KEY POINTS:
Some of the least remembered, yet most meritorious, New Zealand golf results of last year were the three team wins over Australia in the Trans Tasman Cup.
New Zealand regained the men's Sloan Morpeth Trophy for the first time in 15 years, won the Claire Higson for junior
men for the first time since 2000 and retained the women's Tasman Cup, in the process posting consecutive wins in the event for the first time since World War II.
Sadly those successes were overshadowed by the overall result. Because they were so dominant in the girls' Junior Tasman Cup, Australia took out the competition by 24 matches to 23.
It's on again this week. The Trans Tasman Cup is being contested here for the first time, at Royal Wellington. Bringing what were four test matches together at the one venue is a natural progression following the mergers of the national golf organisations in both countries.
The advantages are obvious. The best players of both sexes are on show at the same time and the expense is consolidated.
After last year, and with the home advantage, there's every reason to expect New Zealand to do well again.
The Achilles heel of 2007, the girls' junior team, may be one of the better performers this time. Two of the previous four, Zoe-Beth Brake and Lisa Wright, remain. Women's national strokeplay champion Dana Kim and defending matchplay champion Larissa Eruera have been promoted to the senior team, joining Penny Smith and Caroline Bon.
The men's team will be so much stronger with Danny Lee coming back from Spain to play. The world's fifth-ranked amateur is currently playing for the Asia-Pacific team in Valderrama. He doesn't finish there until early tomorrow morning but such is his desire to play in the black shirt, he'll fly halfway around the world and get to Wellington less than 24 hours before the matches start.
Lee will be joined by talented Hawke's Bay youngster Nick Gillespie, Tauranga's burly Jared Pender and Cantabrian Daniel Pearce. Takaka's Sean Riordan, who played for the boys' team last year, is the official reserve. Team management will have him on serious standby this week in case airline delays or jetlag get the better of Lee.
On recent form, the New Zealand boys' team may be the weak link. While Wellington's Peter Spearman-Burn has gone well in the amateur strokeplay at Paraparaumu, and Rotorua's Landyn Edwards comfortably made the cut, the other two, Masterton's Ben Campbell and Akarana's Seve Ha tied for an embarrassing 104 of 144 starters. That's hardly the sort of form selectors want.
I hope there's decent public support for the matches around the sublimely beautiful Heretaunga layout. Delegates at Thursday's New Zealand Golf annual general meeting will be watching on the first afternoon after voting for new directors. This Herald on Sunday columnist is among those standing - if I survive, I'll report on it next week.