All Sport Breakfast LIVE at Women's Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship

Adam Cooper was on site for the All Sport Breakfast LIVE at Royal Wellington Golf Course ahead of round three of the Women's Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship.

Listen back to his interviews from the day, including players Darae Chung, Caitlin Maurice and Yujie Liu.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sixteen past seven here on the All Sport Breakfast on
at Wellington's News Talks. Abe. It's great to have your
company this morning live from the Royal Wellington Golf Club
as we build up to Round three of this very
special tournament, the Women's Amateur Asia Pacific Championships. And great
to have Glender Swan here, who you've certainly heard on
the show over the months and weeks leading up to
this event, but also as we've sort of watched the

(00:22):
elevation of women's golf grow here in the Wellington region. Glenda,
you're part of the Royal Wellington Club. You've actually been
in charge of organizing the volunteers for this amazing week
as well. How's it all been going two days.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
In Keyota, Adam, Oh great, We are so lucky, three
hundred and fifty three volunteers leading us through from Monday.
Actually we've had a few things on since then as
well as when the championship started two days ago, you know,
covering all sorts of roles from four caddies you know, spotters,
we've got people in the kitchen, we've got people doing

(00:55):
traffic management.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Of course we've got caddies. So yeah, very lucky.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
To have so many people who were interested in coming
out here and helping.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
What was the most sought after volunteer role do you think?

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Probably caddies, although of course people might say that they
are the most sowed after they managed to They've got
an extra twenty volunteers.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
People have come in from Australia. They've got two shifts.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
That they're running, you know, sort of a morning and
afternoon shift, and they are just they are is a
real buzz in their area.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Yeah great, because I mean we're so used to watching
these big golf tournament's on TV from miles away around
the globe, but it kind of has that sense of
you know, something pretty big here, doesn't it?

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Absolutely Like I probably haven't been involved at this level
with volunteers, with so many of them in an event
this burg Like I sort of, you know, naively, I
didn't realize you had to weather man actually on site
the whole week. I mean, that's a thing.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Adam, Great, How significant is this for Royal Wellington. There
was a men's tournament like this here host of the Amateurs,
back in twenty seventeen, but this week was where golfers
at Now, how BIG's has been to the club.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Oh amazing. I mean we've been working on it for
a long time. We've got, you know, a lot of
dedicated resource to it. There's a real honor and a
real privilege to be selected to host an event like this,
and I think, you know, televised across one hundred countries
and when you're looking at it, it just looks stunning.
And I mean that just goes to all the effort
that's gone into it, to the lead up, and then

(02:17):
also what's happening here during the event. And it's also
not just about our club, it's about golf general in
Wellington and New Zealand, and of course you know internationally.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
We know this course is always looking fantastic, but how
much extra sort of how much extra of the one
percents have been done to make it look amazing this week?
Like so much?

Speaker 2 (02:35):
And you know, just like I was talking to John
Sprague's our ahead of our course about ten days ago
and he said, no, still four hundred hours to go,
and I was thinking, it looks pretty good. I've never
seen it other so you know that one percent, you're right,
it's and it's worth it.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
I got here about six this morning and it was
still dark, but the greenskeepers and grounds staff were everywhere
around the course with their torches and the dark getting
it already as well. It was a huge operation that early.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, I was here around the same time and I
was and they've got head torches on.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
As you say, I mean, it's a real buzz.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
It's you know, and our volunteers are sort of bouncing
in and hopefully we haven't worn them out too much.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
And this is brilliant.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
One of our caddies yesterday said, this is the best
four days of my golf that I've ever had. He's
not young, he's sort of middle aged, so you have
to think he's had a few years of golf.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
What's the advice of the caddies for? You know, how
much involvement they have that obviously don't necessarily know the
players that well that they are carrying the bags for?
Are they involving them? And you know, advice to the
players more just carrying the bags. What's been the directive
to them?

Speaker 2 (03:35):
I mean, the normal advice to a caddy is turn up,
keep up, shut up. But what we've been trying to
do with is make sure that it's player lead. So
the caddies, are you know, chatting to the players? How
involved would you like me to be? Do you want
me to read parts? Do you want me just to
push the bag? Are you giving do you want me
to help with the linemen? Any of those sort of things.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
So it's all been player lead, which is part of
their development.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Right. We've talked a lot about the development growth of
women's golf here in Wellington. There's some amazing young players
coming through that have been going from that development phase
to you know, really top golfers around the country. Now,
how significant is this event to run in conjunction with
just the amazing space that women's golfers in here in Wellington?

Speaker 3 (04:16):
Oh so so privileged.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
You know, you sort of think about some of our
players that are on that development pathway, like Elise Barber
and you know, you know, she got an invite and
she's made the cut.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
I mean, what a result for her.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
You just sort of think, and that's you know, a
lot of pressure for a young person not as experienced
as some of the others, and you sort of think
she's made the cut.

Speaker 3 (04:38):
What an achievement.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Thirteen years old, I mean and putting I'm fair to
say a lot of pressure, as you say, on her
to be part of this weekend. Would have there been
some hesitations from some to sort of maybe not have
her in the lime light here this week or is
it important that she gets this opportunity.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
She got the opportunity in her own right from her
her own amateur ranking and all the work she's done. Yeah,
I'm sure she does feel a lot of pressure, and
there might be a bit more today as she gets
into day three, moving day. And you know, she'll probably
have a good local crowd coming to support. I'm sure
people from his school. Even if you're not a golfer,

(05:13):
you're coming out to support someone that. So we expect
probably big crowds this weekend to support her along with
the other New Zealanders.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yeah, Darray Toungu is well great to have her back
in Wellington. I mean, she must be so inspirational. She's
so happy to be here, you can tell, and her
story is amazing and that's got to be inspiring to
other young golfers to see what she's doing up in
the US.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
And you know, I've been a little bit sheltered in
my volunteer HQ ten Adam and I've forgotten there's a
golf event going on outside. But yesterday I got out
to watch two holes and it happened to be Dara
and coming down the eighteenth. She had a really good
day yesterday and obviously you know, played under and she
wasn't on the fairway on the eighteenth fair to say,

(05:54):
and we were a bit like, oh, what's going to
happen here? She hit this magic lob into the green
for a third shot about two feet away a birdie.
So she had a brilliant round and you're right, she
is very inspiring.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
How can the golfing scene here in Wellington, what you've
got going on here, capitalize on having this tournament here?
How can you make the most of it? I guess
going forward now.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
That might be above my pay grade, but you know,
like I think it's about golf in general, but actually
specifically it's about shaping the future of golf, for women's golf,
and I know here in Wellington there's a lot that
actually happens.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
With she loves golf and of those sort.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
Of events that we're actually trying to get people into golf,
you know, women families and those sort of things.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah, great, and just the Wellington women's team in general,
we've had some strong performances this year that season. Yeah,
you're happy with where that's going.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
Very and you know we've got Erica Tway back from
the US from her college golf, so she's here at
Royal as well and part of the Wellington you know teams,
so starting to add that experience along with Elease at thirteen.
So yeah, we're very, very privileged I think to have
those players here in coming back here and wanting to

(07:07):
get more involved.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
And what's your advice for people to coming along today?
Is there any particular part of the course that they
should check out that's been interesting or just just soak
it all up? In general, it's what do you reckon?

