Lydia Ko has sent her support to the New Zealand Espirito Santo Trophy team as they look to make history at the World Amateur Teams Championship - WATC, which begins tonight.

Fiona Xu from Titirangi, Vivian Lu from Royal Auckland & Grange, and Eunseo Choi from Takapuna are looking to become the first New Zealand team to hoist the Espirito Santo Trophy in the event's history. New Zealand had come close twice, finishing runners-up in 1982 and again when New Zealand hosted at Russley Golf Club in 1990.

Both the men and women play at Le Golf National and Golf Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche in France. The women get tonight just after 7pm while the men play next week from August 31 – September 3.

The team will be heading into the week full of confidence after their second-place finish at the Queen Sirikit Cup back in May.

Fiona Xu. Photo: BW Media / Golf New Zealand.

They'll be led by the in-form Fiona Xu, who has had a year to remember. She won the Australian Women's Amateur Championship in April and had two runner-up finishes at the Riversdale Cup and Rene Erichsen Salver in March. More recently, she's been competing in the US at the US Junior Amateur, where she lost in her quarterfinal match, and the US Women's Amateur, where she made the match play but went down in the opening round.

Fiona, who aspires of playing on the LPGA Tour, says her selection in the team is validating, especially after the excellent golf she has been playing.

'Getting selected in the team made me feel accomplished and satisfied with the hard work I've devoted towards my training.

'I plan to play the best I can but still have fun and enjoy the experience. I want to be able to learn a new thing or two about myself when playing.”

Vivian Lu is also looking forward to wearing the fern in the biggest event of her young career.

Vivian has had a stellar past couple of years playing domestically and has recently won back-to-back New Zealand Stroke Play titles. She also dreams of playing on the LPGA Tour and winning majors but wants to put New Zealand in the golfing limelight this week.

Vivian Lu. Photo: BW Media / Golf New Zealand.

'I felt really honoured to be selected. I have never been in such a prestigious event where all the best players in the world compete against each other," says Vivian.

'New Zealand is just home, and to be representing our country on the world stage in the sport I love, is just a dream come true, and I couldn't be more grateful.

'We can definitely win. We underestimated ourselves in Singapore [at the Queen Sirikit Cup], so this time I have confidence that we will do well and try to get the win.”

The third team member has had a quick rise to the top of the women's game in New Zealand. In the last two years, Eunseo has won six times domestically and finished runner-up to Lu at this year's New Zealand Stroke Play.

Selection into the WATC side has Eunseo feeling more excited and motivated than ever.

'I feel proud to be able to represent New Zealand, not just as an individual but also as a team.

'We played well at the Queen Sirikit, so hopefully, we can go one better with the team.”

Vivian Lu gets the Kiwis underway at 7.06pm NZT tonight.

She'll be followed by Fiona Zu at 7.17pm NZT, and Eunseo Choi at 7.28pm NZT.

Tournament information and live scoring: https://www.igfgolf.org/watc/watc-2022-france