New Zealand's two leading amateur golfers, Danny Lee and James Gill, have been selected for the Asia-Pacific team to contest the biennial Michael Bonallack Trophy against Europe beginning on Anzac Day.
The pair will have the rare treat of not only playing in a prestigious international event butalso on one of the world's high-profile courses, the Valderrama in Spain - currently the home of the European Tour's season-ending championship.
Lee and Gill are part of the 12-strong Asia-Pacific team headed by Wellington's Roger Brennand, who was the team captain for the last Michael Bonallack Trophy held in Auckland two years ago.
Lee, now ranked ninth on the world amateur rankings, and Gill, currently studying at St Andrews University in Scotland, will be part the Asia Pacific team with players from Australia, Chinese-Taipei, Thailand, Philippines, Japan and Korea.
The team includes the 2006 Australian champion Tim Stewart and his Australian compatriot Rohan Blizzard, currently ranked sixth in the world. The national champions of Chinese Taipei, Shin-Chang Chan and Korea, Yeong-Su Kim have also been selected.
They will meet a strong European lineup that includes the current European champion Benjamin Hebert (France), the runner-up Joel Sjoholm (Sweden) and the British amateur champion Daniel Willett, ranked second in the world.
The event takes place at the famed Valderrama course from April 25-27.
The Asia Pacific team is: James Gill, Danny Lee (New Zealand), Rohan Blizzard, Tim Stewart (Australia), Shih-Chang Chan, Ming-Chuan Chen (Chinese Taipei), Barut Chomchalam (Thailand), Yuki Ito, Naoyuki Tamura (Japan), Bi-O Kim, Yeong-Su Kim (Korea), Anthony Ferando (Philippines). Captain: Roger Brennand (New Zealand).
Europe: Bjorn Akesson, Joel Sjoholm (Sweden), Wallace Booth, Callum Macaulay (Scotland), Sean Einhaus (Germany), Nigel Edwards (Wales), Benjamin Hebert, Alexandre Kaleka (France), Shane Lowry (Ireland), Pedro Oriol (Spain), Chris Wood, Daniel Willett (England). Captain: Gonzaga Escauriaza (Spain).
