Australia retained the Junior Tasman Trophy for women's under-19 competition after holding off a brave New Zealand charge at a rainswept Hutt Golf Club at the weekend.
After maintaining their overnight two-game advantage with the morning foursomes shared, Australia dug deep with some moments of brilliance from Polly Travica and national junior champion Sarah-Jane Kenyon to ensure the trophy returned across the Tasman. Their 14-10 win was the 11th time Australia have won the trophy since its inception in 1983.
New Zealand had entered this year's contest confident of victory after their tied encounter in Tasmania last year. The home side had a sniff of an unlikely victory late on Saturday afternoon after the final round of singles was delayed an hour when heavy rain made the greens unplayable.
They needed a minimum of three wins and a half in the final four singles to snatch a historic victory. Masterton's Any Smith, 17, maintained an unbeaten international debut with a 7 and 5 win over Mi Sun Cho. and national under-21 champion Penny Newbrook, of Rotorua, grabbed her third win in four games with an assured 3 and 2 victory over Sarah Kemp.
Both New Zealand No 1 Kyla Welsh and Enu Chung, 14, had their chances before losing to Kenyon and Travica respectively 2 and 1, and 3 and 1.
- NZPA
Golf: Australia keep junior women's trophy
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