Off the tee: Princes of swing

Anyone watching the New Zealand Open at The Grange this week and wondering about the potential strength of the game in this country should drive across town to Maungakiekie next week.

The Mt Roskill club will play host to 144 young men contesting the North Island Under-19 championship.

The contestants range in age from 12 to 19 and the cutoff for the championship contenders was a handicap of nine. Thirteen of the field are on scratch or better.

The remarkable 15-year-old from Rotorua, Jae An, has entered after qualifying to play in the New Zealand Open for the third time in a row.

Last year's champion was Riki Kauika of Wanganui, who will not be playing this year. But An, Joonsang Chung (Redwood Park) and Bernard Smith (Wanganui), who finished second equal at Ohakune last year, will be trying to go one better.

There are players from throughout the North Island and several from the South, including Thomas Campbell from Dunedin, who broke the course record in his final round at Ohakune. Among the smaller clubs represented are Tapora on the Kaipara and Te Puia Springs on the East Coast.

The full field will play 18 holes on Tuesday and Wednesday and the leading players will complete the 54 holes on Thursday.

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Clarke Osborne is playing in his second New Zealand Open this week and it has a special significance for him. Barely two weeks ago he survived the tough Australasian PGA tour school to earn his card as a playing professional and this is his first event in the paid ranks.

It could hardly have come at a better venue. The 23-year-old was a member for three years at The Grange before moving across to the Auckland Golf Club at Middlemore.

Two years ago he won the prized Stewart Gold Cup at The Grange, shooting a 65 in one round of the 72-hole event.

Osborne devoted last year to his professional ambitions, forgoing representative golf to play strokeplay tournaments. He qualified 35th at the tour school, one of very few amateurs to make the grade.

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Whatever happens in the New Zealand Open this week, Sam Hunt will be flying to Las Vegas on Monday.

The young Rotorua golfer is on holiday after completing the first three months of what could be a four-year scholarship at the University of Las Vegas. He qualified for the Holden-sponsored Open with a 67 at Manukau.

He had combined his Christmas break at home from Nevada with plenty of golf, including representing Bay of Plenty in the under-23 championships at Taupo.

Hunt, who won the national strokeplay championship at Mount Maunganui in 2001 as a 16-year-old, is enjoying the American college environment, which is giving him plenty of time for golf.

For the first three months he has worked out from 5.30am to 7.30am, been in school from 8.30am to 11.30am and had the rest of the day for his sport.

The authorities have gone easy on the schoolwork as he adjusts from the rather different environment of Rotorua Boys High, but he expects the workload to increase when he gets back next week.

He describes his tournament results so far as "nothing special", with placings in the 30-40 range in the three events. The winning scores have been 10 under.

Las Vegas is quite an experience for the young Kiwi. He has encountered temperatures in the 40s, yet it snowed recently. He admits to visiting the casinos - but only for the cinemas which they house.