Speaker 2 (07:17):
I think soak it up. I mean there's a Royal
village here which we've got. You get an opportunity, there's
a to chip and part, there's a golf simulator, there's
food trucks, free entry, so bring your families and yeah,
I mean you've got eighteen gorgeous holes to walk around.
I don't think you can go wrong.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
I don't think so either. Hey were great to see Glenna.
Thanks so much for your time and congratulations on pulling
together three hundred volunteers for this week. It can't have
been easy at times, but it's worked out well.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
You're right, Adam. There were a few times where I
was moaning at friends and ended up with some volunteers
after me whining a bit, But I mean so yeah,
it's been a brilliant week.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
Brilliant Well, it's congratulations on pulling it all together. Thanks
so much for your time. Thanks Adam being to one
with us here who's pulled together all thevolunteers here at
Royal Wellington for these women's Amateur Asia Pacific Championships, and
they're all doing a fantastic job and really enjoying it too,
the ones that I've sort of come across over the
last few days. Great to be joined me now by
Tony Sharp, who's from Royal Wellington. Here to you introduce us,

(08:15):
to introduce yourself to our listeners of your role here
and I guess the role for the tournament as well.

Speaker 4 (08:19):
Yeah, I'm My role here at Wellington is a jector
of golf for this week. I was, I said volunteer,
but my boss is volunteered that I was going to
be the caddy master. So we have obviously eighty four
caddies for the eighty four players. Sixty nine of those
volunteers our members, and my kind of job is to
be a liaison for those caddies, making sure all the
players and caddies are happy throughout the weekend.

Speaker 5 (08:42):
Obviously on time and everything.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
So and everyone's been on time, they've particularly Yeah.

Speaker 5 (08:46):
It's been pretty good, pretty good. Yeah, they're pretty well behaved.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
A few changes here and there, but it's been pretty
pretty smooth sailing.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
It's probably nice break from getting frustrated with your own
golf over the weekend and being able to help someone
else or try to help it is.

Speaker 4 (08:56):
Yeah, it's definitely different to my usual role dealing with volunteers,
so we have our members on day to day basis,
but it is definitely a little bit outside of my scope.
But it's been a really really good fun experience my
first time doing it.

Speaker 5 (09:06):
So it's been really good.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
From a planning perspective, I guess, just give us the
significance of how big this has been on the calendar,
you know, in terms of what's been on your calendar,
how long it's been there, And I guess when all
the work.

Speaker 4 (09:16):
Started for this, Yeah, it's probably i think close to
eighteen months ago that we found out we were hosting.
It announced twelve months ago at the last event, and
the planning pretty much started eighteen months ago for everything
from looking for volunteers, checking all the roles that were required.
Obviously you spoke to Glenda before and she's obviously in
charge of all the volunteers. My love role was a
little bit little with the caddies. But it's been it's

(09:37):
been a lot of planning. We've got obviously all hands
on deck and yeah, it's been.

Speaker 5 (09:42):
It's been. It's been a long journey.

Speaker 4 (09:43):
It's nice to be here and I'm sure there'll be
a few size of relief on Sunday afternoon once it's
complete and the event's gone.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
Well, I'm sure it's probably some people's of the caddies,
it's their first time doing it right, So how have
you sort of made sure that they are ticking all
the boxes and doing the right things.

Speaker 4 (09:57):
Yeah, it's it's Caddying is definitely a different one and
a lot of our people haven't done it.

Speaker 5 (10:01):
We did, fortunate enough, have a lot of experienced caddies.

Speaker 4 (10:04):
We had been Ashford here who actually runs caddies and
all the volunteers. When he's didn't open at the start
of the week and I got to shadow him, he
gave us a lot of good rundowns on what caddy
should and shouldn't do. We've been pretty clear in our
briefings to the caddies. A lot of caddies actually come
back and see they've enjoyed it more than playing golf.
I think watching these girls hit the ball and how
phenomenal they are, I've actually realized maybe how they're not
as good as they thought they were, and they've enjoyed

(10:26):
helping them. But it is obviously each player is different
to what they want. So we're just really clear to
the caddies to speak to your player, find out what
they want from you, and obviously try and personalize the
experience to the player because it is about the player,
not the caddy as much as some of them wanted to,
maybe even more about them.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
What about because I guess there's different languages, different nationalities
as well, does that come into how you sort of
assign the caddies with golfers.

Speaker 4 (10:48):
Absolutely, yeah, So we along with the RNA, there was
some help with that. We did find out from our
caddies any languages spoke obviously handicaps experience and being a caddy,
we wanted to try and peer up some players if
they didn't speak any English, to players.

Speaker 5 (11:01):
That may be able to help them in other languages.
So there was that definitely taken into consideration.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
Great, yes, highlight of the week so far for you?
What will that have been?

Speaker 4 (11:10):
Well, the highlight would be if a keeper Gill makes
a big run over over today and tomorrow. But I
think just being involved and seeing how many people come
through the gate. I believe the the count was up
to about seventeen hundred through the gate yesterday on a
pretty average day. So obviously today looks like the day
it's going to be nicest over said Land Sunday, So
hopefully just a really good buzz down at the Royal
Village down here and yeah, get some people through the

(11:32):
gate and see some good scoring.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
It seems no matter where you are in New Zealand
this summer, there's just icy weather to contind with and
there's a bit of a shady forecast for tomorrow in particular.
How is for a big tournament like this, how does
sort of Royal Wellington prepare to make sure just you know,
you're maximizing all opportunities.

Speaker 4 (11:47):
Yeah, I think tomorrow, tomorrow's weather is looking pretty average.
There was a meeting yesterday, had to look at kind
of what's going to happen and what the weather forecast
is looking like. It's pretty strong southerly, you know. The players,
I think from what I've heard, a little bit newt
about it. Obviously Inton, we're pretty used to it. So
I guess preparing is We've just got to try and
I hope we can get through without your bear weather.

Speaker 5 (12:08):
You know, for us as.

Speaker 4 (12:08):
A golf club, we're trying to get people in the
gate around, try and create a buzz and try and
create a really big event. Obviously, try and encourage people
to still come down, you know, bring your brolly, come
and have a look. The girls can play some phenomenal
golf in this weather and it will still be an
amazing watch.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
So yeah, yeah, great. The state of golf here and
Wellington at the moment. You know, it's hard to hard
to get times on Tec anywhere really around the region
through this time of year. And from a Royal Wellington's perspective,
how are things going in light of I guess what
you've got the this weekend as well.

Speaker 4 (12:36):
Yeah, golf's obviously up in a lot of ways. We
obviously still push your membership. We're still open pre membership
if anyone out there's listening. But your golf play is
as miles up. I think we had forty nine thousand
rounds here last year in our financial year, and this
year we're a head of that number. So it's going
busy and busy, and hopefully events like this might inspire

(12:57):
especially some young girls to get out and give it
a go and maybe join some coaching programs, to get
into membership, try and play some golf and have a
bit of fun.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
So the likes of Darai Chung who obviously you know
at least Barbara I believe as well. Shandon was their
club and then they sort of morphed into Royal Wellington
as they sort of burst onto the scene. What's the
strategy around that from your club's perspective, around getting them
be part of this club as they go in too
bigger heights.

