Golf: Cho and Ko bolster golf chances against Oz

New Zealand will be calling on their two newest golf acquisitions to boost their chances of a maiden win over Australia in the Trans-Tasman Trophy starting in Wellington today.

Aucklanders Cecilia Cho and Lydia Ko will make their New Zealand debuts in the two-day international that features 16 players from each nation competing in junior and senior grades for males and females.

Australia have won the three previous contests in a competition that merged the previous four events for the Sloan Morpeth Trophy (senior men), Tasman Cup (senior women), Clare Higson Trophy (junior men) and Junior Tasman Trophy (junior women).

New Zealand won three of the four individual trophies in the inaugural year but were pipped 24 to 23 in the overall count in 2007, with Australia dominating a weather-shortened event at the Royal Wellington Golf Club in 2008 and again at Canberra last year.

Former South Koreans Cho, 15 (Pakuranga), and Ko, 12 (Gulf Harbour), who both recently gained New Zealand citizenship, have been dominant figures in the amateur game in the past 18 months.

Cho, the current New Zealand amateur champion, had outstanding success in her first overseas competition last week, winning the Australian strokeplay and finishing runner-up in the Australia Amateur in Perth.

Ko, runner-up to Cho in the national amateur, was the leading amateur at the recent New Zealand Open, finishing seventh overall.

The pair will make their debuts in the New Zealand junior team.

"We wanted all of our best players competing in the Trans-Tasman Trophy and this was the best way to accommodate that," said NZ Golf high performance director Simon Poll.

"We have not been successful in the junior girls' competition in the last three years ... so we are hoping that the inclusion of Cecilia and Lydia will bolster that considerably."

The senior women's team is led by national strokeplay champion Zoe Brake (Whakatane) and Caroline Bon (Northland), who both qualified for the matchplay at the Australian Amateur.

The Australians are led by Stacey Keating, who beat Cho in the Australian Amateur final.

The New Zealand men's team is led by Ben Campbell, runner-up in the Australian Amateur last week, with Ryan Fox (Auckland) and Andrew Stewart (Tauranga) who also qualified for the matchplay phase.

- NZPA