Rotorua's Springfield club will be chasing a hat-trick of wins in Hawkes Bay tomorrow.
The Bay of Plenty side are hot favourites for the 36-hole strokeplay final at Maraenui Golf Club that pits together the 17 regional club winners. The major challenges for the Rotorua side are likely to come from the Auckland, Royal Wellington, New Plymouth and Manawatu clubs.
Springfield are full of talent, with three players representing the Bay of Plenty championship-winning inter-provincial side.
The team comprises New Zealand representative Jae An, last year's Aaron Baddeley world junior champion, Bay of Plenty No 1 Mark Smith, the talented Terry Hong, who returned from playing in Korea recently, and 14-year-old Danny Lee.
Auckland have an impressive experienced line-up -1997 New Zealand amateur champion Chris Johns, 1996 champion David Somervaille, former international Michael Barltrop and talented junior Ben Wallace.
Royal Wellington also have a combination of experience and youth in the form of New Zealand senior champion Martin Webber, 2004 champion and 1974 New Zealand amateur winner Rodney Barltrop, Dave Render and Brenden Stuart.
New Plymouth, who won on home turf in 2002, will be led by in-form Troy Ropiha, who this week earned elevation to the Titleist Academy squad.
The side also includes top junior Matthew Blackbourn, Ropiha's father Topia and the experienced Logan Heyes.
Manawatu include national junior representative Kris Smith, Ewan Westergaard and Micah Bremner.
The 17 regional winners to contest the final: Invercargill, St Clair (Otago), Gleniti (Aorangi), Russley (Canterbury), Greymouth, Marlborough, Nelson, Royal Wellington, Manawatu, Hawkes Bay, New Plymouth, Poverty Bay, Springfield (Bay of Plenty), Horsham Downs (Waikato), Auckland, Muriwai (North Harbour), Mangawhai (Northland).
Golf: Rotorua favourites for title
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.