Speaker 4 (13:19):
Yeah, I think you'll find a lot of places around
Willington any of the top level golfers will kind of
come towards us. Eventually we have the facilities to help
with that elite practice. So we do see them coming
this way, and obviously we'll try and claim them.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
Absolutely.

Speaker 5 (13:35):
I'll play a lot of golf with Dari.

Speaker 4 (13:36):
She's an awesome girl and she've played some some fantastic
golf and I've seen at least play as well, and
it's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yeah. Great, you mentioned you still open for memberships. Do
you have a cap on memberships? Is there sort of
a top threshold as a club you'd sort of be
full with?

Speaker 5 (13:50):
There would be when we get towards that number.

Speaker 4 (13:53):
We're sitting at a kind of around fifteen sixteen hundred members,
but we do have some country members, junior members and
stuff like that, so we've definitely got space. There's still
some space for members on weekends and there's busy periods,
so yeah, there probably is a cat but I wouldn't
know what the exact number.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
Is because I guess some people around Wellington would think
all Royal Wellington. And if I'm flash enough to play there,
you know, will I be let through the gates? Well
sort of? You know, what what kind of people do
you want coming through?

Speaker 5 (14:18):
Everyone? In anyone there?

Speaker 4 (14:20):
We are probably a lot more friendlier club than some
people might perceive us, as we are in an open gate,
and you know, we have started to look into things
outside of golf. You know, we've got some pickaball courts,
we have a lot of We've got nine and wine
on a Sunday which has come down for some beginner woman,
have a bit of coaching, play some golf, have a wine.

Speaker 5 (14:40):
Very social, always got the swimming pool.

Speaker 4 (14:42):
So yeah, I think it's you know, it's an it's
an open gate a little bit more than some people
may see.

Speaker 5 (14:48):
So it's you know, everyone's welcome.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, it's great for everyone here is very friendly. What's
your task of the day. Do you get on the
course much or are you sort of out running the
show from backuproom cover room way.

Speaker 5 (14:56):
Yeah, I haven't seen one shot. Unfortunately.

Speaker 4 (14:59):
I'm here at volunteer HQ and at the Royal Village
posted down there. I'm hoping today if the weather's nice,
after all the caddies have got out there and might
pop out and see a little bit of golf, But unfortunately,
I do have my other work that I've got to
try and do. We've got a couple events next week
after we reopen, so there's a bit more doing than
just the event as well.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
So when are you hoping to reopen?

Speaker 4 (15:19):
We reopen on Tuesday, so Tuesday seventeenth. We're close on
Monday for pack down so they can get everything down
and then on Tuesday we reopen to our members of public.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
Great and I mean you've referred to it as we
fanso next to where we are here. That's looking great,
isn't it. There's been I'm sure it's been well frequented
the last few days.

Speaker 6 (15:33):
It was.

Speaker 5 (15:33):
Yeah, yesterday it was a real buzz.

Speaker 4 (15:34):
We had, obviously in New Zealand Golf down here doing
some junior girls chipping and games. We had the PGA
down here doing some stuff as well. We had some
SKLF simulators out there, which is great fun. I went
and tried the long drive and almost missed the screen.
It was fantastic and about four or five food trucks.
So if the sun gets out, hopefully we'll get a
bit of buzz down there.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
And yeah, brilliant, well Tony, great to catch up. Thanks
for coming over and having a yarn and all the
best for the rest of the weekend. And know it's
been a bit He won a lot of time and
if it's gone in so I hope, I hope the
next couple of days cap off what's been a great
time for Royal Wellington.

Speaker 5 (16:05):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
Thanks very much. That is our Tony Sharp from Royal
Wellington here helping look up to the caddies for the weekend,
and of course a whole bunch of other bits and
pieces here we will you have your company. We are
live at the Royal Wellington Golf Club this morning. Round
three of the Women's Amateur Asia Pacific Championships getting under way,
and this tournament is very significant in terms of the
TV coverage that beams all around that Asia Pacific region

(16:27):
and of course so many top golfers from not just
New Zealand but around the Asia Pacific area in that
amateur space who I'm looking to just make that next
step in their careers and they're certainly getting a fair
few eyes on them this weekend. Well great to have
with me now Liz McKinnon from New Zealand Golf to
talk about the significance of this Liz, thanks for your

(16:47):
time and with the growing space of women's golf here,
how big is this tournament having been able to host
it in New Zealand.

Speaker 6 (16:55):
Yeah, absolutely, Just speaking to a well earlier, it was
twenty seventeen when we us hosted a New Zealand Women's Open,
so obviously a good number of years ago. So this
has been the biggest women's golfing event we've held in
the country since then.

Speaker 3 (17:09):
So I think the.

Speaker 6 (17:10):
Set up, the way that you know, the village, the
way they've set up the course, the quality of it
and the quality of the field, it's outstanding.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
Wonderful from Golfing Zealands perspective. What are you hoping to
get out of the week here, Like, what's the way
you're hoping to capitalize all well?

Speaker 6 (17:29):
Having eleven players in the fields outstanding.

Speaker 7 (17:31):
Usually we have about.

Speaker 6 (17:32):
Five or six players each year, so to double that
and give more key with girls an opportunity to really
test theirselves, test their skirls against the best female players
AMITA players in the Asia Pacific region on a challenging
golf course. It's probably one of the longer golf courses
they would have played at an event like this. You know,

(17:54):
they're all aspiring to one day make it onto the LPGAs.
This is part of the journey that the learning the
ultimate sort of test. Of course, winning hair and the
opportunities that it provides can truly springboard your career. But
regardless of whether you know it is a successful week
for them or not, there's so many learnings for them
and it is around you know, how we support them

(18:17):
and take it forward to where they ultimately wanting to
go in the long term, which is LPGA.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
How much can we credit Lydia Coe's success for where
women's golfers in New Zealand right now? Do you think?

Speaker 6 (18:28):
Yeah, a lot. You know, she's inspired the growth of
the game. We've seen, you know, steady increases in the
number of junior girls playing the sport, which is awesome.
The girls that are here playing this week, the New
Zealand contingency.

Speaker 3 (18:45):
Adore her.

Speaker 6 (18:46):
A number of them have been really fortunate to be
part of the Lydia Co Scholarship that she runs each year,
which is having time with a few of our players
in a camp situation, whether that be in New Zealand or.

Speaker 3 (18:58):
Abroad and having a week with her.

