KEY POINTS:
For years we have viewed the Eisenhower Trophy as the pinnacle for our amateur golfers. It's the World Amateur Team Championship and many players might regard it as the highlight of their career.
The Eisenhower has always had a special place in New Zealand golf history. Our team
very nearly won the inaugural title at St Andrews 50 years ago. Bob Charles, who was by some distance that four-man team's best player, shot 81 on a tough final day around the Old Course to be the third counting score.
He had, he remembers, 40 putts that day. If he had taken even 36 putts, New Zealand would have overcome the three-shot deficit they conceded to the first champions, Australia.
Then 32 years later came the famous win of Phil Tataurangi, Michael Campbell, Stephen Scahill and Grant Moorhead in Vancouver, one of our special sporting moments.
But right from that very first Eisenhower, the quality of some play was highly questionable. In 1958, the US, Australia, Great Britain and Ireland and New Zealand were in a class of their own.
The Kiwi quartet, which eventually finished a very close fourth, was nearly 20 shots ahead of fifth-placed Argentina. The bottom-placed of the 29 teams that year was Iceland and, of the 16 rounds by their four players, only two were less than 85.
At the most recent tournament in South Africa, the number of countries had expanded to 70. That included Mauritius, who had only a two-man team and one of them failed to break 100 in any round.
This coming week at Royal Adelaide and The Grange, there'll be 72 three-man teams on the tee. As at the Olympic Games, most are there to make up the numbers and to indulge in the mission statement of the International Golf Federation - "friendship and sportsmanship through golf."
All of which is wonderful for the growth of the game around the globe and in which respect the tournament has been hugely successful. But the Eisenhower can hardly be recognised as a truly significant international amateur event when more than half the field will be uncompetitive.
Using the scratch players' world rankings, now recognised as the most credible system of grading amateurs, only 12 of the top 20 will be in Adelaide this week. At least 22 of the top 50 will be missing because they're from countries like the US, Australia and England who have numerous strong players.
New Zealand's team is spearheaded by the world's top amateur Danny Lee and, because of him, this country's team will again be among the favourites.
But the other two - James Gill and Jared Pender - are now both well outside the world's top 100. Gill though has had some injury issues lately, while Pender's overseas experience is limited.
Once we looked to the Eisenhower (and Espirito Santo trophy for women) as the most important tournaments for our amateur players. Not any more.
If the desired outcome of an elite amateur career is to prepare a player for success as a professional, then there are far more significant events. For instance, the US and Western Amateurs, both of which Lee won in August, have fields which are way stronger and deeper, and tell a player just how good he is really is - or isn't.
There are numerous tournaments worldwide with far more depth and, for the players, more prestige than the World Amateur Teams Championships.
That is not to say that this week's happenings in Adelaide are not important.
For the continuing development of the game, and the relationships fostered there, the Eisenhower is a big deal. But we should keep its significance in perspective.
