best four scores from each round counted, while the highest was dropped.
Sherwood Park's Gary-John Hill and Wellsford No2 Brad Bonnington, who are also the province's top two senior golfers, provided the cream at the tournament, with Hill hitting the team's best of 69 on the final round - but Bonnington was the most consistent performer.
He finished the individual competition in fifth place with three rounds of two-under 70 and a 73, behind eventual winner Ryan Fox from Auckland, with Gary-John Hill finishing in a share of eighth.
"Brad Bonnington was playing fantastic golf considering he'd had a five-week break," Hill said.