Speaker 6 (19:00):
I mean, that's the ultimate to really see how she
goes about her business and how she trains from you know,
the gym to on the course to the practice facilities,
how she handles the media, et cetera. So I think
Vivian and Daray and so I've talked about how significant
she is as a role model. Darray was brave enough
to reach out to Lydia to go, Hey, you know,

(19:22):
I'm so stoked that I'm gonna be playing this event
on home soil in Wellington. You've played in front of
home crowds many times in New Zealand Woman's Open. How
have you handled that sort of expectation and perhaps that
sort of perceived pressure to perform? And she was really
stoked that Lidia was really quick to come back, you know,
delighted that she'd reached out and asked a question and

(19:43):
gave us some really valuable tips around you know, we
know famously we hear Lydia always saying on on you know, media,
take it one shot of time, focus on my process.
So it was that sort of stuff, but really valuable
reminders and the fact that she reached out so quickly
and happy to help testament to her character.

Speaker 8 (20:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
Great and great to see seven out of the eleven
key he's playing through the weekend. That'll be a success
from your perspective.

Speaker 6 (20:08):
Yeah, and how cool that we've got two groups where
two of them appear together, so really easy for the
spectators to get out there and watch the Kiwi girls today.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
How much involvement do you have, would say, the likes
of Dara, who's in the college system now looking to
make that leap to the LPGA eventually hopefully one day.
How much involvement does does Golf New Zealand have in
supporting them to try and help them to their next steps.

Speaker 6 (20:30):
Yeah. Absolutely, there's many pathways. There's not one so US
College is quite a popular pathway, especially for the girls
once they've been part of our program and been at
that level. It's not something well, we can't directly support
them because they're not based in New Zealand and they
are overseas. Continuing that relationship is really important to us.

(20:54):
The likes of those Dara, as you've mentioned, Vivian Insa
are our top ranked players, have been, you know, playing
representative golf for US a while I've still been at college,
so they are our best performing It's in our best
interest to continue that relationship and that support with them.
When the girls were home their US summer break our winter,

(21:16):
were connected with them brought them here.

Speaker 7 (21:18):
I spent time with.

Speaker 6 (21:19):
Them practicing training here, so absolutely they're still.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
Part of a wider.

Speaker 7 (21:25):
Program and systems. So and they're great girls.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah. Great. You've been around the golf scene, you know,
in many different capacities for a while. Where is the
sport at at the moment, especially in the women's space,
do you feel do you think a.

Speaker 6 (21:38):
Really exciting still having Lidia out there shining the light
for us is amazing And I even think, you know,
the whole game while while it would be awesome, and
I know they've been really working hard behind the scenes
to have another New Zealand women's open I think if
we look globally the opportunities, the growth that's there, it's

(22:00):
lower growth in the women's game than the men's, but
I think the men still have a really key part
in supporting women into the game. And I know that
even you know, fox EA's Dan Hilly is down to
Kazuma Kobori's you know, their successes are still inspiring for
our girls. So there's a lot of I guess growth

(22:23):
in our game and exciting for our players with our
girls or guys to see those that they've played with
as an amateur go on and succeed.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah great, And would you like these tournaments to be
here more often? I guess an ideal world, absolutely, But
you know twenty seventeen, you see, we've got some amazing
courses here in New Zealand, they have the caliber to
host these. How can we get more here?

Speaker 5 (22:43):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (22:43):
Absolutely.

Speaker 6 (22:44):
I think we're used to having to travel and it's
a real key skill. We try to provide as many
playing opportunities overseas as we can for our emerging players.
It's not just about testing their skills on different golf
courses and against different players, but it's that everything else
that goes around the event. It's the you know, packing
your suitcase, have I got everything that I need? Getting

(23:04):
an underweight at the airport, moving the luggage around into
the bus or into the rental car and off if
we're staying in a rental house, making their fog, you know,
Mum and Dad aren't there. It's all that other stuff.
So having an event here as you kind of strip
some of that away to go okay, you know the
golf course, you've come, spent some time here, while probably

(23:26):
the slight point of difference is that you've got lots
of supporters out, maybe more so than overseas, so that's
really exciting. But now let's just really focus on that
that golf. So it's kind of nice to take away
some of that that other stuff and really be out
of focus on the golf.

Speaker 1 (23:40):
Wonderful. Hey, well, great to see you, Liz. Thanks so
much for popping over for a chat. Enjoy the rest
of the weekend and here's hoping for some KIV success.
So absolutely, thanks very much, all the best. Lis mckinn
there the talent development manager at Golf New Zealand. Let's
chat to one of the Wellington golfers that is back
in the country for this women's Amateur Asia Pacific Championship.
Great to welcome to our little posy here by the
driving Rai j Darry chunga hit a round three. Welcome Dara,

(24:02):
thank you for having me here today. Well Royal Wellington
is your club, You're obviously based in Oregon now it's
at university. But how's it been being back and being
part of all this seeing your course transform into something
pretty special?

Speaker 8 (24:14):
Yeah, it's been so exciting. I couldn't get used to
seeing all the marquees and all the flags and everything
set up, so honestly didn't feel like home a little
bit when I first came back. But yeah, it's been unreal,
the support, the energy, it's been really fun.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
Within nerves leading up to it because of you know,
everyone knows who you are when you walk around here,
or was there a lot of confidence around given it's
your course?

Speaker 8 (24:38):
To be honest, I think I had a lot of nerves.
I think the expectations and the pressure sort of built up.
But at the same time, having so many familiar faces
and so many people coming to support me, it made
me feel a lot more comforted. And then I feel
like I became more and more confident as the days
went by.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
And as a welling TONI and you're probably far used
to dealing with the wind, the rain, whatever comes through
than a lot of the other golfers that are used
to some pretty nice, hot, warm, humid places.

Speaker 8 (25:04):
Oh yeah, of course. I mean I grew up playing
in some brutal wind conditions and really unpredictable weather patterns,
and so yes, when it was raining yesterday, honestly, I
didn't really feel like it was stressful at all. Like
we just put the umbrella if it was raining and
then put it down when it stopped, and yeah, I
feel like I definitely have more experience in that area.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
We had Liz from New Zealand Golf here just before.
She talked a little about you reaching out to Lydia
Co recently ahead of this tournament. Tell us a bit
about that, what you sort of what you talked about
with her.

Speaker 8 (25:31):
Yeah, so I had the initiative to reach out to
Lydia just because she's such a role model and such
a mentor to us. And I just texted her like
how she dealt with the pressure and how she dealt
with the nerves of playing in a home crowd, and
I'm so grateful she reached out to me and she
messaged me back and she told me to just stay
in the moment, stay present, to focus on my process
and everything will be fine. And so yeah, that was

(25:53):
really exciting when she texted me back.

Speaker 1 (25:55):
Are you surprised she got back to you?

Speaker 8 (25:57):
Not really, because she's just so awesome like that, like
I expected or not really expected, but like I feel
like she would have answered us if any of us
reached out to her. But yeah, it was just so
exciting to have that.

Speaker 1 (26:09):
You're obviously I'm like everyone here is to get you know,
on the professional circuit. What is he look at the
start of this year, now your big tournament like this,
to get a lot of people you know, aware of you.
How are you hoping to do that over that the
next few months or weeks?

