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Charlotte Heath became the first British player to claim the Australian Women’s Amateur title for a quarter of a century when she beat Indonesia’s Mela Putri in the final of this year’s championship at Royal Queensland Golf Club.
The English women’s squad member from Huddersfield beat South Korea’s Minju Kim, 3 and 2, in the semi-final and was in unstoppable form as she thrashed Putri, 7 and 6, in the scheduled 36-hole final to become the first Brit to etch her name on the trophy since Julie Hall in 1995.
The victory was the first for Heath (above) in a major international championship and earned her a return trip Down Under to play in the LPGA-sanctioned Women’s Australian Open and Vic Open if she can persuade her headmaster to give her some time off school.
Heath got off to a great start by moving into a four-hole lead after nine holes and extended that advantage to seven with birdies on the 10th, 11th and 12th. She went into lunch with an eight-hole cushion and was as much as 10 ahead after an eagle on the 21st before Putri launched a spirited fightback by winning four of the next five holes.
Heath regained the initiative with another birdie on the 28th and the world No. 229 went on to write her name into the record books when she rammed home a 12-foot birdie putt for a winning half two holes later.
“It was a bit stressful and I was super nervous to start with,” admitted the English teenager. “I got off to quite a quick start so that helped but then on the second 18 she started to play really well so it got pretty intense.
“I’m delighted to win a title like this and to get a place in the Australian Women’s Open and Vic Open. I’ve never played in any LPGA events before so hopefully I can get some time off school.
“My mum is working on it. … ”
There was also another English success earlier in the week when Emily Toy claimed her first silverware of the season with a victory in the 36-hole stroke-play qualifying event at Brisbane Golf Club .
The reigning British Women’s Amateur champion from Carlyon Bay in Cornwall carded rounds of 65 and 71 to finish two shots ahead of Australia’s Doey Choi and South Korea’s Min A Yoon and qualify as No. 1 seed for the subsequent match-play stage.
“I was pretty steady today which was nice,” said Toy after confirming top spot. “It was just getting the job done in terms of qualification purposes but winning the stroke play is great.”
It was the second time Toy has earned medallist honours in a stroke-play qualifier Down Under having also claimed top spot at last year’s New South Wales Open but her challenge in the match-play stage proved to be short-lived when she lost, 3 and 2, in the first round to Putri.
The Indonesian made the match play draw after squeezing through in a play-off before making it all the way to the final.
Tom McKibbin’s hopes of becoming the second successive Irishman to win the Australian Men’s Amateur Championship were dashed when he lost, 5 and 3, to host club member Jed Morgan in the 36-hole final at Royal Queensland.
The 17-year-old from Rory McIlroy’s home club Holywood gave himself the chance to emulate 2019 champion Conor Purcell when he beat England’s Ben Jones by one hole in the semi-final but found himself 4 down at lunch in the final and in the end could not quite claw back that deficit despite a spirited attempt.
“I didn’t get the win today but am still delighted that I reached the final,” said McKibbin, who won last year’s Peter McEvoy Trophy and Sage Valley Junior Invitational titles and will head to South Africa next month as part of the touring Irish men’s international squad.
“Congratulations to Jed who played great,” he added. “Now it’s home and school before heading to South Africa with the rest of the Irish lads.”
Morgan was spurred on throughout by a large and vociferous crowd.
“Your have no idea how badly I wanted to win today,” said the 20-year-old. “I had a lot of the members and my whole family here and my little brother on the bag
“I couldn’t have had more fun. The Australian Amateur is something I’ve always dreamed about winning. My biggest idol is Cam Smith. He won it so to join his name on the trophy is probably the best thing ever.”
Morgan got to the final with a 5-and-3 victory against England’s Charlie Strickland in their semi-final match. He also beat Germany’s Jannik de Bruyn, 4 and 3, in the third round. A third Englishman, Matty Lamb, also reached that stage but bowed out, 2 and 1, to Australia’s Louis Dobbelaar.
The Berkhamsted Trophy is about to create a world first by becoming the first elite amateur event to allow both men and women to compete alongside each other for the same prizes.
The host Hertfordshire Golf Club is currently working with the R&A, England Golf and Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup captain Elaine Ratcliffe on a flexible teeing system for this year’s tournament on April 2-4 which should ensure that both sexes can compete on an equal footing.
The 72-hole stroke play event will be eligible for World Amateur Golf Ranking points for both men and women.
The decision to add women to the field of the 61-year-old event was taken at club level following discussions with the club’s course consultant, past Walker Cup captain Peter McEvoy. It has already received the full backing of the authorities.
“The R&A’s Women in Golf Charter is a call to action for everyone involved in golf to do more to attract women and girls to take up this wonderful sport,” said Martin Slumbers, the R&A’s chief executive. “There are many different ways this can be achieved, and we are fully supportive of initiatives, such as this by Berkhamsted, which encourage women to compete and play at all levels of the game.”
