Golf: 1-2 finish for Cho and Ko in Australia

New Zealand's teenaged tag team of Cecilia Cho and Lydia Ko have scored a double knockout at the Riversdale Cup international women's amateur golf tournament in Melbourne.

Cho, 16 and the reigning Australian strokeplay champion, today became the first New Zealand female to win the individual title while fellow Aucklander Ko, 13, was second and together they won the teams event by an overwhelming 25 strokes.

Cho, ranked second in the newly released amateur women's world rankings, began today's final round five shots clear of second placed Ko, ranked third in the world.

It was a buffer she defended well although Ko, fourth at last month's New Zealand Women's Open professional tournament in Christchurch, did close to within three shots on the back nine before Cho gave herself some breathing space by birdieing the 16th hole and repeating that at the 17th.

Cho closed with a round of three-under-par 70 to end the 72-hole tournament at 11-under 281, while Ko signed off with a 69 to finish at 285.

Cho said she was delighted with her win, set up when she broke the course record, previously held by fellow New Zealander Sarah Nicholson, with her eight-under 65 in the second round.

"The greens were fast and quite a lot of slope on then. But I played really well on that day and made six birdies in a row. I made five in a row once at Whitford Park but this is the best," Cho said.

"I felt quite tired at the start of the week after the New Zealand Open but I got nine hours sleep most nights which was great.

"It's been a good week though and good for Lydia, too. Now we are looking forward to the Queen Sirikit Cup in India."

The Asia Pacific teams event starts at New Delhi on March 9.

The Riversdale Cup is one of Australia's oldest amateur tournaments and this year featured players from Belgium, China, Mexico and New Zealand as well as acting as an official national trial for the Australian players.

Leading individual scores (NZ unless stated):-

281 - Cecilia Cho 73 65 73 70

285 - Lydia Ko 73 68 75 69

287 - Su-Hyun Oh (Australia) 72 72 73 70

291 - Lee Park (Australia) 74 69 75 73

Also

308 - Emily Perry 77 72 83 76

316 - Chantelle Cassidy 83 76 76 81

Teams

566 - New Zealand (Cho, Ko)

591 - Western Australia

610 - Victoria

- NZPA