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Caley McGinty’s brave bid to become the first Englishwoman to claim the South American Amateur title fell short when she finished tied third at this year’s championship at the Sport Francés Club de Golf in Chile.
The Knowle international started the final day two shots off the pace after opening rounds of 72, 71 and 74 but briefly held the lead after birdies on her second and third holes before going on to post a level-par 72 to finish the championship on 1-over-par 289.
That left the English teenager tied with Peru’s Giovanna Fernández, five strokes behind Colombia’s María José Bohórquez, who held a one-stroke lead after rounds of 70, 73 and 72 and clinched the title after closing with a 69 to finish four strokes ahead of Argentina’s Valentina Rossi on 4-under 284. Both Fernández and Rossi matched McGinty’s closing round of 72.
Thanks to financial support from the R&A a sizable group of Europeans regularly play in the championship and McGinty’s third-place finish this year equalled Irishwoman Paula Grant’s finish 12 months ago but was one place short of matching compatriot Bronte Law, who was tied second behind Paraguayan Sofía García in 2016.
McGinty was the only European to make it into the top 10 on this year’s leaderboard but her compatriot Mimi Rhodes (T16), Iceland’s Saga Traustadóttir and Wales’ Darcey Harry (both T21) all made it into the top 25. Ireland’s Rachel Thompson finished just outside that mark in a share of 26th place while Ffion Tynan from Wales was tied 29th. Jasmine MacIntosh was leading Scot in 32nd place.
Chile’s Benjamín Saiz-Wenz mounted a late charge to storm through the field and win the men’s title at the same venue.
He was three behind leader Vicente Marzilio of Argentina after carding rounds of 66, 73 and 74 but then came home in 30 to close with an 8-under 64 and finish four strokes ahead of Argentina’s Mateo Fernández de Oliveira and six in front of his countryman Tomás Gana on 11-under 277.
Fernández de Oliveira and Gana both finished with rounds of 69 but it was a different story for Marzilio, who dropped four shots over his first 13 holes before making birdies on the 17th and 18th to post a 74 and finish in fourth place on 4-under 284.
The leading European player was England’s Joseph Long, who carded a final-round 69 to finish in a share of eighth place on 1-under 287. That gave him a single-shot advantage ahead of fellow English international Jake Bolton, while Scotland’s James Wilson posted a closing 71 to finish 15th on 290.
Ireland’s John Murphy opened with a 68 but dropped to 17th place after following that round with 73, 76 and 75. Welshman Ben Chamberlain recovered from a third-round 79 to post a closing 73 and finish one shot further back in a tie for 20th place.
Englishman Ben Jones was the leading European in the Australian Master of the Amateurs tournament at Victoria Golf Club, carding rounds of 68, 71, 73 and 75 to share seventh place, nine strokes behind the winner, American Sahith Theegala. Jones’ 17-year-old compatriot Ben Schmidt tied the lead after an opening 66 but dropped into a share of ninth place alongside Australian-based Scot Connor McKinney after following that round with 74, 75 and 73. McKinney was fourth after opening rounds of 68, 74 and 69 but failed to put pressure on the leaders with a closing 77.
Theegala, a 22-year-old senior at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, carded rounds of 66, 68 and 69 to claim a five-stroke lead and then defied difficult conditions in the final round to post a 75 and finish four strokes ahead of South Korea’s Jang Hyun Lee on 10-under-par 278. Theegala became the first American to win either the men’s or women’s title at the Australian Master of the Amateurs.
“This is huge,” said Theegala, whose parents emigrated to Los Angeles from India when they were in their 20s and who plans to turn professional after he graduates in June. “This is one of the best events in the world. Even back in the States, everyone knows this event and it’s highly rated. So, to come here and win, that’s pretty special.”
The concurrent women’s event, played at the same venue, also was won by a product of US college system. Alyaa Abdulghany, a 20-year-old Malaysian junior at the University of Southern California, recovered from a bogey on the 71st hole to birdie the last and then beat South Korea’s Ho Yu An and Australia’s Cassie Porter with another birdie on the first hole of a play-off.
