Buoyed by their strong performance at last week’s Queen Sirikit Cup, New Zealand leading women’s golfers will now turn on each other at the national amateur championships in Hawke’s Bay.

Internationals Zoe Brake (igolf), of Whakatane, and Pakuranga’s Cecilia Cho will have the opportunity to defend their titles in the New Zealand strokeplay and amateur championships, respectively, from a field of 55 starting tomorrow.

All eyes will be on Australian Matt Jager in the men’s competition as he returns to defend the New Zealand amateur title he won last year.

There is a host of top New Zealanders keen to ensure that does not happen in the week-long championships, the third time that both the women and men have joined for the national amateur titles.

It begins with the foursomes today ahead of the 72-hole New Zealand strokeplay tomorrow, with the women at Napier Golf Club and the men at Hastings Golf Club.

The women play one round each on Wednesday and Thursday with two rounds on Friday to decide the honours before the top 32 move on to the matchplay.

The men’s strokeplay begins tomorrow with a cut for the top 72 players plus ties after two rounds with final round on Saturday. The top 32 players will move on to the matchplay, joined by the women at the Bridge Pa course.

In the women’s competition, it is hard to see past the international trio of Brake, Cho and North Harbour’s Lydia Ko, who combined to finish second at last week’s Queen Sirikit Asia Pacific teams championship.

Brake is the current South Island champion and defending New Zealand strokeplay titleholder, Cho won the Australian strokeplay and was runner-up in the Australian amateur recently while Ko won the North Island amateur and was runner-up to Cho in last year’s final.

Others with solid credentials include South Island runner-up Caroline Bon, of Northland, Nelson’s Lisa Wright, Hamilton’s Emily Perry and juniors Liv Cheng, of Auckland, and Erin Hawe, of Waikato.

Institute of Golf will be represented by Zoe Brake, Lydia Ko, Rica Tse, Courteny Manning, and Ye Song Park at the Napier Golf Course.

Among those bidding to thwart Jager is Masterton’s Ben Campbell, who was beaten by Jager in the final of the Australian amateur.

Tauranga’s Andrew Stewart and Nick Gillespie, of Wellington, won the South Island and North Island titles respectively recently while Aucklander Ryan Fox impressed in the strokeplay at the Australian amateur.

Tauranga’s James Hamilton was a semifinalist last year, with the young Omanu player back after a thwarted attempt at a US Scholarship and keen to push back into the amateur scene at the highest level, while Auckland’s Ben Wallace has a fine matchplay record, losing to his good friend Jager in the quarterfinals last year.

Institute of Golf will be represented by Kevin Budden, Tom Cardno, James Beale and Cameron Jones at Hastings.

// Others to watch include Auckland’s Gary-John Hill, seventh last year in the strokeplay, Hamilton’s Mathew Perry and the 2008 amateur champion Thomas Spearman-Burn, of Wellington.

For scores from both events:

Womens – click here.

Mens – click here.