KEY POINTS:
Red tape could prevent New Zealand Golf fielding their best player at the Eisenhower Trophy, the World Amateur Teams Championship in Adelaide, in October.
Danny Lee, 17, who last year took out the rare double of the New Zealand Amateur Championship and the Bledisloe Cup for leading amateur at the New Zealand Open, is not yet a New Zealand citizen and can't play at the Eisenhower until he is.
Korean-born Lee, who's lived with his family in this country since he was 12 and has learned his golf here, has New Zealand residency and is able to represent the country in matches against Australia and in events such as the Asia Pacific championships.
But the Eisenhower Trophy, where more than 70 countries compete, is organised and sanctioned by the International Golf Federation, the golf body affiliated to the International Olympic Committee, and all competitors must hold a passport of the country they represent.
It is understood New Zealand Golf are making intensive representations at the highest levels of government and the Department of Immigration to speed up the process of Lee's citizenship but time is running out. The team has to be submitted to Eisenhower Trophy organisers by August 31.
To have a New Zealand team at the Eisenhower Trophy without Lee is almost unimaginable. The brilliant Rotorua teenager is now the fifth-ranked amateur in the world, according to prestigious Golfweek magazine, and the highest ranked non-American.
In late January, he raced away with the Lake Macquarie International in New South Wales, beating many of the best from Australia, Asia and Europe.
Lee won't be able to defend his New Zealand Amateur title at Paraparaumu Beach in late April because he'll be playing for the Asia Pacific team in the Bonallack Trophy in Spain during April 25-27.
But he's rushing back to play for New Zealand in the Transtasman Cup matches against Australia at Heretaunga on the first two days of May. He's desperate to play for his adopted country in the Eisenhower Trophy but, for now, can only wait to see if officialdom will work in his favour in time.
