Wellington Players feature in Amateurs Home and Away

Story provided courtesy of NZ Golf.

New Zealand Golf has six amateur golfers gearing up for an exciting month ahead starting with the prestigious Riversdale Cup which is played at the Riversdale Golf Club in Melbourne this week.

Northland’s Luke Brown and Tasman’s Ryan Chisnall will be in the men’s field while over in the women’s field and aiming to defend her title is Auckland golfer, Munchin Keh. After a dominant display in 2015, Keh took out the title winning by an impressive six strokes over none other than younger sister, Wenyung Keh. M.Keh is joined in the women’s field by Alanna Campbell (Bay of Plenty), Chantelle Cassidy (Waikato) and Momoka Kobori (Canterbury).

The Men's Riversdale Cup is an Australian Men's Ranking and World Amateur Golf Ranking Event. It is the second oldest golf championship played in Australia, starting back in 1896.

The Women's Riversdale Cup is an Australian Women's Ranking Event and also forms part of the Karrie Webb Series. It is for players of any age, and is played over 72-holes stroke play.

Following this we head to Portugal where Waikato’s Luke Toomey will compete in the Bonallack Trophy hosted by Vidago Golf Course from March 16-18. Played every two years the event consists of two teams of 12 players representing Asia-Pacific and Europe. The Trophy is formatted along the lines of the Ryder Cup over three days of play.

A new addition to the golfing calendar is the inaugural Patsy Hankins Trophy which is played alongside the Banallock Trophy at the Vidago Golf Course in Portugal . This obviously holds a spot close to the hearts of many golfers in New Zealand and is a great tribute to the late Patsy Hankins for all she did for golf in this country and globally. Hankins played a huge part in the growth of many young talents including Lydia Ko who was unable to control her emotions at the recent ISPS Handa New Zealand Women’s Open when remembering Patsy awarding her with her first of her three New Zealand Women’s Open titles.

Experienced New Zealand team manager and close friend of Hankins, Libby Steele, will be taking the lead role as she manages the first Women’s Asia Pacific Team.

The Patsy Hankins Trophy will be played in the same format as the Bonallack Trophy where Julianne Alvarez and Wenyung Keh will be looking to build on their match play experience. These two talents have been based in America and are in their first year of playing College golf at the University of Washington for the ‘Huskies’. Given the amount of competitive match play golf they are exposed to at College, this will hold them in good stead for next week.

Finally, to the country’s golfing hub of Queenstown where Daniel Hillier is competing in the BMW ISPS Handa New Zealand Open.

Hillier earnt the right to be here after becoming the New Zealand Amateur Champion back in April 2015 with a superb win at Titirangi Golf Club. Hillier has a fantastic support crew joining him this week as friends and family from the Wellington and his home course, Manor Park have travelled to watch a great moment in his early yet exciting career.

For the above players, these events are invaluable and provide an important step in all their development, coupled with crucial international experience against world class fields and all earning important WAGR points.

We wish these players all the best over the next month and look forward to following their progress.

Riversdale Cup: http://www.riversdalegolf.com.au/cms/

Bonallack Trophy: http://www.golf.org.au/eventdisplay/bonallack-trophy/9982

Patsy Hankins Trophy: http://www.ega-golf.ch/content/patsy-hankins-trophy