Golf: International match-up

Today's final of the New Zealand women's amateur championships at Mt Maunganui will be an international affair between Australia's Nikki Garrett and Shelley McKevitt of England.

Garrett started strongly and then held off Otago's Kyla Welsh to win their semifinal 2 and 1 yesterday.

McKevitt, the British strokeplay champion, overwhelmed South African Lee-Ann Pace 5 and 4 in the other semifinal.

McKevitt made no race of it, being 3 up after three holes, and the match was effectively over when she went through 10 holes 6 up.

Garrett was 3 up when Welsh double-bogeyed the sixth after pulling her approach shot wide.

Welsh fought back to be 1 down after 10 holes before dropping the 11th to a Garrett birdie and the 12th to a bogey.

Welsh again pulled one hole back before she ran out of real estate.

Garrett, 19, is a former New South Wales junior champion and played for Australia against New Zealand in junior and senior Tasman Cup matches in the past year.

Earlier, Welsh scored an outstanding 2 and 1 win over Australian No 1 Sarah Kemp in the quarter-finals.

She was 2 down after six holes, but then won three of the next four holes to be 1 up leaving the 10th.

Welsh won the 11th and 12th to move to 3 up, before dropping the 13th and winning the 14th to regain her advantage.

Aucklander Enu Chung, 15, was eliminated in the quarter-finals, losing 1 down to McKevitt.

Down by two leaving the 15th, Chung birdied the 17th to ensure the match went to the last hole, which McKevitt parred to book her passage into the last four.

- NZPA