Golf: Lu celebrates by playing for cash

WELLINGTON -- Taiwan's Hsiao-Chun "Julie" Lu ended her amateur golfing career on a high note by winning the New Zealand amateur women's strokeplay championship at Paraparaumu Beach yesterday.

Lu, aged 23, who will turn professional immediately, turned in an immaculate even-par final round 73 to take the title by three strokes from compatriot Huei-Chun Hung.

The third member of the Taiwan party, Yun-Jye Wei, shared third place with Australia's Rebecca Stevenson a further three shots back.

Only Lu, 288, and Hung, 291, finished the four rounds under the par of 292. The best New Zealanders were Anita Boon (Muriwai) and Renee Fowler (Springfield), who shared sixth place on 296 after final rounds of 77 and 74 respectively.

Starting the day with a two-stroke lead over Hung and Stevenson, Lu lost her advantage by the turn when she shared first place at three under with Hung, two ahead of Stevenson in third spot.

There is a defining moment in every golf tournament and it arrived at the par-four 10th hole where Hung almost drove the green. Her pitch shot hit the pin but the ball bounced away rather than dropping in.

Had that shot gone in Hung would have had a two-stroke lead. Instead, Hung found herself two shots behind at the next hole where she had a bogey to Lu's birdie.

Bogeys to Hung and Stevenson at the 12th hole left Lu three strokes clear and she never looked like relinquishing that advantage. Such was Lu's composure and routine that she took as much care over a 30cm par putt on the final hole as she had with any shot in the round.

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The New Zealand men dropped out of contention in the Friendship Cup four-nation tournament at the Terrey Hills course in Sydney after losing 6-3 to Australia yesterday.

Following their opening 5-4 loss to Canada in the amateur matchplay event, the New Zealanders found themselves 2-1 down after the morning's four-ball play, Eddie Burgess and Reon Sayer beating Aaron Baddeley and Brett Rumford 5 and 3.
In singles play, Eddie Burgess had another win, 3 and 2 over Rumford while Steve Gordon beat Baddeley 3 and 1. Chris Johns, Richard Best, Carl Brooking and Sayer all failed to take their rivals to the final hole.

After two rounds, Australia and defending champions Japan have 11/2 points, with Canada one point after losing 51/2 to 31/2 to Japan yesterday.