Maturity shows in McCall's U19 win

OPINION: It was great to hear that Vaughan McCall took out the North Island under-19 championship by a good seven shots, writes Anthony Barkley in this week's Golf Pro.

This is a reflection of genuine talent, the hard work he has put in and golf maturity. In the same event last year he led but couldn't hang on to win.

I firmly believe that any good player must first lose before they learn to win. And I believe that McCall has grown as a player since last year and I look forward to seeing his results for the rest of this year.

Before the event, McCall was ranked third in New Zealand in the under-19 age group, according to Robyn Boniface from Golf Southland. He must surely now be close to obtaining a New Zealand representative spot or at least a squad position. He certainly deserves it after a good win last year in the South Island under-19s, some very good performances in the Charles Tour events and this latest win. I will wait in anticipation.

Southland gets to see McCall and the rest of Southland's best amateurs play in the upcoming Southland Strokeplay this weekend.

This is Southland's top strokeplay men's event so we want to get a full field and it's close to it. This year many Otago players are coming, as well as a couple of Bay Of Plenty team members getting some sneaky practice before the SBS Invitational. A few have taken the opportunity to play 36 holes in the masters but not as many as I thought would have.

On another note, as a member of the NZPGA I am sent weekly newsletters about the latest New Zealand tournaments, international results and information on New Zealand professionals around the world. We can offer you the same by joining the NZPGA website as a "friend of the PGA". You can win great prizes by joining. If you are a golf buff, then it's a great chance to catch up with what our players are doing.

You can even keep track of Southland's newest PGA member, David Klein, as he learns his trade on the New Zealand Tour, as well as the likes of McCall as he plays the Charles Tour events.

To join go to www.pga.org.nz.

There was no New Zealand winner at the open this year but it was a great tournament again overall.

Will it stay, will it go?

» 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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