Golf: Six make shortlist for world champs

Candidates for this year's world teams golf championships are down to a shortlist of six, drawn up by the New Zealand selectors.

New Zealand will send a three-man team to the Eisenhower Trophy in Malaysia in October.

The six players identified as Eisenhower candidates are Eddie Lee, Glyn Delany, Ben Gallie, Sam Hunt, Brad Shilton and Tim Wilkinson.

All these players, except Lee, were named yesterday to compete in the Australian amateur championship in Brisbane from March 16 to 23.

Lee, who has been furthering his golfing education with appearances alongside the professionals on the Australasian PGA Tour, has been excused from Brisbane so he can play in the $1.2 million Clearwater Classic in Christchurch from March 14 to 17.

The other five will be joined in Brisbane by Mathew Holten and Bradley Iles, who have also been selected to represent New Zealand in the Riversdale Cup in Australia from March 8 to 11.

NZ Golf Association operations manager Phil Aickin yesterday described Holten and Iles as being just outside the framework for the Eisenhower team.

But they had been chosen to compete in the Riversdale Cup to allow the top Eisenhower contenders to play in the SBS Invitational national teams strokeplay championship in Invercargill on March 9-10.

As the countdown to the world championships continues, officials have identified five tournaments they will use for selection purposes.

The team are due to be named in late May, before which the selectors will show particular interest in how players perform in the South Island amateur in Nelson on February 23-24, the Invitational, the Australian amateur, the North Island amateur in Palmerston North on March 30-31 and the New Zealand amateur in Auckland from April 14 to 21.

A team of six were named yesterday for the Australian junior under-18 championship in Adelaide from March 29 to 31. Hunt was not considered as the selectors wanted him to compete in the North Island amateur.

The six are Mark Boe, James Gill and Mark Purser from the Waikato, Joshua Geary of the Bay of Plenty and Manawatu-Wanganui pair Andrew Henare and Riki Kauika.

- NZPA