Lee playing for quake-hit Kaikoura at World Cup

Rotorua's Danny Lee and teammate Ryan Fox will donate $500 for every team birdie made at the World Cup of Golf in support of Kaikoura. Photo/ Photosport.

Rotorua's Danny Lee and Kiwi teammate Ryan Fox have made a bold statement in support of Kaikoura at the World Cup of Golf after the devastation of the recent earthquakes.

Lee and Fox will donate $500 for every team birdie made at the World Cup of Golf starting today. In this form of the game birdies are a regular occurrence with players entering the team event with an aggressive mindset.

The four rounds include best ball and alternate shot, which can produce very low scores and the two could be expected to make plenty of birdies which will go a long way towards the fundraising efforts.

It is the second time Lee and Fox have represented their country together after playing at the Rio Olympics in August and they are being viewed as dark horses at a tournament they have never won.

World No 62 Danny Lee made a huge debut on the world stage when he won the 2009 Johnnie Walker Classic as an amateur.

Since then Lee's career has gone from strength-to-strength highlighted by a win on the PGA Tour in 2015 which led to him representing the International team at the Presidents Cup and New Zealand at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Unfortunately, Lee missed the cut two starts back on the PGA Tour, before being forced to withdraw with a migraine during the third round of his last tournament on November 13.

World No 158 Fox arrived at Kingston Heath Golf Club on the back of a strong fourth at the Australian Open last week, two shots back from the eventual champion, American Jordan Spieth.

Meanwhile, defending champions Australia are without Jason Day, but Adam Scott is back with World No 53 Marc Leishman for company.

Spieth will not feature for the US, with Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker instead representing their country.

England, Ireland and Japan are all expected to be contenders, with both players in those pairings inside the top 100 in the world.

New Zealand have been runner-up twice at the tournament: Michael Campbell and David Smail in Japan in 2001, and Bob Charles and Walter Godfrey in Mexico in 1967.

The recent earthquakes and adverse weather conditions have hit the Canterbury, Tasman and Wellington regions hard.

The New Zealand golfing community is running a donation drive through a Givealittle page which has made a remarkable start, already raising $10,000 in just 48 hours. The money raised is from everyone involved in golf and will be directly donated to the Red Cross Relief Fund.

New Zealand Golf will be offering the chance to claim double passes to both the men's and women's Open next year to give back to the generous donors.

Visit NEW ZEALAND GOLFERS GIVEALITTLE PAGE to help all those affected in the recent earthquake.

World Cup of Golf

When and where: Kingston Heath Golf Club, Melbourne, and Sky Sport 4, 2pm today.