Xu leads way as NZ edges into top 20

NEW Zealand finished strongly to sneak into the top 20 at the world amateur teams championship in Paris yesterday.

Fiona Xu (Titirangi), Vivian Lu (Royal Auckland & Grange) and Eunseo Choi (Takapuna) combined for a team score of 1under to move into a share of 20th after starting the day in 24th.

Xu kept her perfect record intact, contributing to the team score every day.

She fired a 2under 70 at SaintNomLaBreteche while Lu came home with her best round of the tournament, a 1over 73.

The Kiwis finished 14overpar, 27 shots behind Sweden and the US, which shared first place at 13under. Sweden won the Espirito Santo Trophy as it had the better noncounting score on the final day.

For New Zealand, Choi had a noncounting score of 78 in her final round.

Xu led the way for the Kiwis every day, shooting 73, 72, 72 and 70 to finish 1over around Le Golf National and SaintNomLaBreteche.

She began her final round off the 10th and made a bogey at 13 but made consecutive birdies to close out her opening nine in 1under.

She added another couple of birdies at three and six to get to 3underpar but bogeyed her penultimate hole to sign for 70.

The 17yearold moved 12 spots up the individual leaderboard on the final day to finish in a tie for 16th.

‘‘I finally shot under par, and I played the best all week today,’’ Xu said.

‘‘My approach shots were a lot better today and I gave myself a lot more birdie chances. I’m really happy to finish like that.’’

Meanwhile, Lu saved her best till last and moved up 18 places on the individual leaderboard to finish in equal 64th.

She made three bogeys and a birdie in her opening nine, turning in a couple over. The 18yearold made a couple of birdies early in her closing nine to get back to even for the day but closed with a bogey to shoot 1over.

The Kiwis had some extra support on the final day following the arrival in France of the men’s Eisenhower Trophy team, which starts its campaign next week.