Golf: Gareth keeps his cool for win in strokeplay<br>

By Graham Skellern


Talented Wellington junior golfer Gareth Paddison took one more convincing step towards his goal of turning professional after winning the New Zealand strokeplay golf championship - by three shots - at the Remuera club yesterday.

The 18-year-old Paddison, who lives at home and plays golf full-time, put together his best 36 holes - nine under with a 5-under 67 and then a 68 - to finish the four rounds 12 under par on 276.

In what could be a turning point in his career, Paddison never crumbled over the final, pressure-filled nine holes and ended up a clearcut winner ahead of the top Australian, Aaron Baddeley on 279, nine under after firing a final round 3-under 69, and the overnight leader, Isaac Randall on 281, seven under.

"Before when I've been leading tournaments, I have shot my favourite 75. Today I was consistently good and I'm just pleased to know that I can do it," said Paddison, who finished seventh in the strokeplay last year at three under.

"I had hunger control - if you want to win something so much you can do some damage, so I just stayed calm. Every time I thought about the outcome I said to myself...`just one shot at a time.'"

Paddison, who plays out of Manor Park, became the first left-hander to win the strokeplay phase since Dunedin's Kim McDonald in 1978, when he shared the honour with Geoff Clarke.

As the leading qualifier, Paddison now has the unique opportunity of being the first left-hander to win the New Zealand amateur matchplay championship which begins with the first round this morning and ends with the 36-hole final on
Sunday.

He has been guided by his father, Gary - a talented soccer player who played four times for the All Whites as a centre-forward - and has set a target of representing New Zealand twice in the world Eisenhower Trophy contest before turning professional in three years.

After finishing the third round at eight under and lying two shots behind the leader Randall, Paddison made his ultimate move on the 12th hole with a three-metre birdie putt to go 11 under and hit the front for the first time.

He also birdied the par four 15th with a four-metre putt, his putt for birdie on the par-five 16th lipped out, he saved his par from the bunker on the par three 17th - and by then he could relax slightly with a three-shot lead.

Randall's great run ended with four bogeys on the fateful last nine, at the 12th, 14th, 16th and 17th holes, finishing with a 3-over 75 following his two 68s and 70.

Baddeley, regarded as the world's best junior, got close with a birdie on the 15th to go to 11 under but then three-putted the 16th green from four metres to hand Paddison a cushion.

During his career-best 36 holes yesterday, Paddison - whose previous major success was winning the Bay of Plenty Open last year - fired 12 birdies and three bogeys. His strength was his approach shots into the greens and not making life too hard for himself with chipping and par-saving putts.

New Zealand No 1 Reon Sayer was also very solid with two final rounds of 2-under 70 to finish fourth on 282, six under, and three shots ahead of fellow national representative Brad Shilton, who had a final round of 4-under 68, and former Queensland rep Corey Taylor, now living in Nelson, who had his 68 in the third round to move up the leaderboard.

Paddison, who reached the quarter-finals last year, plays the 32nd qualifier and Queensland rep Matthew Ballard in the first round of the matchplay. A feature match-up is last year's national strokeplay champion, Karl Kitchingham, playing this year's Australian amateur champion, Brendon Jones, who qualified seventh.