Players prove fight is fierce for top spot

Kadin Neho and Renee Adams were named as Northland's top junior golfers of 2010 at the end of the annual Northland Age Group Strokeplay championships held in the Far North over the weekend.
Competition for the title between Whangarei's Neho and Kaitaia's Sean Masters couldn't have been closer.
Both players were selected to play in the senior men's interprovincial team at this year's national team's matchplay competition at Paraparaumu Beach.
Neho got the nod for this year's title on the strength of his win in the Busby Plate - the Northland Senior Matchplay Championships - but Masters was to show how close the two golfers are during the weekend's competition.
Both players were square after the first round in the Boys U16 competition, tied on one-under after shooting 69 on the Whangaroa Golf Course on Saturday. The contest then moved to the Kaitaia golf course at Ahipara for the second round and that shifted the momentum toward Masters, who was playing at his home course. He set a blistering pace shooting a four-under 68 and Neho couldn't match it, recording a one-over 73, to give the Northland Age Group title to Masters. Northland Golf Course's David Collins topped the nett competition with a score of 137.
Whangarei Golf Club's Adams won the U16 girls title with a combined two-round score of 167 to cap off a good year for the young golfer.
Waipu's Thomas Neylon won the U19 Boys title, shooting par on both days to easily beat clubmate Chase McKeown into second place. The nett winner was Sherwood Park's Travis Cotton, who finished with 133.
The Boys U13 title had to be decided in a playoff, with Sherwood Park's Jahkobi Harris and Whangarei's Julian Fowler tied on 163 after two rounds. The first playoff hole failed to separate them but Harris held sway at the second hole to win the title. Kerikeri's Taylor Gill won the nett title with an adjusted score of 129.
Whangarei's Shanice Croft won the Girls U13 title with a total score of 189, while promising 11-year-old Northland golfer Soktaere Sean, scooped the nett title with a score of 130 - easily the best over the combined girls nett competition held across the girls field.