Peter Williams: Lapsley merits a shot and an even break

Jim Lapsley's win at the New Zealand Seniors last Sunday again has him considering the options for his golfing future.

The 52-year-old from Queenstown was five under for three rounds at the Ashburton Club to claim his first national title.

Now the New Zealand team player from the 1980s is thinking again about trying to qualify for the European Seniors Tour.

He went to Portugal soon after his 50th birthday in 2004 but missed out by one shot on a place in the final stage of that year's Q-school, meaning he could keep his amateur status.

"Now I'm thinking about going again. My wife's keen for a trip to Europe but we have to think about how much it'll cost."

Lapsley spent almost two decades away from top-level golf but sold his Lake Wakatipu tour-boat operation in 2002 to become a fulltime player. The aim was to challenge again for a place in the New Zealand team and turn pro.

The professional dream is still alive but he's as frustrated as hell about his ambitions to be part of a national team, or even an elite squad which gets travel assistance to play all round the country.

Things reached a head just over a year ago at the Grant Clements Memorial at Mt Maunganui.

Lapsley blitzed the field with a 12-under par total and was told by the New Zealand selectors that he was too old to be considered again.

That raised his ire no end so he complained to the Human Rights Commission and considered talking to the Sports Disputes Tribunal.

In the end nothing came of either move but he reckons he made his point at New Zealand Golf head office.

"Now they've formed a special subcommittee to look at all aspects of their elite programme."

Despite the win at the Grant Clements and reaching the quarter-finals at last year's New Zealand Amateur, Lapsley's overall results wouldn't qualify him for current national selection but then he insists it's hardly a level playing field.

"If I want to play tournaments in the North Island, I have to pay. But youngsters in the national squad get their fares paid."

Lapsley's also angry that New Zealand representatives Josh Geary, Richard Wright and Andrew Searle skipped this week's South Island Champs in Dunedin to prepare for next week's Australian Amateur.

"This is one of the top five strokeplay tournaments in the country, where selectors say you have to put up a good showing to be considered for teams and squads. Yet some of the New Zealand team aren't even in Dunedin, so how can I compete against them when they don't show?"

Lapsley isn't the only player from the older generation frustrated with the emphasis on, and assistance for, youth. In golf, only numbers talk. Jim Lapsley wants New Zealand Golf to listen closely to his.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY