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Australia is tapping in to the local knowledge of precocious golfer Stephanie Na in a bid to capture the women’s world amateur teams championship.
The biennial championships begin tomorrow at Adelaide’s Grange golf course, where 19-year-old Na has been a member for the past decade.
The South Australian will be teamed with compatriots Julia Boland and Claire Choi as Australia seeks to win the coveted Espirito Santo Trophy for a third time since the event’s inception in 1958.
Some 53 other countries will participate in the pinnacle of the women’s amateur teams calendar.
Each nation has two or three golfers play four rounds on consecutive days, with the total of the two lowest scorers being the team’s daily score.
The 72-round total from the lowest scorers constitutes the team’s overall score for the championship.
Na’s teammates and Australian coach Ian Triggs have been pressing the Adelaidean for knowledge about the testing course layout.
“It’s hard to put a value on it,” Na said today.
“The course is a little different to how I’m used to it … I just know places not to miss and things like that.
Coach Triggs has implored Na, Choi and Boland to embrace the home country advantage, which he said came with some distractions.
“There is a lot of excitement, we are getting a lot of people coming up and talking to us and that is something that doesn’t happen when we go to other World Cups,” he said today.
“It’s great to have that but it can be very distracting so we are working very hard on keeping everybody on a level keel.
“The main thing for them is to enjoy the experience and play the moment, play the shot that is in front of them.
“If they do that, they’ll be very competitive.”
Australia last won the trophy in 1978, with South Africa the defending champions.