Ko to head NZ's Espirto Santo campaign

NZ Newswire July 11, 2012, 3:32 pm

Lydia Ko, the world's top amateur golfer, will headline New Zealand's attempt to win the Espirito Santo Trophy women's world team championship in Turkey in September.

Ko (Gulf Harbour) will be joined by Mun Chin Keh (Titirangi) and Emily Perry (Lochiel) for the tournament at the Gloria club in Antalya.

The selection of the 15-year-old Ko was a virtual foregone conclusion given her precocious achievements, which include being the leading amateur at the US Open last week.

In January, when still only 14, she became the youngest winner of a professional event, either male of female, when she claimed the NSW Open title.

New Zealand Golf chief executive Dean Murphy says there was plenty of competition for the two other spots.

Perry, 21, became the first woman to win three successive Charles Tour events last year and defeated Ko in a playoff in Hastings in March to take out the New Zealand strokeplay title.

Keh, 19, has five victories in domestic competition this season, including claiming the New Zealand amateur crown by beating younger sister Wen Yung Keh in the final at Mt Maunganui in April.

The Espirito Santo Trophy, a strokeplay event in which a team's two best scores count, is held every two years and New Zealand finished runners-up in 1982 and 1990.

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