Speaker 8 (26:23):
Yeah, great question. I think a lot of these things
don't really happen because you will them too. I feel
like these things kind of just fall into place if
I just focus on my game and I just focus
on myself, I feel like people will be able to
maybe you know, appreciate or see what I'm doing. And yeah,

(26:43):
like I said, all of these things fall into place,
and then you end up building relationships that you never
might have thought to build before. And yeah, I just
feel like opportunities come when you least expected to. So yeah,
I feel like all I can do is just focus
on my game and then end up maybe meeting somebody
that might help me in the future.

Speaker 1 (27:01):
Right, tough first day for you here. Things look pretty
well yesterday You're rocketed back up and what tied for
twenty sevens Now heading into the weekend, how's it been
so far? And I see you've got some key company
with you on the teas today. You're looking forward today?

Speaker 8 (27:13):
Yeah, I mean to turn around like I did yesterday
was huge for me. I'm so glad that I was
able to make the cut after my first day, especially
and to play with INSI fellow teammates. It's really amazing
and to have a familiar face honestly helps a lot,
especially in big tournaments like this. So yeah, I'm pretty
excited to see how the day goes and to keep

(27:35):
the momentum of yesterday's.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
Round gooing amazing saying yons Yang from career right up
the lead. What thirteen under heating into the weekend, It's
pretty remarkable on this course.

Speaker 8 (27:43):
I agree, I mean, especially with yesterday's conditions. Backing up
an eight on the round with a five under round
is phenomenal golf. And I think that just shows the
standard of this tournament and the players that come here,
and also how good the course is set up for
us to be able to play and so great.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
Well we're what team to eight? Still wave until you're
taying off? So what are you doing around Tim usually
in a tournament, apart from talking.

Speaker 8 (28:04):
To us, Yeah, well, usually I go through my normal
warm up, stretching, making sure my body's all warmed up,
so so I don't get injured and I can swing freely,
and just getting a feel for the greens. Maybe the
rain and the jew and everything has changed some of
the conditions overnight, So just dialing that in, making sure
all my foundations are set up, and just yeah, prepping

(28:24):
myself before my first tee shot.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
Great. And how much would it mean saying a lot
of people here this wee ken on your home calls
here tearing you and the other ki weis on in particular.

Speaker 8 (28:32):
It means the world to me. I don't think you
could ever even chalk up a moment like this, like
the fact that the tournament is here in my home.
I get to see all these people that I saw
growing up and that they can come out here and
cheer for me. I think it's just so special. I
can't even describe it in words. Yeah, it just makes
me feel really emotional in a good way. And yeah,

(28:55):
I'm so grateful to be out here playing today.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
Well, I know a lot of people are grateful that
you've come back for this, so thanks, thanks for coming
back to New Zealand and you know, promoting golf, and
thanks for your time here on the show this morning.
All the best for the next couple of days, but
also the year ahead as you head back to Oregon
as well.

Speaker 8 (29:07):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
Dara Jelling There Wellington Golfer with us back for the
Women's Amateur Asia Pacific Championship and teeing off in a
couple of hours here at what Royal Wellington, and so
if you head out you can watch Daray and a
fair few other Keiw's seven and total teeing off over
the coming hours. But let's find out a little bit
more about the preparation that has gone into this at
Royal Wellington this weekend. Sam Keats is with us from

(29:28):
the club. Sam, morning to you. Thanks, thanks for coming
over mate. Now, I know you're involved with just sort
of all the grounds keeping and everything here. Do you
have an official title that you're running here at Royal Wellington.

Speaker 9 (29:39):
Yeah, thanks for having me on. Yeah, my official title
is the course Superintendent. So my job is to kind
of make sure that the grounds and everything's prepared along
with the crew that we have to present this tournament
every day for our members and also for the championship golfers.
It's been played this weekend.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
How much heat's been on you to get it all
looking as good as it is this weekend.

Speaker 9 (29:58):
Yeah, I think we've put a lot of heat on ourselves,
to be honest. We pride ourselves on what we try
to produce out here, and we have a really great
team on board at the moment, with our normal regular
crew who have been doing a lot of work over
the last six months to a year in preparation to
build up to this tournament. We've been thinking about it
for a long time. John's Fraggs and myself. I've had

(30:19):
a plan together along with the crew, and I think
it's all going well so far, and we're trying to
execute it. And we've got a group in with us
as well, volunteers that are helping us prepare to try
bring these tournament conditions out for these really, really good
golfers all around Asia Pacific.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
I was here at six this morning to get ready.
I thought I was going to be the first one here,
but I looked out and I could see torches all
around the course here, all around everywhere getting ready. What
times do you get here this morning?

Speaker 9 (30:43):
Yeah, We've been in at about four point thirty each
morning for the last week getting ready a little bit
earlier than when we were usually in but it's actually
hasn't been too bad of a preparation for us. With
a ten o'clock tea time the last couple of days,
it's really given us a nice amount of time to
get out on the course do all our preparation. We're
working in very closely with the Royal and Ancient the
RNA to make sure that our ecronomy and everything that

(31:04):
we're doing is on point in regards to green speeds
and how we're preparing and we're a well oiled machine now.
We've made sure that we've had the mantra of owning
our job this week, so everyone's had specific duties and
we've had young guys and our team really step up
into leadership positions and look after volunteers in their own

(31:24):
little crews, whether it be bunkers or mowing fairways or
doing the teas or anything like that mowing the greens.
We've got a well old machine now that it's Saturday,
and yeah, looking forward to the championship weekend. Great and
you're happy with how it's looking, Yeah, really happy to
be honest. We've got a lot of technology nowadays that
helps us read speeds and smoothness and trueness and firmness

(31:47):
of all our surfaces and that's giving us great feedback.
And yeah, we're definitely i'd like to think at a
championship level in terms of the quality that we're producing
out on the.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
Course, especially this crazy summer we're having. And you know
of weather yesterday, possibly some pretty hectic stuff tomorrow. How
does that change yet your day to day preparation.

Speaker 9 (32:06):
Yeah, it hasn't been the easiest summer in terms of
managing our turf. It's been a little bit different than
the usual Wellington summer and we've had to deal with
high disease pressure and things like that, so we've been
on our toes, but it kind of peeked at the
right time, i'd like to think. And yeah, the weather
is today, looks nice and settled, low winds and the

(32:26):
scoring so far has been really exceptional with the winner
or the leader at thirteen under, and could see them
going more under par again today with the way that
the course is set up, and they should be able
to attack some of the pins out here with the
rain we've had. And then tomorrow it looks like winds
picking up. Hopefully we can get it all done and
dusted before what looks like to be a little bit

(32:46):
of rain and stormy weather coming in late tomorrow night.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
Yeah, you said the leader thirteen under. Do you take
some pride in Napman, like we set up a course
for someone to be able to do that. Greens must
have been good in good shape for that.

