Teenage golfer steps up for Bay of Plenty

Palm trees swaying in the breeze as the sun sinks over Muri beach will be a distant memory for Rotorua schoolboy and Cook Islander William Howard this weekend when he tees it up for Bay of Plenty in the prestigious SBS Invitational tournament in Invercargill.

The five-strong Bay team flew south with manager Aaron Walsh yesterday, likely to cop the full brunt of a chilly southerly during the two-day tournament, which features 72 holes of strokeplay, with the best 4 of 5 rounds counting.

Howard is part of a new-look team assembled by the Bay selectors.

Three of the team - Peter Lee (Springfield), Howard (Rotorua) and David Feeney (Tauranga) - are schoolboys, with Victor Janin (Rotorua) just out of school and now working, and Hayden Beard (Mount Maunganui) at Waikato University.

Howard, 17, is part of the Rotorua Boys’ High golf academy and has already experienced debut nerves after playing for his province last year at the Garrard Shield quadrangular.

“It’s not your usual Bay team heading away this weekend, that’s for sure,” Howard said.

“We go down as underdogs and a bunch of no names, and I doubt anyone’s expecting much from us. But we’ve got a team that can play.

“The Bay team’s picked itself for the last couple of years so it’s up to us guys getting a chance to show what we can do.”

Howard was Rarotonga’s senior club champion at just 11, which is where Rotorua Boys’ High principal Chris Grinter spotted him.

His parents, Ned and Rita, looked at Lindisfarne College in the Hawke’s Bay and New Plymouth Boys’ High before sending their son to Rotorua as a 12-year-old.

He’s now a scratch handicapper with unbridled length off the tee - at Omanu during the recent championship pennants he knocked his drive through the green on the 320m par-four 1st hole, and twice drove the 340m 18th at Mount Maunganui during the Grant Clements Memorial.

With length and obvious strength, Howard has focused this week on sharpening his short game with coach Dominic Sainsbury.

“We’ve also been looking at a few mental skills, like focusing then switching off between shots,” the Rotorua Boys’ High prefect said.

Howard’s had a few tough decisions to make over the summer - he’s also an outstanding rugby player and a mainstay of the Rotorua Boys’ High first XV for several years at fullback.

He toured with the school team to Argentina last season but, encouraged by his father, hung up his boots this year to make schoolwork and golf his priority.

“I was missing out on opportunities in golf because I was tired from playing rugby and dad reminded me that golf’s why I came over here in the first place.

“I mainly played rugby for fun and time with my mates but my parents wanted me to concentrate on one sport, so rugby’s gone and golf is it.”

Getting home to the Cooks is on the backburner this year too, with Howard keen to line up in as many of the big amateur golf tournaments as he can during the school holidays.