THOSE pesky New Zealanders won the Senior Men’s Amateur Trans Tasman golf championship for the first time this year and here’s hoping the new 12 man Australian team just announced will turn the tables in 2010.

The 2010 Trans Tasman Sanctuary Cove Trophy will be played at the Clearwater Resort, Christchurch, New Zealand on February 15 – 16.

The annual event consists of foursomes, fourball and singles match play in a format similar to the Ryder and President’s Cups.

Australia rightfully won the first two Trans Tasman events in 2007 and 2008 until a disaster in May this year.

The Kiwis trounced the Aussies over two days at the Sanctuary Cove Golf Club.

The Kiwis won the singles matches 9-3 and including the Fourball and Foursome events the overall result was 16 to 8.

The strong Australian team hoping to restore order to the universe next year will be:

Stefan Albinski NSW   Bill Banks ACT
John Beaumont SA     Chris Coats QLD
Greg Corben NSW      Denis Dale NSW
Tony Gover ACT        Grahame MacDonald QLD
Ross Percy VIC          Ian Read QLD
Brian Sams NSW        Chris Tatt VIC
Phillip Billings (Non playing Captain)

The first of two selection trials for the New Zealand team has been completed and six  members of their team determined.

Murray Martin        Frank Borren     Ian Donaldson
Ron Olivecrona     Arthur Parkin     Rodney Barltrop

Rodney Barltrop further dented Australian pride this year by winning the Australian Senior Amateur Championship title on Bribie Island.

It really is time for the rightful order to be restored.

The 2010 Australian Veteran Golfers National Championship will be played in the beautiful Port Macquarie Hastings region on the Mid North Coast of NSW.

The event will be held from November 7 to 12 at three courses organisers boast the CSIRO says are in an area with the best climatic conditions in Australia.

The tree courses, Port Macquarie Golf Club, Camden Haven Golf Club and Wauchope Country Club, are located within a region that is a tourist Mecca offering pristine beaches, a lush hinterland, vast national parks and many local attractions.

The national championship, conducted under the auspices of the Australian Veteran Golfers Union, rotates state by state each year and has been growing in popularity annually.

The tournament in Cairns in 2009 was a big success and with the large veteran golfer community in NSW already strongly established, the Port Macquarie event is highly likely to be a sell out – and likely to do so quite quickly.

The tournament includes a 54 Hole Stroke Championship in three grades for men and a 54 hole stableford event for women in two divisions.

There are also single competitions conducted as part of the events and a Medley fourball stableford on the Monday.

The week begins with registration and a welcome function on the Sunday and concludes with the final rounds and a Presentation and Farewell Dinner at the Westport Club on the Friday evening.

Organisers say highlights of the 2010 Championships include

• Lady golfers and their playing male golfing partners will always play on the same course at the same time
• To maximise limited hire cart and buggy availability there will be morning and afternoon shotgun starts
• The three courses are only 30 minutes apart by road
• The program for ladies includes a 54 hole event
• Catering facilities will be available on each course during and after play
• Welcome and Presentation Function at the Westport Club are close to the Port Macquarie CBD and in easy reach of the majority of accommodation places
• There are a wide range of accommodation types and venues available

Entry Forms will be available on the NSWVGA website or you can email Tournament Director Neil Beecroft on neilb2008(at)live.com.au

POPULAR Australian golfer Peter Lonard has given his hopes of retaining his US PGA Tour playing rights a boost by shooting a “course record” nine under par 63 in the final round of the Turning Stone Resort Championship.

Lonard has been struggling to find form all year and the final round performance lifted him from 49th overnight to 12th.

That handed him his biggest cheque of the year - $150,000 – and lifted him on the money list from 186 to 166.

The 42 year old needs to finish in the top 150 after the next four events to retain partial playing rights on the US Tour and in the top 125 to be fully exempt.

Throughout the week Lonard’s long game statistics had been outstanding and the fourth round was no exception as he hit all but one of the 14 fairways.

When the putting came together on the Sunday the unofficial “course record” 63 was the result. (Because the course was played under lift clean and place rules the record will not stand).

Lonard started with eight birdies on his first 12 holes and following an enforced week off because of the President’s Cup will return full of confidence for the Justin Timberlake tournament in Las Vegas next week.

AUSTRALIAN senior pro golfers Mike Harwood and David Merriman have received late invitations to the 70th US Senior PGA Championship being played at the Canterbury Golf Club in Cleveland Ohio this week.

They will join fellow Australians Greg Norman and 1990 US PGA champion Wayne Grady in a field including defending champion, American Jay Haas.

The championship, for golfers aged 50 and over, features 25 major champions, 13 Ryder Cup captains and 10 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

According to Peter Stone in the Sun Herald, Harwood and Merriman were on there way home for a three week break from the European Seniors Tour when they checked their mobile phones during a brief stopover in Hong Kong.

They discovered text messages informing them of the invitations.

According to Stone the PGA of America has no set criteria for its invitations, and neither Harwood nor Merriman knows why they were invited.

Stone says in Harwood’s case, it is possible he made the list because he is in his first year as a senior and did win the British PGA title in 1990.

