Calibre of rivals tells as NZ finishes 34th in Eisenhower Trophy
THERE was to be no fairytale echo of 1992 for the New Zealand team at the Eisenhower Trophy yesterday.
The Kiwi men finished strongly but had to settle for a share of 34th at the annual world amateur teams championship in France.
Like every team that has come since, it had hopes of replicating the heroic efforts of Michael Campbell, Grant Moorhead, Stephen Scahill and Phil Tataurangi, the generational talents who won the trophy for New Zealand in Vancouver 30 years ago.
But the class of the field proved too much.
Sam Jones (Manaia), James Hydes (Gulf Harbour) and Kazuma Kobori (Rangiora) at least had the satisfaction of moving up three places on the leaderboard at Le Golf National yesterday. The New Zealanders shot a combined team score of evenpar in the final round. Kobori and Jones recorded the counting scores of 1under 70 and 1over 72 respectively, while Hydes shot a 3over 74. Jones led the Kiwis out off the 10th and got the team off to the perfect start with a birdie. He added another at 14 but made backtoback bogeys at 15 and 16 and would eventually turn in even.
Again, he hit a tough couple of holes to begin his back nine, making consecutive bogeys at one and two to fall to a couple over. He got a shot back with a birdie at six before another bogey at eight.
Jones capped off his Eisenhower tournament with a closing birdie to finish 10over for the week with rounds of 71, 80, 73 and 72 to share 113th place.
Kobori produced a clean scorecard to finish his tournament. He got off a quick start, making a birdie on 11 to get into red figures early. He bogeyed the 17th to turn in even.
The Cantabrian made eight pars in a row on his back nine but finished in style, making a birdie on the ninth. He finished with rounds of 73, 72, 76 and 70 to finish 5over in equal 76th.
Hydes had a colourful scorecard in his final round. He got off to a rough start, making a bogey at 12 then consecutive doubles at 14 and 15, followed by another bogey at 17, to turn in 6over.
He regained his composure and came home with a barrage of birdies, picking up shots on the first, fifth, sixth and ninth holes.
Hydes finished with rounds of 76, 70, 77 and 74 to tie for 119th at 11over.
Italy won the 32nd Eisenhower Trophy at 31underpar. Overnight leader Sweden was a shot behind in second, and the United States was third.
AUCKLAND: Lydia Ko has edged her way up the leaderboard at the Dana Open in Sylvania, Ohio.
The Kiwi produced a brilliant third round of 7under par and will go into the final day three shots behind leader Lucy Li.
Ko’s surge began with an eagle on a par4 hole at the Highland Meadows club.
‘‘I had a careless bogey on the 11th, my second hole of the day,’’ Ko, who is ranked fourth in the world, said.
‘‘They moved the tee forward a little bit on the 12th . . . and I was just like . . . I’m going to hit driver off the tee.
‘‘I only had a gap wedge in. It was kind of in the shadows; you can’t see the pin as well at that time of the day. I couldn’t see the ball go in.
‘‘After that I set up two birdie opportunities and I was able to feed off that.’’
Ko is in a tie for fourth place at 11under, with Lexi Thompson and Caroline Masson also ahead of her at 13under. She is eyeing her 24th career win and second of the 2022 season.
Defending champion Nasa Hataoka and fellow top 10 players Thompson and Brooke Henderson are among those within striking distance.
American Li (19) is chasing her first big win. The former child golfing prodigy has had a couple of victories on the LPGA’s development tour this year.
Li was 2over through seven holes and quickly fading from the picture when she responded with five birdies over the next 10 holes to regain the lead and set up a final round filled with possibilities.
‘‘I was probably a little nervous,’’ Li said.
‘‘It wasn’t anything crazy, but haven’t felt nervous in a long time.’’
‘‘Actually making those bogeys might have helped a little, just getting that out of the way and knowing that I could just freewheel it out there a little.’’
Li was at 14under, and the final group offers a pair of prodigies.
Thompson was 12 when she first qualified for the US Open at Pine Needles. Seven years later, Li broke her record when she qualified for the 2014 Open at Pinehurst No 2.
‘‘It’ll be great,’’ Thompson said. ‘‘I played with her a little bit — not so much out here. But I think everybody knows how amazing of a player she is. Just speaks wonders to the amount of work that she’s put into her game, just the amount of talent she has.’’
This week already has felt like a bonus for the California teen. Li secured her LPGA Tour card for next year with two wins and a runnerup finish on the Epson Tour, which offers LPGA cards to its leading 10 players.
Li received a sponsor’s invitation in Canada last week and tied for ninth in the CP Open, which got her into the field in Ohio. Now she has a chance to win and join the LPGA Tour for its final two months of the season.
But it will require navigating through a traffic jam of key players, a list that includes four major champions.
For Thompson, the No 7 player in the world, it’s another chance to end more than three years without winning.
‘‘It has not worked out the way I want it to in a few events, but that’s golf,’’ Thompson said.
‘‘I think you never lose; you’re always learning. There is always something to build on and learn from those days.
‘‘It’s golf. I mean, it’s a crazy game. It can be with you one day and not the next.’’