New Zealand Fight Hard During Opening Round Of World Amateur Teams Championship

New Zealand battled the French heat at Le Golf National during the opening round of the 2022 World Amateur Teams Championship (WATC) to sit in 28th position.

The trio sit on a team score of five over in their quest of being the first New Zealanders to hoist the Espirito Santo Trophy. Fiona Xu and Eunseo Choi recorded the two counting scores, shooting a two-over 73 and a three-over 74, respectively. They sit in equal 50th and 63rd, with Vivian Lu sitting in a share of 99th following her round of five-over 76.

The US lead a condensed leaderboard at five-under-par. Ten countries combined for an under-par total.

Vivian Lu got the Kiwis underway at Le Golf National last night. She played solid golf in her opening nine, with her only blemish being a double bogey on the fifth. The 18-year-old made eight other pars to make the turn in a couple over.

Fiona Xu followed closely in the groups behind and continued her run of solid form, making the turn in even after nine straight pars.

Eunseo Choi made three bogeys and a birdie in her opening nine, also turning in two-over.

Lu, who led the Kiwis out, came home with a birdie, two bogeys, and a double to shoot three-over in her closing nine.

With the course playing a whopping 6,317 yards and temperatures reaching 30 degrees, Xu battled hard in her inward nine, making three bogeys and a birdie to sign for the best round for the team.

Choi fought equally hard, making a bogey, a double, and two birdies, including one on her final hole of the day.

They said it was a challenging day on a long golf course.

“There aren’t a lot of trees out here and the rough is very thick, much thicker than what we play back home. The fairways are also very narrow, and there’s plenty of water surrounding the greens,” Xu explained.

“It was very challenging. It’s really warm over here, the temperature is around 30 degrees, so it’s very important to stay hydrated. The course is very long to walk, we’ve been given four hours and 40 minutes to get around, so it’s very physically challenging,” Lu said.

Choi stressed the importance of staying hydrated and keeping their energy levels up, especially given the conditions they face this week.

“It’s very easy to get tired out there, and by the time you start feeling tired, it’s probably too late.”

They all say the plan for tonight at Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche is simple; hit more fairways, hole more putts, and go low.

Vivian Lu begins at 11.01pm NZT, with Fiona Xu following at 11.12pm and Eunseo Choi at 11.23pm NZT tonight.

Team leaderboard: https://www.igfgolf.org/watc/watc-2022-france/espirito-santo-team-leaderboard

Individual leaderboard: https://www.igfgolf.org/watc/watc-2022-france/espirito-santo-individual-leaderboard

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