Tasmania golf team tees up title challenge

Lining up in an eight-strong Tasmanian team alongside Melbourne-based young gun Ryan Thomas, the pair will take to Tasmania Golf Club confident of matching it with competition heavyweights Victoria and New South Wales.

"We're always close and thereabouts but we don't seem to quite finish off, but hopefully this year we can finish it off and take the win," van Noord said.

"We've played at Tassie [Golf Club] plenty of times over the years and we've been doing a bit of practice over there the last few weeks.

"We've been playing the course and getting to know Tassie Golf Club as best we can."

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A wizard on the greens, 27-year-old van Noord has been a regular in the Tasmanian team in recent years.

"I've been playing for 15 years and I was introduced to it by my uncle and moved into here [Launceston] to play golf about 15 years ago," said van Noord, who his first David Dixon Memorial Trophy earlier this year.

"I've played [interstate teams titles] the last five years and Greg played in the past, then had a holiday and now he's back."

Driving is the strongest part of Longmore's game, which could come back to his Bradman-like junior training techniques.

"I grew up with a stick and a pinecone up in Mildura in Victoria, so that's how I began," Longmore said.

"It [golf] has its moments.

"It's always been in the family, I have a cousin who's a pro in Melbourne so it's always been there."

The series is played in round robin format and runs from Tuesday through to Friday.