Golf: Grange win pennants title

The Grange Golf Club has won Auckland's new-look men's pennant competition with one round to spare.

The Papatoetoe-based club will play the Auckland Club at Middlemore on Sunday, but with a four-point lead in the competition, cannot lose the title.

But the battle to avoid relegation from the six-team premier division is still very much alive.

Whitford Park are bottom on six points with 116 individual games won. Auckland (117 games) and Manukau (119) both have eight points but will be in danger if they lose in the final round and Whitford take two points for a win.

Manukau are at home to Whitford Park, while second-placed Titirangi host Akarana in the other tie.

Maungakiekie have won promotion from the second division for next season, and Howick will be relegated. The third-division title will be decided on Sunday when leaders Pakuranga travel to Formosa, who are one point behind.

The competition format, which was introduced this season, provides for clubs in the first division to field combined teams made up of 12 seniors, four masters, eight handicap players and four under-19 juniors. There are 10 rounds of home-and-away contests.

The change from an elite competition of top players competing in foursomes and singles at a single venue, with semifinals and a final, has drawn a mixed reaction. The Auckland Golf Association has circulated a questionnaire to all clubs inviting comment and suggestions but the basic concept is likely to be in place for three years.

Peter Seagar, executive director of the association, said some of the bigger clubs seemed to have missed the point of the change, which was designed to promote club spirit and give juniors the chance to mix with senior players and learn the etiquette of the game.

"Some clubs have been excellent, hosting visiting teams generously and getting their members involved," he said. "But elsewhere there has been little promotion of a club and its teams to the rest of the members."

Seagar's statistics show that championship winners The Grange and bottom-placed Whitford Park have fared equal best in the senior section of the first division with 57.9 per cent of matches won.

Titirangi have been strongest in the masters with 68.8 per cent and the handicaps with 60.2 per cent, while The Grange (72.2 per cent) narrowly head Akarana (70.8 per cent) in the juniors. Whitford's meagre 20.3 per cent success in the juniors has cost them dearly.

New Zealand junior representative Natasha Krishna was the star of an 11-5 Auckland victory over Bay of Plenty-Thames Valley in a women's representative fixture at Maramarua last weekend.

The St Kentigern pupil beat top Bay golfer Penny Newbrook 3 and 2 on Saturday and Jackie Shin 2 and 1 on Sunday. Newbrook bounced back to defeat Auckland number one, Enu Chung, one up.

Four players have been selected by Women's Golf New Zealand for the 2004 Titleist Women's Academy. Enu Chung (Auckland), Penny Newbrook (Springfield) and Sarah Nicholson (Hutt) are joined by Stacey Tate (Huapai).

To be eligible for selection into the academy, athletes must have a stroke average of 75 or less. They are then considered on an individual basis, following Women's Golf New Zealand's selection criteria.

Athletes in the academy receive equipment in additional to professional support in the form of coaching, sports psychology, fitness testing, nutrition advice, sports science, sports medicine and career development guidance from the New Zealand Academy of Sport.