Outlook good for rep season

Northland Golf President Roy Pelsky is hoping that a first-ever win in the Battle of the North could signal good times ahead.

It is the first time in the event's history that the Northland team has defeated North Harbour in this event and it has put the Northland men's team manager in a positive frame of mind ahead of the first trial next week.

"The win has given me a really good feeling about how our teams are developing for the representative season," he said.

"It's early days yet but as individuals it's obvious that they've been working very hard on their games."

Even more pleasing for Pelsky was how last month's epic victory at Mangawhai Golf Club was achieved. It was the young golfers who made the most headway in the competition with two strong masters' sides somewhat surprisingly well beaten.

Elite men's number one Kadin Neho went down in a close match but number two Lee Neumann drew his match all square with Kevin Budden. The elder statesman of the side, Brett Dormer, had a win while Kerikeri number four Alex Neely also won.

Brad Bonnington and Thomas Neylon, playing at five and six respectively, were narrowly defeated while further down the order Gene Wintle and Chris Truscott won their matches but eight and number 10 Lee Newman and Michael Perrin were defeated for an eventual 4.5-5.5 loss.

The under-19s had a good win in the Kevin Sharrock Trophy, with Sean Masters, Chase McKeown and Luke Brown winning their matches and only Kevin Kruse defeated on the day against strong opposition.

The under-16 team won three out of four matches to bring home the Athol McLachlan Trophy with Julian Fowler, Taylor Gill and Liam Young winning.

In the Elite Women's Championship Plate, number one Sam Dangen was beaten with two and three Sjanna Bonnington and Jodie McAlister getting home for a 3-3 tie, with the number of holes also exactly tied.

Northland had a good 3-1 win in the U16 girls handicap plate.

However the Men's and Women's Masters teams were both well beaten 5-1 to end up giving Northland a very narrow overall victory 362.5-357.5.

The line-ups for the teams are far from finalised with the first official trial event next weekend at the Citrus Open at Kerikeri.