New Zealand Sneak Inside Top 20 To Finish World Amateur Teams Championship

New Zealand has finished strong to sneak into the top 20 at the World Amateur Teams Championship (WATC) in Paris, France.

Fiona Xu (Titirangi), Vivian Lu (Royal Auckland & Grange), and Eunseo Choi (Takapuna) combined for a team score of one under to move into a share of 20th after starting the day in 24th.

Xu kept her perfect record intact, contributing to the team score every day. She fired a two under 70 at Saint-Nom-La-Brèteche while Lu came home with her best round of the tournament, a one over 73, to give New Zealand a team score of one-under.

The Kiwis finished 14 over par, 27 shots behind Sweden and the US, who shared first place at 13 under. Sweden won the Espírito Santo Trophy as they had the better non-counting score on the final day.

For New Zealand, Choi had a non-counting score of 78 in her final round.

Xu led the way for the Kiwi side every day, shooting 73, 72, 72, and 70 to finish one over around Le Golf National and Saint-Nom-La-Brèteche. She began her final round off the tenth and made a bogey at 13 but made consecutive birdies to close out her opening nine to turn in one under.

She added another couple of birdies at three and six to get to three under par but bogeyed her penultimate hole to sign for 70. The 17-year-old moved 12 spots up the individual leaderboard on the final day to finish in a tie for 16th.

Meanwhile, Lu saved her best till last and moved up 18 places on the individual leaderboard to finish in equal 64th.

She made three bogeys and a birdie in her opening nine, turning in a couple over. The 18-year-old made a couple of birdies early in her closing nine to get back to even for the day but closed with a bogey to shoot one-over.

Now that the last putts have dropped and the women’s 2022 WATC is finished, the New Zealand trio reflects positively on the week.

“I feel great. I finally shot under par, and I played the best all week today.

“I approach shots were a lot better today and I gave myself a lot more birdie chances. I’m really happy to finish like that,” says the 16th-placed Xu.

Her teammates Lu and Choi say it was a week full of learnings, testing themselves against the world’s best.

“I had some really good par saves again. My scrambling was really good today. It was challenging out there, but I tried to stay patient and out a score together as much as I could,” Lu says.

“I really enjoyed the nice courses we got to play here. They’re much longer than what we play at home, and the event was definitely a level up from what I’ve played in before,” Choi explains.

They had some extra support on the final day with the men’s Eisenhower Trophy team arriving in France for their WATC campaign which starts next week.

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