Speaker 6 (32:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (32:58):
Yeah, it's nice to see people whole parts from good
distances and if they're doing that, we know that we're
on track with what we're doing. There's never been a
discussion around trying to hold par or do anything that
sometimes they do at some of these big tournaments. It's
all about just trying to show the skill of these
women that are out here playing golf, and they're playing
pretty much off what is our members teas, so it's

(33:20):
quite exceptional to see the difference from you know, like
what you usually see during the week some of our
member play and you know, your casual eighteen whole golfer
might go around in eighteen to twenty over. These girls
are going seven under, so there's probably twenty shots to
thirty shots each round in a difference of even what
I'd go out and play. So it's cool to see

(33:41):
them tear it up and no, really proud of what
we're producing. And being able to see some championship golf
on TV on our own course is actually quite a
unique thing. So we've we've got a cool set up
here and by our pool we've got a TV setup
and the crew's been sitting out there and during the
day and getting to watch your own course on TV's
quite new neat because it's not something you get to

(34:01):
do every day.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
You want to ask about that. Does the TV element
change anything about how you're getting it ready for a tournament?

Speaker 9 (34:06):
It definitely does. Yeah, we knew where the TV towers
and locations were going to be and we really tried
to lock and on making sure that we're presenting those
areas as best we can. But in general we want
the whole course to look good regardless. Yeah. Great.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
How'd you get into greenskeeping?

Speaker 9 (34:23):
I actually started here at Royal Wellington in two thousand
and seven as a school gateway program and was fortunate
enough to get hired by the Boss, John Spraggs, and
he's actually kind of hired me on three separate occasions since.
So did my apprenticeship here and I've gone overseas and
worked at various championship courses and also around New Zealand,

(34:44):
and I always seem to end up back here at
Wellington's home and fortunate enough to be in a position
now where I can help the club, you know, try
to produce the best golf course that we possibly can,
alongside the crew and the team that we have.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
How important I know someone that's actually over over in
the UK sort of doing greenskeeping as a course. I
think they worked at Karori and they're over there getting
some experience over there. How important is in your line
of work having that experience overseas seeing how things are
done at some big courses over there.

Speaker 9 (35:11):
Yeah, it's really important. Even when you go to these
large courses in the United States or anywhere around the world,
there's still a lot of takeaways that you can bring
back to the New Zealand golf courses. Even though the
scale might be larger over there. There's a lot of
little things that you can bring back in terms of
being detail orientated and just figuring out ways to produce

(35:33):
surfaces in a high quality manner. Yeah. I was fortunate
enough to have the opportunity last year to go to
Royal Port Rush for the Open as part of this
RNA sanctioned event that we're now hosting here. So it
was good to get that tournament experience as well and
work alongside greenkeepers from all around the world. And that's
the best thing sometimes about working big golf tournaments is

(35:53):
getting to just talk shop with other people that you're
working with, Like doing the workers is good, and then
getting to do it alongside top level superintendents and green
keepers from around the world. There's a lot of take
homes to bring back and hopefully we've been able to
produce some of that out here.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
What did you learn from over there was one thing
you brought back for this tournament or just in general.

Speaker 9 (36:14):
Yeah, a lot of the focus import Rush was around
the greens preparation and the green speeds and things like that,
and with the technologies and stuff that are available now
that haven't been available in the past in terms of,
like I said before, tracking smoothness and trueness and firmness.
We're really concentrating this week alongside Chris Gray from the
RNA and being able to produce making sure our green speeds,

(36:36):
which is kind of the most important part of prefering
a golf course. Is the greens. It's all played around
the greens and that's where most of the shots are played,
and making sure that those surfaces are consistent. So we
have greens out here that are next to bush lands
or they might have their own little microclimates, and then
we have others over by the river that are a
bit more wind exposed, and they all react differently throughout

(36:57):
the day into different conditions. My phone's constantly going off
with every single data that we're getting from these greens
and making sure that the first green plays the same
as the fourth green plays the same as the eighteenth
and they were very particular on that at Royal Port
Rush last year and we're trying to bring that mentality
here to Royal Wellington. So when these women go out
and play, we're consistent from the putting green right through

(37:19):
the eighteen holes, so there's no difference out there that
they get to play on. It's all consistent and they
can rely on what we're doing to make sure that
they're trying to hold their parts and play their shots.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
At this point of the weekend, two rounds in, some
of them coming to you and saying, hey, could this
be slightly tweaked or could this be done a little
bit better? Do you do you get much in tournament
feedback from any of the golfers.

Speaker 9 (37:38):
I personally don't, and I probably just stay out the
way a little bit and just put the blinkers on
and keep going. But we're in contact with the RNA
and that's who we mainly deal with for that. But nah,
I think I think we're tracking okay, and the feedback
from everyone has been really positive and it's great to
see our membership as well, you know, get behind this

(37:59):
whole event and yeah, it's been great.

Speaker 1 (38:02):
Yeah, awesome. Interesting with golf, I guess you know, with
technology and things, drivers are always getting produced bigger. How's
that going to change the dynamics of courses? Do you
think when people probably are and five ten years is
going to be hitting it longer?

Speaker 9 (38:15):
Yeah, it's really true. Even myself, I got a new
driver recently after twenty years of having the same one,
and I'll tell people it's like a cheat code, like
the dispersions narrowed and the distance is further, and it's
just made golf a whole lot easier. And I've found
out myself and personally, I'm not the biggest fan like
I would be part of a rollback because a lot
of New Zealand courses they can't expand any further. We're

(38:36):
already on the boundaries and we don't have the opportunity
to just continue to buy more land like an Augusta
National does, where they just want to extend a whole.
So I don't know what will happen in the future,
but yeah, the courses. The course that they're playing off
today isn't our longest course, so the course could be
pushed back for future tournaments. But I do feel for

(38:58):
other clubs where technology is kind of outgrowing one hundred
year old facility that's been there forever, So there's big
conversations to be had around that in the future. I think.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
Yeah, I guess one thing you appreciate when you come
to Royal compared to maybe the other courses nearby, the
other ones around this part of the Hut is the
space you guys have. That must just be a dream
to just have all this land here to utilize as
a groundskeeper.

Speaker 9 (39:22):
Yeah, we're really fortunate to have a kind of a
massive estate out here. We have an eighteen hole championship
course that's being played on this weekend. We have a
full length driving range and we also have a nine
hole terrace course as well, along with three putting greens
and chipping greens and everything like that. So we have
a large facility. We have three streams that were run
through the property. We have acres of bush and thousands

(39:45):
of trees, so it's a complex property. It's a big property,
but it's beautiful as well, and we really take pride
in it. And it's as much a golf course facility
as it is an arboretum and just a beautiful place
to be a part of. And it's not about office, no.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
It's not. And it's nice to shell it off. It's
actually you know, people, anyone can come aloud and walk
the course to that. It's great, isn't it.

Speaker 9 (40:04):
Yeah, I'd love to see everyone come on down. My
family's coming on down. Got my two year old boy
coming out as well today, and he sometimes comes out
and helps me on Saturday mornings breaking the bunkers. So
I'm probably going to have to have him on a
short leash because he's going to be wanting to run
out there and get in them. So I'm still trying
to figure out how I'm going to manage that, but no,
it'd be great to see people out here. We have
a fantastic fan village down on Terrace one Fairway, and

(40:28):
to get this up and close to some world class
golfers and see some action on a championship cours is
great for the local region and I'd really love to
see people come down and experience it.

Speaker 1 (40:39):
If there's one hole that for people come along that
they must sort of park themselves up at and see
a bit of action, where is it?

