EISENHOWER TROPHY: MCCALL READY TO MAKE DEBUT   4 Oct 2012

The bright lights of Istanbul are a long way from the quiet streets of Gore but Vaughan McCall is the sort of down-to-earth southern bloke who takes every new experience in his stride. The 21-year-old from the Gore Golf Club will play in his first Eisenhower World Amateur Team’s Championship when the tournament begins tonight New Zealand time in Turkey. The Southland No.1 has enjoyed a year breaking new territory. He was the first golfer to win both the NZ Stroke Play and NZ Amateur titles in the same year for the first time in 24 years after overcoming Rotorua teenager Peter Lee 6 and 5 at the Mount Maunganui Golf Club. McCall was also the first golfer from Southland to win the New Zealand Amateur. He was also the first golfer from the deep south to have won the NZ Stroke Play and in 2011 he led Southland to their first win in the Toro Interprovincial. He’ll team up with Mathew Perry (Hamilton) and Ben Campbell (Masterton) as the trio looks to follow in the footsteps of the New Zealand team who won the event in 1992. The No.1 on the New Zealand Order of Merit was an automatic choice for the Eisenhower team. “Playing in the Eisenhower means a hell of a lot to me,” said McCall. “It’s one of the few chances you get to represent your country in team golf. “To do it at the highest amateur level is awesome as it has been something I have targeted for the past 12 months I just can’t wait to put on the New Zealand Golf shirt and do my country proud.” It has been a whirlwind 18 months for the likeable lad who takes nothing for granted. His first tournament on his venture to the UK saw him finish second at the Wales Stroke Play Championship. Any camp that the Srixon Academy player attends he asks the experts questions like he is a journalist and soaks up any information like a sponge. “I have learned a lot in the past couple of years that is for sure - probably way too much for you to put on paper. “I have learnt that golf is definitely for me. I feel I belong on the tour world now just want to take any opportunities I have in front of me and anything that comes my way just want to soak it all up.” He is looking to put those lessons into practice when he makes his debut at the Eisenhower. “There is big excitement there but I am also pretty nervous as well. It is all of the best amateurs in the world coming together so it is going to be a good challenge to play alongside them.” Its 20 years since New Zealand famously won the Eisenhower World Amateur Team’s Championship and this year’s team believe it is time history repeated. The victory in 1992 by the team of Phil Tataurangi, Michael Campbell, Stephen Scahill and Grant Moorhead in Canada has gone down in Kiwi sporting folklore. After the season McCall has had he is full of belief that than can create an upset. “My preparation before I came over for this event went great. I posting some really good numbers and I was very happy with how my game is progressing. “The biggest difference for me in the last 12 months has been time practicing. I have worked more specifically on areas on my game that aren’t up to scratch. Putting in the time in these areas has paid off untold amounts. “It has been great sitting down with the team and sorting out our goals for this event. If we combine well as a team and the team spirit and bondage is there then I think we will have a real shot at bringing home some silverware.” More than 70 countries from around the world are in Turkey to contest the Eisenhower. France won the 2010 event at the Buenos Aires and Olivos Golf Clubs ahead of Denmark and Dane Joachim Hansen was the individual winner. New Zealand’s Ben Campbell finished fourth on the individual standings. The Eisenhower Trophy has been won by 10 different teams since the event began in 1958 at the Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland. The United States is the most successful country in the Eisenhower history with 13 wins. Great Britain and Ireland, who last combined as a team in 2000, has four wins and Australia has three titles. New Zealand is one of seven countries who have won the WATC trophy once alongside Japan, Canada, Sweden, Netherlands, Scotland and France. Source: NZ Golf

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