By BOB PEARCE
Kent Skellern will not be playing any tournament golf for the next couple of months.
He will be at Surfers Paradise - and it would be easy to assume he was resting on his laurels.
The tall 21-year-old from Rotorua could hardly expect to better his performance in the Tower interprovincial tournament at Hamilton where he had eight straight wins, won the player of the tournament award and a $5000 scholarship from the sponsors.
The only thing missing was the Tower Trophy, which Wellington won on Saturday by beating the Bay 3-2 in the final.
Skellern's Australian stay will take him to a golf course, but not specifically to play. He is spending 10 weeks at the Royal Pines Resort as part of his work experience for his tourism degree from Waiariki Polytechnic.
His Hamilton week marked him out as a player with a future. Playing at No 4 for the Bay, he was very long from the tee and rarely seemed to be in any trouble.
"I was three under for the week and it's been like a dream," he said. "My coach, Geoff Smart, made some swing changes and I've been hitting the ball higher and longer.
"I can hardly believe how well things have gone this week."
Sadly, Bay of Plenty were once more pipped for the trophy they have never won.
They accounted for Waikato comfortably enough in the semifinal with wins for Skellern, Jason Laing and Eddie Burgess. Skellern and Andrew McNair were clear winners in the final.
Burgess and Matthew Jupp were well beaten by Reon Sayer and Jonathon Cane. So captain, at 28 the veteran of the team, carried the Bay's hopes.
Three down early to national strokeplay champion Gareth Paddison, Laing battled back to be level with three holes to play.
He three-putted the 16th to go one down, halved the 17th with an incredible par from an impossible lie but could do no better than a bogey on the last.
It was all a bit too similar to 1995, when he was the unlucky one in a playoff when Auckland beat the Bay in their only other final.
Laing handled the disappointment gracefully, lavish in his praise for his young team and keen for the Bay to receive credit for their consistently good results in the past decade. He has another big event coming up - his wedding next Saturday.
Wellington came into the tournament as favourites and they won their 11th title, but not without a battle.
Coach Mal Tongue said: "It's the hardest Tower I've ever been in, no shadow of a doubt. The standard is getting higher and higher."
Wellington No 1 Sayer emphasised his eminence in New Zealand golf by beating Chris Johns (Auckland) and Burgess comfortably in the semifinals and final.
But Auckland came within one putt of putting Wellington out in the semis. It all came down to the par three 18th where Auckland No 4 Blair Dibley needed only a par to beat Jay Carter and give Auckland a 3-2 victory.
But Dibley three-putted and Carter birdied the extra hole to carry Wellington through.
It was like a soccer penalty shootout where the best player misses and is unfairly burdened with losing the game. Dibley had reached the semifinals unbeaten and had sunk three monster putts under pressure to put himself in a position to beat Carter.
The tournament, ably hosted by the Hamilton Golf Club, showed that the sport continues to develop new talent.
Next year's tournament will be at the Southland Golf Club in Invercargill.
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