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Ben Schmidt maintained England’s proud recent record at the New South Wales Amateur when he beat compatriot Callum Farr, 7 and 5, in the scheduled 36-hole final of this year’s championship at St Michael’s Golf Club in Sydney.
Schmidt’s victory was England’s fourth in the tournament in six years following previous successes by Paul Howard (2015), Scott Gregory (2017) and Gian-Marco Petrozzi (2018).
There also was an all-English final three years ago when former Amateur champion Gregory beat Marco Penge by one hole in a terrific tussle at Terrey Hills.
Schmidt, 17, was one of the standout performers on last season’s amateur circuit and the Barnsley youngster took little time to prove that was no flash in the pan with an impressive performance against 21-year-old Farr, who was a losing finalist to Conor Gough at last year’s English Amateur.
Schmidt played near-flawless golf to be 5 up at lunch and moved further ahead with a par at the 23rd before completing the job with five holes to spare.
“I did all right last year and it’s good to get my first win of the season under my belt so soon,” said Schmidt, the reigning Brabazon and Carris Trophy champion. “I have played really well all week and felt comfortable out on the course and was able to continue that feeling into the final.
“My main goal before I started today was to treat the 36-hole final as two separate matches. It helped to narrow it down and focus on a shorter target.
“Callum’s a great mate and we got on really well. … We both knew we had to compete and somebody had to win. Callum’s had a great week too and it’s great for English golf.”
The English 1-2 came hard on the heels of Charlotte Heath’s victory in the previous week’s Australian Women’s Amateur and there almost was another English success in the Women’s New South Wales Amateur, in which Emily Toy battled all the way to the semi-final before losing, 4 and 2, to Queensland’s Kelsey Bennett.
Toy, the reigning British Women’s Amateur champion from Carlyon Bay, got the tournament off to a great start when she carded rounds of 69 and 71 to finish second behind Stephanie Kyriacou in the 36-hole qualifier and then rattled off comprehensive victories against Alexandra Hilliard and June Song before losing out to Bennett in the last four.
The following day, Australia’s Grace Kim made up for losing last year’s final with a 3-and-2 victory against Bennett.
“Second time is a charm,” Kim said. “I know Karrie (Webb) has won this championship and she’s a hero of mine so it’s exciting to get my name engraved on the trophy alongside her.”
England claimed their third piece of silverware in the space of a week when a team made up of its “A” squad players won the annual Octagonal International Match at a rain-soaked Costa Ballena.
The English team featuring Aaron Edwards-Hill, Sam Bairstow, Sam Broadhurst, Jack Brooks, Joe Harvey and Maxwell Martin beat Germany, Italy and the Netherlands in the group stage and then extended their 100 percent record when they defeated Ireland, 5-4, in a tense final.
Ireland’s hopes of claiming the title seemed in the balance when they halved their opening group-stage match against Portugal but they bounced back with victories against Spain and the Czech Republic to win their group before falling at the final hurdle to the English.
The star of the show for England was Edwards-Hill, whose 3-and-1 win against Eanna Griffin in final singles took his points tally for the tournament to an undefeated 6½ out of 7. Bairstow claimed 6 points despite losing, 2 and 1, to Rowan Lester in the final while Broadhurst amassed 4 points on what was his debut for his country.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the lads,” said English team manager Paul Ashwell. “I’m actually quite emotional thinking about how much the team has fought for this moment all week.
“To win all four of our games is remarkable and the guts the team showed in quite brutal weather conditions against Ireland sums these boys up.”
The top Irish player during the course of four days plagued by wind and rain was Lester, who accumulated a total of 5 points out of 7 and he was ably supported by Robert Brazill, whose tally was just half a point less.
Hosts Spain completed their bid to defend the title by beating the Netherlands, 5-4, in the match to decide third place with Eduard Rousaud emerging as their leading player with an undefeated five wins and two halves.
Further down the leaderboard Portugal beat Germany, 6-3, to claim fifth place while Italy clinched seventh spot with a 7-2 victory against the Czech Republic. With a victory in the final singles, Italy’s Gregorio De Leo finished as the only player in the competition with a perfect 7 points out of 7.
Germany’s Sarina Schmidt was the leading amateur qualifier at the Ladies European Tour’s Final Q-School played over the South course at La Manga in Spain.
Schmidt carded rounds of 74, 71, 72, 72 and 73 to clinch seventh place behind the winner, past Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup player Amy Boulden, on 1-over par 362.
The German world No. 221 was one of four amateurs who finished within the top 20 and claimed Category 8c membership on this year’s tour. France’s Anne-Charlotte Mora and Slovenian Pia Babnik were in the group tied in 10th place on 364 while Germany’s Leonie Harm made it right on the mark in a share of 20th place, one shot further behind. World No. 6 Babnik was the youngest player in the field at just 16.
It also was a successful event for reigning European Amateur champion Alice Hewson, who turned pro late last year and now has membership on the LET and on the Symetra Tour in the United States. With a closing 69, she jumped to fifth place and earned one of five Category 5c cards on offer at this year’s school.
Current world No 1 Pauline Roussin-Bouchard heads the list of 21 European golfers who have accepted invitations to compete in the second annual Augusta National Women’s Amateur, to be played April 1-4 at Champions Retreat Golf Club and Augusta National in Georgia.
