GOLF - Teen's first big win a confidence booster

Sunny Nam Koong felt a bit like a Lotto winner when she won the Bledisloe Trophy a couple of weeks ago at Waitangi, but her win wasn't due simply to luck - the 18-year-old has been working hard at her golf since she first arrived in Northland six years ago.
Nam Koong was four down against North Harbour representative Chanelle Probett in the matchplay competition's final but held her nerve to pull back from the brink to finally win 2-up.
"Yeah, it was my first ever big tournament win so I was very pleased," she said.
She said "everything" has improved in her game recently but during the weekend's play at the Waitangi course, her driver was her best friend.
"I really like the course at Waitangi but really I won because my driver was hitting straight all weekend," she said.
The other best friend was her mother, Young Sun, who was caddying for her.
"That was also helpful for me, because she kept me cheered up and kept encouraging me when I was in trouble," Nam Koong said.
The Korean-born golfer will play at No.2 this weekend, when the Northland senior side take on teams from North Harbour, Auckland and Waikato in a quadrangular event held jointly at the Omaha and Warkworth courses.
The Bledisloe win was a big victory for her but Nam Koong's consistency has also impressed the selectors.
The Whangarei Girls' High School seventh former became fascinated with golf shortly after her father took a job with an overseas posting and brought his family from Korea to New Zealand.
Since then Nam Koong has decided she wants to be a professional player. She plays five days a week, at least two hours a day - up to eight hours on weekends - and has plans to chance her arm on the Asian semi-professional tour in a couple of years.
"It will be very hard (to make it) as a professional, so I'll have to do my best," she said.
Nam Koong's father has since returned to work in Korea but she and her mother have stayed on in Northland. It's much easier to improve her game and play golf here than in Korea, she said.
"When I went back to Korea for a holiday last year, I could only play at a driving range, I couldn't play at a club because they were all booked already."
"Plus I like the coaches here very much," she said.
Nam Koong is coached by Quenton Diment at the Northland Golf Club.
This weekend's competition is shaping as a big test for Northland after they came within one shot of making the semifinals at last year's interprovincial tournament in Christchurch.
"We were a force at the interprovincials last year and we hope we can continue our good form at the quadrangular in North Harbour," selector Mary Sorenson said.
The event is the only major warm-up tournament for the women's team before October's national interprovincials in Napier.
The selectors are very pleased with the way young female golfers are continuing to develop in Northland.
Waitangi golfer Phoebe Perrin is in the side as her scores continue to plummet and she is pushing for inclusion in the five-strong interprovincial team. The 16-year-old's cousin Marama Baker is also in the team to travel to North Harbour for this week's quadrangular.
Alana Sherman, a former North Harbour golfer who has shifted north, is also on the cusp of selection and will play at No.5 this week.
• Northland:Caroline Bon (Whangarei), Sunny Nam Koong (Whangarei), Sjanna Bonnington (Wellsford), Phoebe Perrin (Waitangi), Alana Sherman (Sherwood Park), Sandy McKenzie (Waipu), Kerry Pevy (Whangarei), Jo Fenton (Waipu), Marama Baker (Waitangi).