“I haven’t won in a while and this win is very important to me,” said Abdulghany, whose family moved to the US from Malaysia when she was 6. “It’s a boost for me and gets me ready for the season coming up at college. I’m very excited to see where it’s headed.”
England’s Emily Toy was the leading European in the women’s event, finishing tied for 20th with rounds of 76, 70, 73 and 80.
The European contingent now moves to this week’s Australian Amateur Championship at Brisbane and Royal Queensland. Neither Theegala nor Abdulghany is in that field.
Spain’s José Luis Ballester and France’s Lucie Malchirand both made impressive starts to the 2020 season when they finished second in the respective boys’ and girls’ events at the annual Junior Orange Bowl Championship at the Biltmore Golf Course in Florida.
Ballester, the 2019 Spanish Under-16 champion, closed with a superb 5-under 66 to climb to second place on 3-under 281 and add to a growing list of impressive performances which also include runner-up finishes at the 2018 R&A Boys’ Amateur Championship and last year’s European Young Masters in the Czech Republic.
Malchirand, who won last year’s French International Lady Junior Championship (Esmond Trophy) and went on to represent Europe in the Junior Solheim Cup at Gleneagles, also produced a fast finish, carding a 69 to finish on 1-over 285.
This year’s Junior Orange Bowl event was dominated by international players with Brazil’s Andrey Borges beating Ballester by one shot on 280 in the boys’ event and Japan’s Mizuki Hashimoto leading the girls’ event from start to finish to claim a two-shot victory on 283. Hashimoto’s 67 in the second round was the low round of the girls’ event.
Ballester and Malchirand were not the only Europeans to feature on the respective leaderboards. France’s Charles Larcelet recovered from an opening 75 to finish eighth in the boys’ event while Russia’s Egor Eroshenko (T12), Slovakia’s Matej Babic and Italy’s Matteo Cristoni (both T15) and Iceland’s Dagbjartur Sigurbrandsson and Norway’s Alexander Settemsdal (both T18) also claimed top-20 finishes. Irish international Joshua Hill, the reigning English Under-16 champion, was tied for 25th in a group also including Sweden’s Jakob Melin and Switzerland’s Nicola Gerhardsen after recovering from opening rounds of 78 and 79 to close with rounds of 72 and 70.
Past winners of the Junior Orange Bowl include Mark Calcavecchia (1977), Tiger Woods (1991), Cristie Kerr (1994), Inbee Park (2002), Ariya Jutanugarn (2010) and Lexi Thompson (2009). Last year there was a double European success with Italy’s Andrea Romano winning the boys’ event and Germany’s Nina Lang claiming the girls’ title.
English international Josh Hill can look forward to a dream European Tour double after qualifying for this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and next week’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
The 15-year-old Dubai-based youngster qualified for a place at the latter as the leading amateur on last year’s MENA Tour Order of Merit and then booked his spot in the Abu Dhabi event by winning the country’s national amateur title.
“It’s what every 15-year-old wants and it’s great to be the one that’s got the chance,” he said. “But I don’t want to put any expectations on it because that just adds a bit more pressure. I just need to go out, play golf and see what happens at the end of it.
“I’m most looking forward to seeing how the top players go about their business, how they prepare, see what they do to play their best and try to apply it to my game. I will be interested to watch (Brooks) Koepka to see what he does.”
Hill made headlines last October when he won the MENA Tour’s Al Ain Open at the age of 15 years, six months and 27 days to become the youngest winner of an Official World Golf Ranking-sanctioned event, breaking a record previously held by Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa.
England’s Annabell Fuller has enrolled early at the University of Florida and will join its women’s golf team for the forthcoming spring season.
Initially Fuller, a 2018 Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup player from Roehampton, was due to join the Gators in the summer but her arrival has been fast-tracked following a successful 2019 season during which she won the Major Champions Invitational, earned Rolex Junior All-American honours, represented GB&I in the Vagliano Trophy and played for Europe in the Junior Solheim Cup.