Speaker 9 (40:44):
I kind of eight till the fourteenth is one of
my favorite holes. The fourteenth today is playing. They've moved
the teas right up. It's a short pat four so
if you know anything about golf, it should usually take
two shots to hit into that green, but they've brought
it up and brought all the trouble into play, so
you might see a few big swings out there in
terms of the scoreboard and the leader board. If someone
gets it wrong, it could really jeopardize the way that

(41:08):
the championship goes. But if they get it right, it
could be a big move up the leader board as well.
We're fortunate enough out here that the golf course is
set up and away with there's a few hubs, so
these te's next to other te's and these greens kind
of next to other greens, so if you're close to
one green, you'll be able to should be able to
see action on another one, and you won't have to
hike for miles to go see a good amount of golf.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
Great, well, it's looking fantastic. Congratulations on you and your
team's work putting us all together because the course is
looking amazing. Everyone seems to be loving it, so good
luck for the rest of the weekend and I'm sure
a bit of downtime after all this wraps up too.

Speaker 9 (41:38):
No, thank you very much. Yeah, we're really having a blast.
We've got a good vibe in our greenkeeping shed and
really thankful to everyone that's been able to support us
to get to this point. And you're looking forward to
the next few days and watching the Winner by Crown
tomorrow on the eighteenth green.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
Absolutely love love to see if you more Keiwis get
up the lead of all day.

Speaker 9 (41:56):
That would be fun to see.

Speaker 1 (41:58):
Yeahs cross absolutely great see its thanks so much, appreciate
you joining us.

Speaker 9 (42:01):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
Jam Keats, who is the superintendent of the course here
him and the crew have done an amazing job putting
all things together, getting everything looking fantastic. News Talk z'd
be on the All Sport Breakfast live from the Royal
Wellington Golf Club this morning and Heir of tong Are.
The Women's Amateur Asia Pacific Championship is heading into round
three today. Great to have the chance to chat to
another one about key We golfers. One of seven who's

(42:23):
made the cut for the weekend, Caitlin Maurice. Hey, Caitlan,
thanks for coming over. Sorry to take you away from
your driving range practice this.

Speaker 7 (42:31):
Morning, haven't started quite yet.

Speaker 1 (42:33):
Great. How much work do you usually do over there
before say, round three of the tournament?

Speaker 10 (42:38):
More just warming up the body, woman up the mine,
just getting into the right mindset, not really the last
minute fixes or anything, just getting comfortable again.

Speaker 7 (42:46):
And ready to get out there.

Speaker 1 (42:48):
For you, I know you've been based over at St.
Andrews and we'll talk a bit about it that shortly.
But coming back for this tournament hosted in New Zealand.
How special is that as a key we to be
able to come back and play in this this women's
amateur competition on you and country.

Speaker 10 (43:00):
Yeah, no, very cool and very awesome that it was
back home in New Zealand. All my family is able
to come down, so had dinner with them last night
and just seeing them on the golf course, talk with
one of the New Zealand coaches, and it was one
of my grounding things.

Speaker 7 (43:14):
Was like waving to my family.

Speaker 10 (43:15):
After a hole or a shot, or just trying to
like put a smile on my face and being able to.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
Look at them.

Speaker 7 (43:19):
It is very cool.

Speaker 1 (43:21):
Four over further two days so far, tied for thirty six.
Talk us through how that the first couple of days
have played out for you.

Speaker 7 (43:28):
I mean happy to be playing the weekend.

Speaker 10 (43:31):
Struggled a little bit off the tea and stuff, but
overall was very happy with my round yesterday. Was a
bit of pressure coming in. I didn't know exactly where
the cut was at and it was plain tough. I
finished on the front night, but had a good few
pars coming in and tough pins and was happy overall
with how I finished out there under pressure.

Speaker 1 (43:51):
How familiar are you with the field? I guess they'd be,
you know, the players from New Zealand, you'd be pretty
familiar with a few of them from some of these
other countries. But is that a lot of golf was
if you've never played on the course.

Speaker 10 (44:00):
With Yeah, definitely been over in Europe. Now, I don't
really play as much, but a few of the college
girls I know for sure, the older ones, but there's
GOI to be a lot of young talent coming through
and hatey seven get a little bit older now, so
I don't know all of them.

Speaker 7 (44:13):
But it's no, it's cool.

Speaker 10 (44:14):
I mean, there's some girls rank so high in the
world here, so it's cool to be able to test
my game against the best in age Pacific.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
So grew up Northern and Mokodola over at St. Andrew's. Now,
can you tell us a little bit about what you're
doing over there and where it sits in sort of
your your golfing career if you like, Yeah, it's super cool.

Speaker 7 (44:31):
So I'm doing a master's over there.

Speaker 10 (44:33):
Get to play another year a golf at a good
high level over there, traveling around Europe, playing at some
of the best girls over there, giving me the opportunity
this summer to be able to play a top amateur schedule,
play the women's am and stuff like that over there.
Kind of like a good ending to my amateur career,
I would say, yeah, I mean can't be the place

(44:56):
to do it.

Speaker 9 (44:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
Yeah, So how's that different to what say Dara's doing
and the UIs college system? Is it similarities? Getting study
in golf? Was it quite different?

Speaker 7 (45:05):
Yeah? Very similar.

Speaker 10 (45:07):
I did four years in the US and then you
run out of eligibility, so I was able to do
a fifth year over there because they don't have the
same NCAA rules.

Speaker 7 (45:15):
Similar golfie on a smaller scale.

Speaker 10 (45:17):
I mean, the US is amazing with the golf they
you know, and everything up for all the golfers over there,
but similar with studies and with golf, like you know,
work up this morning to emails from the professors and
added to my to do list or school.

Speaker 7 (45:29):
To catch up on.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
But are they watching on TV over there? Yeah?

Speaker 7 (45:32):
People following me, So that's very nice. Yeah, I've got
a few messages.

Speaker 1 (45:35):
Fantastic And and for you, we know there's you know,
there's so much at stake in this tournament, not just
being noticed, but obviously you know, the winner gets that
major championship entry. What's your sort of incentive to do
well at a tournament like this?

Speaker 10 (45:47):
I think as a golf you're always it's individual, so
you're very like self motivated. So today, you know, Saturday,
moving day, it would be great to move up the leaderboard,
have a good round. My game's been so close but
not you know, quite there, So it'd be really good
just to just test myself against the best, you know,
try to focus on myself and see what happens.

Speaker 7 (46:03):
You can't control what everyone else has got to do out.

Speaker 10 (46:05):
There, but it'd be great to have a good weekend,
to finish off and get a good finish at this
huge event.

Speaker 1 (46:11):
And approaching another golfing year, if you got some aims
you'd like to achieve through twenty twenty six. What kind
of targets so you're setting for yourself through another year?

Speaker 10 (46:19):
Yeah, I mean I have a few inside ones. I
try not to be two results focused, but just playing
confidently and putting myself out there. Playing some big events
will be huge. Playing at Merefield will be awesome. European
Championships over the summer. Just playing some big events would
be really cool.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
Yeah, we heard from Sam who runs the course here
that fourteenth might have been changed. How's that gone for
you over these last couple of days and field? It
might be a bit easier now.

