Golf: Our man from Havana foots it with the champs

Gulf Harbour will today host a British Open champion and several Australian and New Zealand Open champions. But there will also be a former winner of the Cuban Grand Final.

Some exotic South American, perhaps? Hardly - Steve Scahill learned his golf in the Bay of Plenty, was a member of the winning New Zealand team at the Eisenhower in 2002 and prospered on the European tour since 1997.

White shirt, dark trousers and the antithesis of flamboyant, Scahill won the Cuban event when playing the European Challenge Tour in 1999 during one of his two breaks from the main tour.

He hasn't won since but he has held on to his full European Tour card since 2000, finishing 91st last season, and prospering with his conservative approach.

"It was a reasonable year because it was made up of a lot of steady tournaments without any standout performances or big cheques," he said yesterday. "Although I would love to have had a win or a top five, it's also satisfying to make a lot of cuts rather than relying on one good result.

"The consistency is there. Now I need to work on having those hot, flash weeks that win tournaments. I think it's a matter of knowing you're playing well and going for it.

"It's not in my nature to be aggressive all the time. But toward the second half of last season I decided to be more aggressive if I was well placed after three rounds. It worked sometimes but not always."

Scahill, who is 35, met his wife, Lana, at Michael Campbell's wedding and they live in Brighton on the English south coast.

His best result in the New Zealand Open came 12 years ago at Paraparaumu when he was fourth behind Peter Fowler. He missed last year but he may have acquired a secret weapon from that Open at The Grange.

Caddying for Scahill at Gulf Harbour will be Rotorua man Jason Jacobs, who carried Terry Price's bag to victory last year.