KEY POINTS:
James Kupa is both a pragmatist and an optimist. The coach of the New Zealand Eisenhower Trophy team knows 19th equal in South Africa was a poor result. But, after mixing with the world's best amateur players, their coaches and managers, he doubts his team could have been
better prepared and is sure the systems to produce our best amateur players are in line with the way the rest of the world is working.
"We had an unfortunate draw on the first day when it really blew hard and then, after a really good second day, the boys just couldn't make any significant putts. They know they should have performed better."
Josh Geary, Mark Purser and James Gill went to South Africa with high expectations. Though the result was an improvement of only two places on 2004, the combined team score was four under par and 18 shots from the winners, compared to two over and 27 off the pace in Puerto Rico.
That's cold comfort. In 25 Eisenhower Trophy tournaments New Zealand have been in the top 10 on 20 occasions. They've been outside the top 15 only three times, all in the last eight years.
"We practised in calm conditions for three days. Then, in round one, the Cape Doctor came in and a par-five reachable in two needed three shots, an eight-iron par-three became a three-iron hole and it was only 149 metres long. I thought we did well to finish that first day just four over par."
"The teams that had the bad winds on day one like us, England, Scotland, Sweden and Australia all finished down the leaderboard. Yet the Netherlands, Canada and the USA all played on a flat calm first morning and finished up taking the top three positions."
It remains to be seen how this result will affect New Zealand Golf's attitude to future teams. Quality Eisenhower Trophy results, especially in the 1990s, meant there was always money, much of it from government agencies, to operate an academy system and send players overseas.
This poor result and a severe cutback in Sparc funding means that luxury no longer exists. Whether the current academy system can even continue next year is debatable.
Kupa is well aware of the issues but says the players will just have to work harder.
"I'm certain we've been doing everything right. Our guys swing it and hit it as well as anybody. I looked at what drills and practice games and food habits the other teams had and we were doing the same as them.
"I'm scratching my head and so are the players. We kept on asking if there was anything we could have done differently. Within our resources, I don't think so.
"All I can ask is that people are patient. The next Eisenhower is in Adelaide. We'll probably still have James Gill for that tournament and we have to take advantage of that venue being close during the next couple of years."