Last September, the 17-year-old Fuller was also named in the provisional GB&I squad for this year’s Curtis Cup at Conwy, Wales, alongside compatriots Toy, Lily May Humphreys and Bel Wardle; Ireland’s Julie McCarthy, Olivia Mehaffey and Annabel Wilson; and Scotland’s Hannah Darling, Hazel MacGarvie and Shannon McWilliam. The final eight-strong team is scheduled to be announced on May 11.
“We are thrilled to welcome Annabell to the team this spring,” said Gators head coach Emily Glaser. “She was ready for the opportunity. The timing was right and we are so happy to have her.
“Annabell is ready for this next step,” Glaser added. “I believe her maturity, character and work ethic will help her excel at college. We can’t wait to see her compete in the orange and blue.”
Fuller joins a University of Florida squad which also includes Sweden’s Elin Esborn, Spaniard Marta Pérez and Italians Clara Manzalini and Carlotta Ricolfi.
The news about Fuller came about the same time as former Scottish champion Connie Jaffrey announced that she is about to embark on graduate study at the University of Glasgow. “I’m so excited to start my new journey in becoming a primary school teacher,” she said on Facebook.
Jaffrey, the 2017 Scottish champion, from Kilwinning, spent four years at Kansas State University during which she claimed four individual titles and graduated with bachelor of science degrees in psychology and sociology.
Ireland and England have both named strong teams for the annual Octagonal Match to be played January 21-24 at Costa Ballena in Spain.
The Irish squad is headed by Robert Brazill (Naas), who was runner-up to Ronan Mullarney at last year’s Irish Amateur Close Championship, and also includes Keith Egan (Carton House), Eanna Griffin (Waterford), Rowan Lester (Hermitage), Matthew McClean (Malone) and Peter O’Keefe (Douglas). They will be bidding to win the trophy for the first time since the team event was inaugurated back in 2001.
England have won the event five times, most recently in 2016, and will be bidding for a sixth success with a team made up as usual from players in its “A” squad. Paul Broadhurst (Atherstone) and Max Martin (Royal Lytham & St Annes) are joined in the team by Joe Harvey (The Kendleshire), Jack Brooks (The Mere), Sam Bairstow (Hallowes) and Arron Edwards-Hill (Chelmsford) as they bid to improve on a disappointing seventh-place finish 12 months ago, although that was due in no small part to the fact they lost Joe Long (Lansdown) to a knee injury before the start of the competition.
Broadhurst is the elder son of the past Ryder Cup player and Senior Open Championship winner of the same name. Last summer he graduated from Lincoln Memorial University in the States after his team lost to Lynn University in the final of the NCAA Division II National Championship.
Edwards-Hill won last year’s North of Ireland Championship and was tied second behind Caolan Rafferty at the West of Ireland Championship at Co. Sligo.
The English and the Irish will face teams from Spain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Portugal in this year’s event. Twelve months ago, hosts Spain lifted the trophy for the third time in five years when they beat the Netherlands, 4-2, in a final in which the morning foursomes were cancelled due to fog. Germany beat Iceland, 4½-1½, in the third place play-off.
Brazill, Egan, Lester and McClean also are included in the Irish squad which will travel to South Africa next month to compete in the African Amateur at Leopard Creek (February 3-6) and the South African Stroke Play Championship at Randpark (February 10-13).
Brazill and his three colleagues will appear in that doubleheader alongside Amateur champion James Sugrue (Mallow), West of Ireland champion Rafferty (Dundalk), Sage Valley Junior and Peter McEvoy Trophy winner Tom McKibbin (Holywood) and Tiarnon McLarnon (Massereene), who won last year’s Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup.
Rafferty, a 2019 GB&I Walker Cup team member, travels to the Rainbow Nation at a time when he is still deciding what to do after his upcoming graduation from Maynooth University, where he is pursuing a business degree.
“I’m genuinely still in limbo,” the 27-year-old told my Global Golf Post colleague Brian Keogh recently. “I don’t know whether to make the jump (turn professional) or go out into the big bad world and get a job.
“It is something I will have to sit down and have a chat about with my coach Dougie (Bell) and with Neil (Manchip, the Golfing Union of Ireland national coach). Neil will be a big help because he has been through situations like this before.
“I will also sit down with my family and see what they all make of it too.”
E-MAIL COLIN