National joy for Campbell

Masterton's Ben Campbell has been named as part of an experienced New Zealand team to contest the Eisenhower World Amateur Teams golf championship in Turkey in October.

Campbell, Vaughan McCall (Gore) and Mathew Perry (Hamilton) have won the hotly contested battle to represent their country at the Antalya and Cornelia Golf Clubs.

The team will be captained and managed by former Eisenhower representative Brent Paterson, who competed at the event in 1986 and 1990.

New Zealand Golf chief executive Dean Murphy said, after a tight race for the three positions, the selectors had chosen an experienced team with a proven international track record.

"The selection process for this team has been thorough and we expect these three players will combine well as a team and to be competitive," Murphy said. "Ben, Vaughan and Mat have been consistent performers as New Zealand reps over the past two years.

"Ben will travel to his second Eisenhower tournament after performing well in Argentina and it has been great to see him come back into some form in 2012.

"Vaughan has had a phenomenal year-and-a-half in the local scene and his win of both the New Zealand Stroke Play and New Zealand Amateur displayed his newfound maturity and confidence.

"Mathew is a former New Zealand Amateur champion and has a great record of performing well when he represents New Zealand on the world stage."

It is 20 years since New Zealand famously won the Eisenhower Trophy in Canada, when Phil Tataurangi, Michael Campbell, Stephen Scahill and Grant Moorhead won by seven shots ahead of favourites America.

In 2010, the men's team of Ben Campbell, Ryan Fox and Peter Spearman-Burn finished fourth in Argentina and Campbell finished as fourth individual.

The Eisenhower Trophy began in 1958, with the first event staged at the Old Course at St Andrews and recent tournaments have featured teams from up to 75 countries.

It is a stroke play event in which the best two individual scores in each team count towards the final score.

New Zealand team to contest the Eisenhower World Amateur Team's Championship:

Ben Campbell (Masterton)

Vaughan McCall (Gore)

Mathew Perry (Hamilton)

Non playing captain: Brent Paterson. APNZ