Golf: Confident Cho set to defend matchplay title

Cecilia Cho knows as defending champ she is under the hammer. Photo / Christine Cornege

Aucklander Cecilia Cho will today try to defend the national amateur matchplay championship she won at Titirangi last year.

The last player to win the title in successive years was Australian Loraine Lambert, who won in 1991 and 1992.

The men's champion, Australian Matt Jager, will also be at Hastings chasing consecutive titles when he plays Mt Maunganui teenager Brad Kendall, who won the strokeplay title on Saturday. The last man to win consecutive titles was Aucklander Terry Pulman in 1976 and 1977.

The 15-year-old Cho, from the Pakuranga Club, will play 18-year-old Chihiro Ikeda, a Filipina with a Japanese father.

Cho was always in control of her semifinal against Wellington youngster Julianne Alvarez, winning 4 and 3.

But there was to be no repeat of last year's final against 12-year-old Lydia Ko as the North Harbour youngster lost on the final green to Ikeda, who won gold for the Philippines at the South-East Asian Games in Laos last December.

The match, which was close all the way, was sealed when Ikeda holed an 8m putt across the 18th green for a birdie.

"I'm kind of confident," said Cho, "but being defending champion gives me extra pressure.

"I didn't play too good this morning. My putts didn't drop and hopefully they'll be back again tomorrow."

The men's semifinals were both close affairs. Jager holed a long putt to take a one-shot lead into the 18th hole against the dark horse of the field, 24-year-old Cantabrian Shaun Jones. On the last Jager negotiated a path between some tall gum trees to secure the half for victory one up.

Kendall, whose father Owen won the matchplay title in 1987, was playing "good mate" Gary John Hill and by his own admission found it hard to retain the form that has seen him unbeaten for the week.

He got ahead early in the round and finally clinched the win 2 and 1 with a good putt on the 17th.

Jones provided the upset of the quarter-finals by beating New Zealand representative Grant Fox 3 and 1, thanks to some great recovery play, a chip-in, some vital putts and a measure of good luck. A member of the Canterbury team that finished second in the inter-provincials, he had only previously played one national championship, four years ago at Coringa.