Merriman, a former Sydney cub pro who did not become a touring professional until he joined the seniors in 2007, flew out yesterday for the US.

“I’m just so excited,” Merriman is reported as saying about playing his first tournament in the US. “It’s awesome, I’m absolutely over the moon. It’s dream come true.

“I’m told each player gets a Mercedes for the week and that we’re treated like kings. I would never have believed it.”

Harwood currently leads the Australian PGA Legends Tour Order of Merit.

WAYNE GRADY will be a hot favourite when he heads a star studded line up competing in the inaugural South Australian PGA Seniors Championship at Adelaide Shores next week.

Grady is  in top form after winning in Japan last week but will face stiff opposition in the Australian PGA Legends Tour event from the likes of Rodger Davis, Bob Shearer, Brian Jones, Mike Ferguson and Randall Vines.
Tournament promoter, PGA Professional Peter Ormsby, secured the participation of Grady, a past US PGA Champion, for the $20,000 event. All proceeds will go to the Victorian Bushfire Fund.
The Adelaide Shores revamped Golf Complex should be in perfect condition for this 36 hole championship, to be held next Thursday and Friday, 30th April – 1st May.

The PGA Championship will be the only PGA title event played in South Australia this year, and will be preceded this weekend with the Onesteel Whyalla PGA Legends $20,000 Pro am.
Jacob’s Creek, long time golf supporter in Australia, will host their $10,000 Legends Pro am at Tanunda on Tuesday 28th and the final event is the Scarpantoni PGA Legends Pro Am at the magnificently groomed Victor Harbor Golf Course on Sunday 3rd May.
SA’s golfing supporters are more than welcome at all courses to watch the competitors on the PGA Legends Tour compete for the win.
With over 40 Professionals and many of SA’s leading businesses supporting these events, Ormsby is expecting to raise in excess of $35,000 for the Bendigo Bank Community Enterprise Fund, which in turn distributes the funds to Charities. For further information contact the hosting Golf Clubs.
Key dates
Onesteel Whyalla PGA Legends - $20,000 purse – 25-26 April
Jacob’s Creek Tanunda Pro-Am - $10,000 purse – 28 April
Bendigo Bank South Australian PGA Seniors Championship
Adelaide Shores - $20,000 purse - 30th April – 1st May
Scarpantoni Victor Harbor Legends Pro-Am - $10,000 purse – 3 May

GEOFF OGILVY has started the 2009 golfing year in fine style for himself and the nation with a comfortable six-shot win at the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship in Maui.
It was Ogilvy’s fifth PGA Tour title and moves him from 11th to sixth in the world.

The wire-to-wire victory finished with a topsy-turvy five-under 68 on the final day to finish on 24-under-par, half a dozen strokes clear of Americans Anthony Kim (67) and Davis Love III (67) at 18-under.
Sean O’Hair had the day’s best round, a blistering eight-under 65 seeing him leap from a tie for 11th into outright fourth place at 17-under.
Justin Leonard (70) was fifth one stroke further back, while South African Ernie Els (67) and Americans Zach Johnson (67), Kenny Perry (70) and DJ Trahan (71) finished at 15-under.
Johnson Wagner rounded out the top 10 following a closing 69.
Adam Scott (70) failed to make any in-roads as he had to settle for a share of 18th place at nine-under.
Ogilvy, who started the day with a six-shot buffer, made a horror start with bogeys in the first two holes.
He recovered with birdies on holes five and six before again giving up shots at the following two holes to see his lead whittled to just one.
But a glorious eagle and five birdies over the next six holes saw Ogilvy, the 2006 US Open champion, extend his advantage once again before sealing victory at the $5.6 million ($A8 million) event with a par on the 18th.
Ogilvy is the third Australian to win the tournament after Steve Elkington (1992, 1995) and Stuart Appleby (2004-2006).
Ogilvy was relieved to get his game back on track after his rough start on a rain-softened track at Kapalua.
“I enjoyed the last two-and-a-half hours more than I enjoyed the first two hours today. It was obviously a very rough start,” he said.
“I had never had a six-shot lead before. That’s quite an uncomfortable feeling really.”
“It was tricky on the front nine and I wasn’t playing horribly. I just had a couple of loose shots and a couple of putts that I thought were pretty decent and didn’t go in, which is the sort of thing that happens when you’re leading, I guess.”
The Australian regained his composure when he reached the green in two at the 521-yard, par-five ninth and made eagle to enter the back nine with a more comfortable three-stroke lead.
“I had the two best shots of the week down the ninth hole, made my best putt and probably my best back nine of the week. So it was definitely a round of two halves,” Ogilvy said.
“A pretty poor first eight holes, and great last 10 holes, and I really enjoyed it. Once I got through nine, I really enjoyed every hole on the back nine.”
“All of a sudden I felt a lot better about everything, and played really well the last nine holes.”

Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam was showered with the sponsors product (beer) after winning the Michelob Ultra Championship in Virginia by seven shots.
Australian Katherine Hull, who started the day tied for 21st, produced an amazing Albatross when she hit a 3-wood 229 yards on the par 5 seventh. Her career best 64 lifted her to sixth place.
Karrie Webb was 38th, Sarah Kemp and Lindsey Wright 57th