Golf: Amateur days almost over for Iles and Holten

Brad Iles and Mathew Holten may play their last major amateur event in this country at this week's Taranaki Open in New Plymouth.

The $40,000 tournament is run under the umbrella of Golf Tour New Zealand, the organisation established by former touring professional Greg Turner to provide opportunities for young New Zealand professionals and to raise the bar for the leading amateurs, both men and women.

It is understood that both New Zealand representatives plan to turn professional and attempt to gain their cards for next year's Asian PGA Tour.

The pair returned this week from the Asia-Pacific Championships in Japan, and will play in next month's Southern Cross Cup competition. They are then expected to finalise plans to turn professional.

It is a remarkable turnaround for Iles, who 15 months ago lay close to death after a freak accident following a golf tournament in the United States. He had suffered head injuries after being thrown from a golf cart.

The Mt Maunganui-based golfer recovered to win the North Island Amateur Championship and was a semifinalist at the New Zealand Amateur Championship.

He recently returned from a tour in the United States where he was a semifinalist at the Western Amateur, made the third round of the Canadian Amateur and was sixth in the Players Amateur.

Holten, 23, has been regularly at the top of the New Zealand amateur game for the past two seasons. He won the South Island Amateur before a remarkable effort across the Tasman, becoming the first New Zealander in more than a century to win the Riversdale Cup.

Holten has been in top form this year, winning the Auckland and Waikato Strokeplay titles.

They are among all the leading New Zealand amateurs to compete in a quality field at the Ngamotu links course starting with a pro-am today. The tournament proper starts tomorrow.

The professionals include Taranaki's in-form Taranaki Grant Moorhead, who won the Fiji PGA last month, Auckland's Marcus Wheelhouse, who has been playing in the US, along with Rotorua's Nick Davey and Dunedin's Ben Gaillie, who returned this week after playing on the Canadian Tour.

Wheelhouse is using the tournament as a shakedown before returning to the US for the qualifying school process.

Last year's winner Ryan Hayward (Christchurch) will defend the title, with runner-up Mark Brown (Wellington) also back as he prepares to return to more tournament play.

Iles and Holten are joined by fellow New Zealand representatives Josh Geary (Mt Maunganui) and Mark Purser (Hamilton), who finished fourth individual in the Asia-Pacific teams' championship.

The New Zealand women's Titleist players are also competing, by Sarah Nicholson (Wellington), Sharyn Ahn (North Harbour), Natasha Krishna (Auckland) and Penny Newbrook (Rotorua) among them.

Former European Tour professional Pam Sowden, now working for the North Harbour association, and Scottish professional Claire Hunter are also playing.

- NZPA