Despite incredibly trying conditions the 2014 Australian Amateur Golf Championships were successfully completed at Grange on Sunday 19th January.
With temperatures in excess of 40 degrees for 5 consecutive days it put all those involved to the test. Most importantly both courses held up extremely well thanks to the dedicated efforts of Course Superintendent Richard James and all his staff, together with others from nearby courses who also lent a hand.
Officials from Golf Australia and all players without exception were glowing in their praise and when asked about the standard of the courses terms such as ‘fantastic’, ‘awesome’, ‘fabulous’, ‘terrific’ featured prominently.
Fortunately the weather over the weekend was much more moderate and the quarter-finals and semi-finals played on Saturday together with the 36 hole finals played on Sunday were played in near perfect conditions.
There was some extraordinary golf played throughout the week and some of the highlights included a new course record of 67 on the East Course set by Ryan Evans from Great Britain during the qualifying rounds. He also had an opening round of 68 on the West Course to be the leading qualifier.
Other highlights included two ‘eagle 2’s’ by the ultimate runner-up 15 year old Karis Davidson from Queensland on the 6th and 8th Holes (East) during her semi-final. A hole-in-one on the 222 metre par 3 12th by Todd Sinnott of Victoria using a six iron. Max Buckley from USA also featured by reaching the 522 metre par five 16th (East) in two, hitting driver and six iron. The ultimate winner of the Women’s Championship Minjee Lee from WA played superb golf for the whole week and when she closed out her semi-final match on the 17th winning 2&1 she had played 63 strokes for the 17 holes completed.
Coincidentally both the Men’s and Women’s finals finished on the 13th hole with the Men’s Champion being Tae Koh from New Zealand who beat Curtis Luck from WA 6&5. The result of the Women’s final was the same with Minjee Lee of WA beating Karis Davidson of Queensland 6&5 to win her 2nd consecutive Australian Women’s Amateur title.
Both the East and West courses proved to be a real test for the players even though some members had concerns prior to the event that the new East Course would be ‘too easy’ for players of this calibre. This was certainly not the case and in fact the East Course proved to be the more difficult of the two, with the average stroke score of the 65 men to qualify for the match play being 71.55 on the West Course and 72.20 on the East Course.
In conclusion we wish to convey our sincere appreciation to everyone who volunteered or assisted during the event. The conditions were extreme with the heat providing an additional challenge to the week. The dedicated group of volunteers did an outstanding job and we cannot thank you enough.