Southland able to match it at invitational

OPINION: The SBS Invitational is over and done with for another year and once again the Southland team showed they can match it with some of the better teams in New Zealand. Fifth placing is quite respectable out of 15 teams involved, writes Anthony Barkley in this week's Golf Pro.

I mentioned that we needed one player to lead the way and we did – someone who possibly hadn't been expected to do that.

Jeremy Hall played solidly throughout the tournament, shooting par or better each round. His rounds of 70, 69, 72, 70 were outstanding and came close to the leading individual score.

Hall probably peaked the best for this tournament, as he began working on his game months out, played in buildup tournaments and practised on the course almost every day.

Liam Balneaves and Cody Harper probably didn't play to their expected standards but were still solid. They both have so much potential but perhaps they both put too much pressure on themselves during the weekend. Home course advantage can be tough, but I am sure these guys will fire in the years to come and take out the Invitational.

The grizzle of the weekend from many was the inability to hole putts. I think by the end of the tournament this had affected many, even though the final total was equal lowest in the history of the event.

Playing the course a week out, I couldn't believe the difference double cutting could do as the greens were great but generally in the afternoon players struggled. Speed was an issue for the visitors, as they were running at about 9 on the stimpmeter, whereas many of the top tournaments run closer to 12.

Unfortunately, the two Matts didn't really fire for the tournament, but it's only one event and both deserved places in the team. I wonder if Matt Tautari was really in the game at the weekend, as he looked out of sorts.

What will happen with this tournament? I've had a few interesting opinions on last week's article about changing the format. At the end of the day it's only my opinion and there are a ton of aspects to consider.

Last week's tournament was well run and the teams do enjoy coming down this way, especially when we shock them with great weather.

All I know is that the Taranaki Open has been run for several years as a Charles Tour Event and it's very successful for the club and district.

» 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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