Speaker 10 (46:46):
Yeah, well I've been laying up short of the fairway
bunker there, so no, definitely I heard him say that.
So I think a few more drivers will be pulled
out by everyone because the green should be reachable.

Speaker 7 (46:59):
So that'll be really cool.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
Hole, it's yeah, and you were standing here when you
said that, you wouldn't have known that. If you didn't
hear that.

Speaker 10 (47:04):
No, I had an inkling like they might have moved
it up, but you're never quite sure. So yeah, I
heard that was interesting, Yeah, making it a fun finish
for everyone, right, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
And seven Kiwis you're one of them in the in
the cut this weekend. How significant is that do you think?
Obviously there were eleven in the field making the cut.
We've seen how competitive it is these last couple of days.

Speaker 7 (47:24):
Yeah, No, it's awesome.

Speaker 10 (47:24):
It's cool to see so many girls, you know, younger
ones coming through, all competing. It's cool, you know, to
see other Kiwis out there. You know, we're in the
uniform able to wave. I mean, also playing with Vivian today,
so it's cool to show how well you know, Kiwi
girl golfers are at the game and proving ourselves, you know,
against really cooked top.

Speaker 1 (47:43):
Field right and in any just final ambitions for today,
Like you know you said moving day you wanted to
get up there. How do you sort of go about
plopping that out from early on today?

Speaker 10 (47:51):
Heading every shot with like utmost confidence, you know, not
being scared of certain pens or playing as conservative, just
having confidence in myself and at the end of the
day being proud of how I held myself out there
and gave it my all, empty in the.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
Tank you know you can do and coping okay without.

Speaker 10 (48:09):
Wellington weather yeah, I mean I can't really complain, to
be honest, has been very nice so far. A little
bit of rain yesterday, but it looks beautiful. I mean
it's Wellington. There's not a breath of wind right now, so.

Speaker 1 (48:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, hopefully it stays that way. Hey, Caitlin,
great to catch up. Thanks for coming over all the
best for the rest of the weekend and your golfing
year as you head back around the globe soon. So
thank you so much, Kaitlin. Maurice there in New Zealand
golfer as part of the weekend here teeing off just
after ten this morning at Royal Wellington, Newstalks he'd be
on the All Support Breakfast Live from Royal Wellington ahead
of around three of the Women's Amateur Asia Pacific Championships,

(48:40):
and great to be joined by another one of the
golfers teeing off very shortly for round three out of China,
Yugi Lou. Thanks for coming over, Ugi, first time in
New Zealand, I hear, yes, how are you finding it?

Speaker 11 (48:50):
So I've always wanted to come and visit New Zealand
because everyone around me is saying that New Zealand is
such a beautiful place, and I just feel like I'm
so lucky to be here and then competing so lovely
course and then get to see so many familiar officces
and get to see and then get to make so
many new friends.

Speaker 1 (49:07):
Well, you say it's a lovely course, but it's a course.
You're doing well out You're tied for thirteen, tied to
thirteenth three under part You're happy with your first two days?

Speaker 11 (49:14):
Yeah, I would say that I really did try my best,
but yesterday it was like the perfect round. But I
tried to like be patient and try to do better
on the next two days.

Speaker 1 (49:24):
Yeah. Great. What is your focus on typically for any tournament?
When you get to the third round, you kind of
know where you sit amongst a lot of the leaderboard.
What does the round three focus generally for you?

Speaker 11 (49:33):
I think strategy. Like last night, I put down my
penlocation she and try to go, like I know where
the halls I have to be aggressive at in which
halls I have to like stand back a little bit.
And then so I just tried to be patient and
then enjoy every single round and then try to do
my best.

Speaker 1 (49:51):
How's how competitive is it felt out there? And when
you see some of the scols obviously thirteen under is
the leading score. How how tough is it just been
staying in the field at that thirteenth Yeah, I mean.

Speaker 11 (50:00):
This course is pretty challenging because of the weather and
like the slopes, but like you can see that on
the leaderboard there's thirteen under, which is like a crazy number.
So I mean we're just still trying to chas hing,
but just try to do the best.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
I understand you've got a bit of a family background
in sport, though. Tell us what about your dad and
and some of your family's involvement in sport.

Speaker 11 (50:21):
Yeah, so both of my parents they play ping pong.
They're like athletes and my dad he got like Olympic
gold medals, and so I feel like for a mindset
and mental game, he really helped me like a lot
because he has so many experiences that I haven't been
through and so he's really helpful amazing.

Speaker 1 (50:38):
What's what the devices and similarities are they with title
tinis and golf?

Speaker 11 (50:42):
So I think it's like they're all like tiny white
balls and that they all have spins. And then also
like I feel like mindset and like mental game it's
pretty similar because it's like you're going against so for golf,
we're going against a golf course, but ping pong, they're
going against other players, so that's like a little bit different.

(51:03):
But I think he really knows me like so well
that he can get to help me like a lot. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
Great. How special is it being able to play as
part of this amateur tournament? Obviously we know the winners
get some big entries, but you're on show to a
lot of people. And is this all part of your
aims for golf? You want to be professional one day?

Speaker 8 (51:20):
Yeah?

Speaker 11 (51:20):
So like for me, like I'm planning to maybe go
to college first and then when I'm feeling ready, then
I'll go take some tests and then turn.

Speaker 1 (51:29):
Prop great and win you tea off not far away
now this morning.

Speaker 11 (51:32):
Yeah, I'm teeing off at ten nineteen.

Speaker 1 (51:34):
Great, well, all the very best. Thanks for coming over
and having a chat before you go, and I'll let
you go and get some practicing before you're out right,
Thanks so much. Tied for thirteenth today usually Lou from China. Yeah,
just after ten, as she said, teeing off this morning
here on the Allsport Breakfast. Tied for thirteenth at a
three under park. Great to be able to chat to
some of the golfers taking part in this event. It
is a hive of activity here now at Royal Wellington.

(51:56):
The driving range is full with all these golfers eager
to move up the leaderboard on moving Day, Round three
at Royal Wellington. But you've heard it from so many
people Steve before, some of the other key we goals
of golfers that we spoke to as well, do come
along and support this event because you'll see some great golf.
It's showcasing Wellington around the Asia Pacific region and the

(52:16):
world to show that you know, we are supporting these
events and a lot of people have put a lot
of time, effort and money into making a big tournament
like this happen, so get along over the weekend free
entry at Royal Wellington. Let's see lots of crowds and
supports and there's plenty of other bits and pieces, food trucks,
activities for the family as well to be a part of.
So that is our show. We will keep you updated

(52:37):
across the weekend, and Opiney, we'll have some updates of
this across the weekend. I think Steve might be even
calling in with some reports as well. So have a
wonderful weekend. Thanks to Rob for pushing all the buttons
back in the studio as well, and tea time here
at Royal Wellington is not too far away, So thanks
for joining us and have a fantastic weekend. For more
from News Talk sed B, listen live on air or online,

(52:58):
and keep our shows with you wherever you go with
our podcasts on iHeartRadio.