Roussin-Bouchard is joined by fellow Frenchwomen Candice Mahé and Lucie Malchirand; England’s Toy, Annabell Fuller, Lily May Humphreys and Bel Wardle; Italy’s Caterina Don, Benedetta Moresco, Alessia Nobilio and Emilie Paltrinieri; Sweden’s Linn Grant, Ingrid Lindblad and Maja Stark; Austria’s Isabella Holpfer and Emma Spitz; Northern Ireland’s Olivia Mehaffey; Denmark’s Karen Fredgaard; Norway’s Karoline Stormo; Germany’s Paula Kirner; and Belgium’s Clarisse Louis. A handful of players still have to respond to their invitations.
One player who has reluctantly declined an invitation to the tournament is Australia’s Gabi Ruffels, who has opted instead to compete in the concurrent ANA Inspiration at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California.
Ruffels, who is currently on a golf scholarship at the University of Southern California, earned a spot in the first women’s major of the year when she won last year’s US Women’s Amateur.
“It was a really tough decision but I think we all decided ANA would be the best,” Ruffels told The Sydney Morning Herald. “I’m only getting the ANA start because I won the US Women’s Amateur and it’s a rare opportunity. They don’t give out invites to anyone at majors.
“I’m really looking forward to testing myself at the ANA and the other majors,” she added.
In the absence of Ruffels, Australia’s only representative in the Augusta National Women’s Am will be New South Wales Amateur winner Kim.
The championship is contested the week before the Masters with the first two rounds being played at Champions Retreat before the leading 30 players progress to the final round on April 4. The entire field will be able to play Augusta National during an official practice round on April 3.
Italy’s Moresco warmed up for her appearance in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur by winning the 2020 Annika Invitational USA played over the Slammer and Squire courses at the World Golf Village in St Augustine, Florida.
World No. 22 Moresco became the first Italian to claim the title after firing rounds of 71, 70 and 71 to finish two shots ahead of Texan Sadie Englemann on 4-under-par 212.
The victory earned the Italian teenager a start in the Symetra Tour’s Florida’s Natural Charity Classic and extends a string of fine performances which included a victory in last year’s Italian Under-18 Championship and second-place finishes in the Italian Ladies’ Stroke Play and the German Girls’ Championship. She also was third in the Spanish International Ladies’ Championship and fifth behind Humphreys at the Annika Invitational Europe in Sweden.
That victory gave English Curtis Cup player Humphreys a place in the Annika Invitational USA and she went on to finish tied for sixth with rounds of 72, 73 and 75. France’s Malchirand carded rounds of 77, 71 and 75 to finish in a share of 17th place while Darcey Harry from Wales was well down the field in 67th place.
Australian Amateur runner-up Tom McKibbin has confirmed he will travel to the United States in March to defend his title at the Sage Valley Junior Invitational in Georgia.
The 17-year-old from Northern Ireland – whom the Australian media labelled “Mini McIlroy” on account of the fact he plays out of the same Holywood club as four-time major winner Rory McIlroy – will face a strong field that will also include England’s Gough and Joe Pagdin.
Australia’s Karl Vilips is another starter after rising to No. 10 in the world on the back of a series of strong finishes culminating in a third place behind American Benjamin Shipp in the South Beach International Amateur at the end of last year.
This year’s Sage Valley Junior tournament will be staged for the first time in March, a month earlier than its traditional April dates.
Last year McKibbin opened with a 64 which ultimately helped him to a one-shot victory in his first appearance in the tournament.
This week four of Scotland’s most promising young players will have the chance to mingle with some of the biggest names in professional golf when they compete in the Major Champions Invitational at Lookout Mountain Golf Club in Arizona.
Gregor Graham, Carmen Griffiths, Evanna Hynd and Ruben Lindsay are part of the Tom Watson team for the 54-hole stroke-play event featuring mixed teams representing no less than 18 major champions. There also are individual titles up for grabs for both the male and female competitors.
The Scottish quartet are joined by a large group of European players who have crossed the Atlantic to compete in the three-day event.
A team representing the late Seve Ballesteros is made up of a Spanish and English quartet comprising Sergio Cavestany, Constanza Guerrero Bolaños, Abigail Rowlands and Rhys Williams, while the team representing Women’s British Open champion Georgia Hall features England’s Jess Baker and Rosie Belsham, Switzerland’s Alexis Valenzuela and America’s Buddy Wehrli.
Henrik Stenson will be looking for Gustav Andersson, Ester Fägersten, Algot Kleen and Louise Rydqvist to fly the flag for Sweden and there will be a lot of attention on Retief Goosen’s son, Leo, who teams up with Argentina’s Tiago Barni, Venezuela’s Gabriel Restrepo and China’s Ariel (Siqin) Yu in the team representing the late Payne Stewart. The English-based Goosen Jnr recently played alongside his dad in the annual PNC Father Son Challenge in Florida, where they reached a play-off before losing to Bernhard and Jason Langer.
England’s Louise Burke will represent Sir Nick Faldo alongside Taiwanese duo Hsinchiao Chang and Ting Yu Chen and South Africa’s Dylan Melville.
The tournament is the brainchild of six-time major champion Faldo, who has made a huge contribution to junior golf through his Faldo Series in Europe and Asia.
“It’s great to be back for another year of the Major Champions Invitational,” Faldo said. “Thanks to some very generous major champions, as well as our sponsors Golf Saudi, we have been able to take the event to a whole new level.
“Ultimately, it’s about inspiring the next generation by building a connection between them and some of their heroes. With the success of last year’s individual champions (Gough and Fuller) on the amateur circuit, we’re hopeful the event concept is really starting to reap rewards.”
E-MAIL COLIN