Northland golfer Gary-John Hill dreaming of Argentina

Former Northland No1 Gary-John Hill is a late scratching for this weekend's Bream Bay Classic, but he has a good excuse - the 22-year-old has just scored a free trip to Argentina.
The former New Zealand representative joins Matt Perry from Hamilton on a flight to Buenos Aires to play in the Argentina Amateur Open and the Juan Carlos Tailhade amateur tournament starting next week.
"They sent invitations to Golf New Zealand ... and I think the guys who went to the Eisenhower Trophy have all come home instead of staying on, so we get to go instead, which is pretty cool," Hill said.
It's a good bit of fortune for Hill, but it meant he had to pull out of the Bream Bay Classic to make his flight on Sunday.
"I was disappointed by that because I've been looking forward to that tournament all year, because I want to be able to put that on my list of tournaments I've won, I play pretty good around that course - but a trip to Argentina is pretty hard to give up," he said.
Hill last played for Northland in the 2008 season and moved to Auckland last year. He played number-two in their inter-provincial team behind Ryan Fox and has once again been selected for the interprovincial team, although his Argentina trip now makes it unlikely he'll be in the team for the Garrard Shield in Waitangi next weekend.
He said the experience of playing in the Auckland squad had worked well for him and he was looking forward to the Toro Men's Interprovincial Tournament at Paraparaumu Beach in December.
After his form has fluctuated since he left Whangarei, Hill has recently decided to do something about it.
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results and that's what I've been doing with my game over the last two years," he said. "I've just started seeing sports psychologist David Niethe, who looks after Michael Hendry and a few other top players, and he seems really good, it's been very positive so far."
He now wants to use Niethe to get out of what he sees as a slump. The golfer has put off entering the sport's professional ranks until he improves his game. If he is happy with his game at the end of the season then Hill may chance his arm and attempt to qualify for the Australian PGA Tour.