Golf: Teeing up international hopes

National team spots will be on the line when New Zealand's top women test their talents at Gulf Harbour this weekend.

At stake are places in the teams for the biennial Tasman Cup on May 7-8 and the Queen Sirikit Cup, the Asia-Pacific teams event, on May 14-16.

The Tasman Cup team of seven members and one non-travelling reserve will compete at Royal Adelaide Golf Club. The Queen Sirikit Cup will take place at Woo Jung Hills Country Club, in South Korea with a three-member team and one non-travelling reserve.

A variety of criteria will be used by national selectors, Cherry Kingham and Sue Bunt, both of Auckland. Simply finishing top of the field by Sunday is not the only yardstick.

"There are a number of areas taken into consideration," Women's Golf New Zealand high performance manager Kent Tristam said.

"Current form, where they are in the ranking list, stroke averages all come into it."

The ranking list, which takes into account performances at a selection of tournaments, has Taupo's experienced Tina Howard well clear on 240 points. Then follow Auckland's teenage Enu Chung on 172, Hee Jeong-Chun of Wellington on 121, Naomi Wallace of Russley in Christchurch on 114, Kyla Welsh from Hutt Valley on 88 and Springfield's Penny Newbrook on 62.

The trials will be contested over four rounds of matchplay.

The Tasman Cup, along with the Commonwealth tournament at Remuera in November, are both matchplay events, and this weekend offers a rare opportunity for the selectors to play particular players against one another.

However, when matches finish before the 18th hole, players will be required to play on and complete the round to produce stableford scores.

The trialists include two players with Queen Sirikit Cup experience, Howard and Chun. Howard was a member of the team that won the cup at Paraparaumu Beach in 1999, her team-mates being Renee Fowler and Lisa Aldridge. Chun lined up in 2000.

New Zealand finished fifth at last year's Queen Sirikit Cup in Malaysia.

The teams for both the Tasman and Queen Sirikit cups will be announced during the week after the New Zealand amateur strokeplay championship at Shandon in Wellington from March 14-16.

This weekend's national trial precedes the first high performance camp of the year. The camp, over Monday and Tuesday, will focus on aspects of sports psychology, athlete education and, on the course, the short game.

The trialists are: Chun, Sarah Nicholson (Hutt), Welsh, Newbrook (Springfield), Amy Smith (Masterton), Wallace, Tammy Clelland (Taupo), Natasha Krishna (Auckland), Chung, Stacey Tate (Huapai), Howard and Olivia Hartley (Pungarehu).