Confident Kiwi Trio Daring to Dream Big

Paris, France: Lydia Ko has sent her support to the New Zealand Espirito Santo Trophy team as they look to make history at this week’s World Amateur Team Championship (WATC).

Fiona Xu, Vivian Lu and Eunseo Choi are looking to become the first New Zealand team to hoist the Espirito Santo Trophy in the event’s history.

New Zealand has come close twice, finishing runners-up in 1982 and again when New Zealand hosted at Russley Golf Club in 1990.

The team heads into this week at Le Golf National and Golf Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche full of confidence after their second-place finish at the Queen Sirikit Cup in Singapore in May.

In a video message to the team, Ko, who represented New Zealand in 2012 at Gloria Golf Club in Antalya, Turkey, when she set the individual 72-hole scoring record of 274, said:  “Good luck in the Espirito Santo. It was always a huge honour for me to represent New Zealand, especially at what is probably the biggest international amateur championship. Have fun – that’s the most important thing – and do the Kiwis proud.”

The New Zealand team in France will be led by in-form Xu, who has had a year to remember. She won the Australian Women’s Amateur Championship in April and had runner-up finishes at the Riversdale Cup and Rene Erichsen Salver in March.

More recently, she reached the quarter-finals in the US Junior Amateur and qualified for the match play segment at the US Women’s Amateur.

Xu, who aspires to play on the LPGA Tour, says her selection in the team is validating. She said: “Getting selected in the team made me feel accomplished and satisfied with the hard work I’ve devoted towards my training. I plan to play the best I can but still have fun and enjoy the experience. I want to be able to learn a new thing or two about myself when playing.”

Lu is also looking forward to wearing the fern in the biggest event of her young career.

Lu has had a stellar past couple of years playing domestically, winning back-to-back New Zealand Stroke Play titles. She also dreams of playing on the LPGA Tour and winning Majors but wants to put New Zealand in the golfing limelight this week.

She said: “I felt really honoured to be selected. I have never been in such a prestigious event where all the best players in the world compete against each other.

“New Zealand is home, and to be representing our country on the world stage in the sport I love, is just a dream come true. I couldn’t be more grateful.

“We can definitely win. We under-estimated ourselves in Singapore [at the Queen Sirikit Cup], so this time I have confidence that we will do well and try to get the win.”

Choi, the third team member, has had a quick rise to the top of the women’s game in New Zealand. In the last two years, she has won six times domestically and finished runner-up to Lu at this year’s New Zealand Stroke Play.

Selection into the WATC side has Choi feeling more excited and motivated than ever.

“I feel proud to be able to represent New Zealand, not just as an individual but also as a team. We played well at the Queen Sirikit, so hopefully, we can go one better with the team,” she said.