Golf: Bay of Plenty golf team favoured to take title

By BOB PEARCE

With a team including the major national champions, Bay of Plenty will start as favourites for the Garrard Shield team golf competition at Manukau this weekend.

No 1 for the Bay is Eddie Burgess, who won the national matchplay title at Christchurch after previously winning the South Island title.

The winner of the North Island title at Huapai was Mark Smith, who will be at No 5 in the Bay team.

And at No 2 will be Kent Skellern, who was named player of the tournament at the last Tower national interprovincial tournament, at Hamilton.

It is a measure of the team's strength that former New Zealand representative Jason Laing plays at No 3.

Lower down the order in the 10-man team are Sam Hunt and Bradley Iles, members of the Rotorua Boys' High team who won the world schools title earlier this year.

The holders of the Garrard Shield, which is contested by Bay of Plenty, Auckland, Northland and Waikato, are Auckland, who beat the Bay convincingly on their home patch at Omanu last season to take the title.

This time they will be without national representative Chris Johns, who has been suspended by the Auckland association, and Bradley Heaven, who is in the United States.

No 1 will be long-hitting Pakuranga golfer Geoff Sisson, ahead of Blair Dibley from Akarana.

Waikato have national representative Brad Shilton at No 1 and a number of promising young players, including Mathew Holten, the third member of the victorious Rotorua Boys' High team.

Northland are led by Shaun O'Shea, who is one of the most experienced provincial golfers in the country.

The teams will play two rounds at Manukau tomorrow and one on Sunday. After play finishes, the selectors will name their five-man teams for the national Tower tournament at Invercargill next month.