Northland prospects bright, says manager

Northland's golfers arrived home yesterday from the 2010 Toro Interprovincials in a fairly positive frame of mind after a good showing in this year's competition at Paraparaumu Beach.
The majority of the young team will remain together for next year's competition - with Scott Wightman the only one in doubt as he contemplates turning professional in the new year - leaving manager Roy Pelsky in an optimistic mood.
"The nucleus of the team will remain together and we've shown we're not easybeats this year, we've done well in a tough division and came very close to doing even better than that so we'll come back next year with confidence that we can improve on our final position," he said.
The highlights of the week were a rare interprovincial win over Waikato and a good win over semifinal contenders Manawatu-Wanganui. Pelsky said there were other close matches, like the second-round performance against Auckland, where they came close to winning against more favoured sides before fading in the closing stages.
Northland's 1-4 loss to Taranaki in their final match on Friday was a case in point. The team led 3-2 at the halfway stage of the match but couldn't keep it up, with Wightman the only player to finally register a win - and ironically it was enough to keep Taranaki out of the semifinals.
"Overall I'm very happy with the way the guys played, we were very competitive and with a bit more luck, we might have finished a few places higher," Pelsky said.
Taranaki was one of three teams to finish with 3 wins in the congested division but they trailed Otago by one game on the countback and so Auckland, with four wins, and Otago went through to the semifinals with Taranaki third and Tasman fourth. Defending champions Bay of Plenty, who were last in the division on Thursday, improved to finish fifth after beating Auckland and Otago on the final day. Manawatu-Wanganui dropped to sixth, with Northland seventh - giving them 13th place overall - with Waikato last.
North Harbour edged Auckland 3-2 in the first semifinal while hosts Wellington beat Otago 3-1 in the other. Strong wind and persistent rain continued to fall for Saturday afternoon's final, favouring the hosts and they outlasted Harbour to win 4-1 and lift the trophy.
The Northland side's individual performances were led by number-one Wightman, who finished the week with four wins and two close losses - both on the 18th hole - including one defeat by New Zealand No1 Ryan Fox.
"Scott really shone out for us all week, I caddied for him quite a bit and he played some great golf against some of the country's top players and won most of his matches and both of his losses were matches that could have gone either way," Pelsky said.
Wightman will try and qualify for the Australian PGA qualifying school in January, meaning he could be lost to the Northland amateur team for the immediate future at least.
"We wish him the best of luck with it - obviously we think he's good enough to do well but if it doesn't work out then we'll have him back," he said.
No2 Brad Bonnington was fairly pleased with his results from the week. He was the most consistent of the Northland players - after Wightman - with three wins and three losses.
Brett Dormer struggled all week and was the only player who didn't register a win.
He injured his shoulder on the second day but after missing one match, played on without complaint, earning the respect of his team.
"No3 is one of the toughest positions to play, he was going up against guys who are very good golfers and he often got into position for a win but couldn't push on from there," Pelsky said.
Most pleasing to Pelsky was the performance of his young trio of future Northland stars: Lee Neuman at No4, Kadin Neho at No5 and reserve Sean Masters.
"All three of those young boys gained valuable experience."