GOLF - Top player ponders when to turn pro

by Peter Thorley"
GOLFER Caroline Bon is certain she'll turn professional, the only question she now has to address is when? Northland's top amateur believes the standard of her game has taken off in the past year and she is about to test herself against the world's best amateurs before coming up with a timeline to turn pro.
"I know now that these girls are pretty much the same as me, so if I go out and play my A Game, then I'm going to beat most of them," she said.
The Whangarei golfer missed out by one shot on being the top Kiwi at the inaugural New Zealand Open last month, finishing 16th out of 107 professionals and 20-odd amateurs.
Today the 21-year-old leaves Whangarei, hoping to make her mark at the Australian Amateur Championship this weekend. Later this year she will travel further afield to Europe and the United States to try and qualify for the British Amateur and the US Amateur.
"I'm completely confident that I will turn pro within three years, so even if I don't make the top 32 in each tournament, then at least I'll know what to expect, what the courses are like and so on, so I can hone my game for the following year," Bon said. Getting used to competing in tournaments overseas - other than Australia - is the mission this year.
"I do want to play well but I want to get used to the lifestyle and such, so when I turn pro I have the experience I need to succeed."
She already knows what a difference a year makes.
Last week she returned from Australia after being part of only the eighth women's team to have beaten their Australian counterparts in the annual transtasman golf tournament played since 1933.
Bon wasn't too thrilled with her own luck during the tournament but was genuinely moved to be a part of the victory. It was her second season with the New Zealand amateur team and she reckons she's improved out of sight.
"We competed in the same tournaments we competed in last year but I played a lot better than last year and I'm still rising and learning as I go," she said.
Self-improvement has become a mantra of sorts for the engaging youngster and that's what she's aiming at this year.
"Last year it was fulfilling a dream playing in Aussie events but now I'm looking at things differently and the things I'm looking at are way more defined."
"Before it was like, I need to improve my long game, now it's like, I need to improve my target line by two foot ... so everything has become more precise," she said.
Fine tuning her game has allowed her to become more creative in her shot selection under pressure.
"I've always been creative, it's just now I allow myself to be creative at the big tournaments rather than trying to play safe."
Bon has been working with a sport psychologist attached to the national Srixon Academy, and said it helped her performance at the New Zealand Open.
"It's working wonders for me, it was a whole new approach for me, and it's the reason I played so well at the New Zealand Open," she said.
Working at Kensington Fitness Centre, she has been saving her pennies toward the trip that could well be a prelude to turning pro.
She has saved around half of the $22,000 needed for her trip to Europe and the USA.
"I'm now at the stage where I'm applying for grants to raise the rest and I'm also hoping to run a tournament here for myself as well," she said.
Her last tournament in New Zealand finishes on May 18 and she'll work for a few weeks to sharpen her game before flying to Europe on June 1.
* Ego aside, golf is for golfers
Northern Advocate reporter Peter Thorley had to dig deep, firstly to find his golf clubs and secondly to put his pride on the line, to find out just how good top woman golf players really are.
Many have suffered the gender debate that has caused ripples in world golfing circles since women starting getting invitations to play in men's tournaments.
Sharing a locker room with a Hawiian pro with the photogenic looks of Michelle Wie never appeared to be a serious problem to me - so I always found it hard to understand the objections of guys like VJ Singh, who argued against the inclusion of women in such contests.
After playing Caroline Bon the other day I've got a better insight.
Getting beaten by a woman hits the ego hard - particularly when the woman in question is overwhelmingly nice about it.
Bon is at the top of the amateur game in New Zealand and is considering turning pro so I thought I'd challenge her to a three-hole contest, just to see how she measured up.
Some might say it is simply arrogant to think that a bloke, who has never played golf regularly, might beat her but the investigation needed to be done.
I even thought to put a wager on it. Northland's No.1 female suggested $50, probably after seeing my prehistoric set of clubs that I acquired at a garage sale for $10.
I demurred, not wanting to jeopardise her amateur status in any way, and we settled on $5 - which was precisely the amount I knew our photographer had in his pocket.
Needless to say I was never in the frame after teeing off.
I hit two trees on the first hole, put two shots out of bounds on the second and blew my chance of redemption on the final hole, sadly missing my par putt by more than a metre.
But what I was really there to see was Caroline in action and she was impressive.
She got into a bit of trouble in the trees on the first hole but didn't panic to record a par.
Then she knocked in a three-metre putt to birdie the second before a regulation tap-in par on the final hole.
There were signs that she has plenty to work with - particularly with a good long drive off the tee and an accurate short game.
I made sure the photograher had a receipt (let's just hope he never tries to use it or he'll find out I've already picked up my washing), congratulated my opponent, wishing her well on the fairways of the world and strode off with my pride in tatters, knowing that next time someone moans about playing against women, I'll know exactly what their problem is.