Golf: Women keen to arrest decline

The New Zealand women's golf team left yesterday for the world championship in Germany with a simple mission statement: to arrest this country's gradual decline as an international amateur golf force.

New Zealand's stocks have slumped alarmingly over the past decade since they finished second in the Espirito Santo world event in Christchurch in 1990.

Subsequent editions of the biennial tournament clearly chart the country's descent into the ranks of the also-rans.

After coming a commendable third in 1992, there was a sharp dip to eighth in 1994, 14th in 1996 and 17th equal two years ago in Chile.

The last performance was disappointing in the extreme and Women's Golf NZ was spared an inquisition only when New Zealand managed a dismal 21st placing at the corresponding men's tournament at the same venue.

One of those charged with resurrecting the country's reputation is Debbie Smith, of Motueka, who will make her comeback in national colours after a 13-year absence when she tees off on the par-72 5626m Sporting Club of Berlin course on August 23.

Smith's recall at the age of 37 to share the workload with Rotorua's Brenda Ormsby, 42, and Taupo's US-based Tina Howard, 22, raises questions about the calibre of players being produced by the Academy programme shared by Women's Golf and the NZ Golf Association.

Any concerns in this quarter, however, have to be placed in context with a steady stream of talented players accepting college scholarships in the United States.

Among those unavailable for the Berlin tournament due to college commitments alone are Julia and Miriam Kraschinski, Pam Sowden, Olivia Hartley and Aimee Cho.

Smith and Ormsby first emerged in a distant era. Today, young players of promise are quickly identified and fast-tracked on to development programmes where specialist assistance with equipment, nutrition, fitness and coaching is readily available.

"I strongly believe that the old system ... probably did the players the world of good," Smith said as she prepares for her second world championship after helping New Zealand share eighth place in Hong Kong in 1984.

"Brenda and I came from the old school where you ground it out for a few years before you even thought about getting any recognition. I think that probably makes you tougher.

"We [the team] are very strong mentally, and determined," she said.

"Tina is probably the toughest of us all, in her own quiet little way. She has far greater expectations of herself because she plays regularly at college level in the US."

For Ormsby, returned to full fitness after two knee operations, Berlin represents her sixth world championship, while it marks the Espirito Santo debut for Howard, who has wide international experience and is in the top 20 on the US college rankings.

- NZPA