Queen Sirikit Cup, N.Z. Confident of First Win in 13 Years
New Zealand ladies have not won the Queen Sirikit Cup for 13 years, but are confident that this year will be different. This this year’s team is determined to end that drought, with World No 1 Lydia Ko and New Zealand stroke play champion Emily Perry and also Chantelle Cassidy to contest the 34th Queen Sirikit Cup in Singapore starting on Monday. The Queen Sirikit Cup is an annual contest between 14 nations from the Asia Pacific region. Officially it’s known as the Amateur Ladies Asia-Pacific Invitational team championship. This years tournament will be contested at Tanah Merah Country Club in Singapore and Lydia will be celebrating her 15th birthday at the event. She thinks New Zealand have a great chance to shine;
Lydia Ko
“I think we have a great chance of winning. We are confident and we’ll be going to Singapore to give it our best. New Zealand hasn’t won the title in ages, since 1999, so it would be pretty special to win it again and I know all of the girls will be working hard toward that. Playing for New Zealand in a team environment is something pretty special and it is something that we don’t do very often so I want to make the most of that. We played well at the Queen Sirikit Cup in 2010 in New Zealand but not so well last year in India. We want to make up for that.”
The 1999 New Zealand team of Lisa Aldridge, Renee Fowler and Tina Howard won the title from Chinese Taipei in a playoff at Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club, which just happens to be where I am a member at right now.
