Selection indicates depth of top order

OPINION: The 2009 interprovincial men's team has been announced, with the inclusion of Matt Whittington and the exclusion of Tyler McLean, writes Anthony Barkley in this week's Golf Pro.

It's fantastic that Southland has the pleasure of having so much depth near the top of the order that they can afford to drop a player such as Tyler.

I feel sorry for Tyler because I am sure he would have loved to have been at this year's interprovincial, but his latest scores in tournaments have not been as good as they could have been.

Mat Whittington was the opposite and basically played his way into the top five with a great performance at the South Island interprovincial last weekend.

At the South Island event the Southland team looked very strong and it was surprising that the team finished fourth but probably showed up the lack of depth down the order compared with the other teams that have young talent coming through. Jeremy Hall is a much stronger player than his No 8 position but must get things together if he wants to threaten that top five again.

But the focus is now on the upcoming interprovincial and, to me, the team looks strong on paper. The Manawatu (Hokowhitu) Golf Club course is demanding of the tee and should have hard fast greens if it's set up like anything in the past that I have played in there. This course has had some great golfers come out of it such as current PGA Tour cardholder Tim Wilkinson, as well as one of New Zealand's most successful pro golfers, Grant Waite. It's a course I have always enjoyed playing on and I am sure the Southland guys will as well.

My pick is that if they play smartly and are disciplined, they have every chance to make the semis. It's important they get some momentum going during the week and knocking over some of the big guys early will do that. I'm looking forward to seeing how they go.

The playing order is: Liam Balneaves, Matt Tautari, Cody Harper, Vaughn McCall and Matt Whittington.

I should not forget to mention that we have two other rep teams away, those being the Freyberg Masters team competing at Springfield Golf Club, Rotorua, and the women's masters team competing at Coringa Golf Club, Christchurch. I will feature these results next week.

» Anthony Barkley is a New Zealand PGA qualified golf coach based at the Invercargill Golf Club at Otatara.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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