“As the governing body for male and female golfers at England Golf, we are delighted to support Berkhamsted Golf Club’s forward-thinking initiative in making the prestigious Berkhamsted Trophy a mixed-gender event,” said Nigel Edwards, England Golf performance director and Team Great Britain leader for the 2020 Olympics.
McEvoy, a past winner of the event alongside the likes of Sandy Lyle, Luke Donald, Carl Mason, Andy Sullivan, Tom Lewis, Gary Wolstenholme and Graeme Storm, also sees it as an exciting development and something which may well be copied at other events, including his own Peter McEvoy Trophy at Copt Heath.
“I’m thrilled that Berkhamsted Golf Club has made this move, and to have such enthusiastic support from the R&A and England Golf is icing on the cake,” he said. “Berkhamsted is a superb test of golf and particularly course management skills. It will be fascinating to watch men and women compete for the same trophy on such a magnificent golf course.”
It is understood that 10 women will be invited to compete this year with a view to increasing that number significantly from 2021 onwards.
Scottish international Sandy Scott has been one of the big beneficiaries from the decision to revamp the World Amateur Golf Ranking
The Walker Cup player from Nairn moved up from 23rd to fourth with the implementation of the new Power Method at the start of the year. He is now ranked fifth, the second-placed European on the list behind Spain’s Eduard Rousaud Sabate, who is No. 4.
Japan’s Takumi Kanaya maintains the No. 1 spot, which he held under the previous system.
Other big climbers at the top of the ranking include Australia’s Karl Vilips (up from 18th to 10th) and Americans Davis Thompson (who entered the top 25 at No. 9) and Sahith Theegala (who climbed to 11th after winning the Australian Master of the Amateurs).
Theegala’s rise suggests we may well start to see more immediate changes than under the old system, which has got to be a good thing. It will also be interesting to see if the new WAGR will start to more closely resemble the independent Scratch Players World Ranking, which some commentators believe gives a more accurate picture of the current position at the top of the amateur game.
There are currently 13 Europeans in the top 25 on the revamped women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking with France’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard leading the way in No. 1 spot ahead of Sweden’s Ingrid Lindblad (No. 3), Italy’s Alessia Nobilio (No. 4), Slovenia’s Pia Babnik (No. 5), Germany’s Leonie Harm (No. 8), Italy’s Caterina Don (No. 9), Norway’s Karoline Stormo (No. 11), Sweden’s Maja Stark (No. 13), Sweden’s Linn Grant (No. 15), France’s Lucie Malchirand (No. 16), England’s Lily May Humphreys (No. 17), Ireland’s Olivia Mehaffey (No. 20) and Italy’s Benedetta Moresco (No. 24).
Amateur champion James Sugrue of Ireland will be mounting air miles as he prepares to take on the world’s top professionals at this year’s Masters Tournament at Augusta National.
The 23-year-old from Mallow has received his invitation through the post and will start his preparations as part of the Irish squad taking part in the African Amateur at Leopard Creek (February 3-6) and the South African Amateur at Randpark (February 10-13) before teeing up in the European Tour’s Oman Open at Al-Mouj Golf in Muscat (February 27-March 1).
He still is waiting to see if he receives an invitation for the following week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill (March 5-8) but has also the little matter of playing against the 2019 US Amateur champion Andy Ogletree at the annual Georgia Cup match at the Golf Club of Georgia, where he will be bidding to become the fifth successive British Amateur champion to lift the trophy after Romain Langasque, Scott Gregory, Harry Ellis and Jovan Rebula.
Sugrue’s biggest concern in the lead up to the Masters seems to be about who should get the eight guest tickets amateurs are allocated.
“The tough part now is deciding who gets them,” he admitted. “Mum and Dad have to get one and then there’s my sister, Michelle, and my girlfriend, Christina. Then there’s a close family friend and the Irish team captain, John Carroll.
“After that I’m not sure. I may leave it up to my mother to help with that.”
Sweden’s Johanna Samuelsson was the leading amateur at the Ladies European Tour Qualifying School pre-qualifier staged over the North course at La Manga in Spain.
The former University of Tulsa player from Djursholm carded rounds of 71, 74, 71 and 69 to finish tied fifth behind Scottish medallist Alison Muirhead and earn a place in this week’s final Q-School at the same venue.
Samuelsson was one of eight amateurs to progress to the final stage of this year’s qualification process with Denmark’s Linette Littau Dürr Holmslykke and England’s Georgina Blackman sharing 19th place, Germany’s Sarina Schmidt and America’s Ashely Shim finishing in the group in 24th place, Spain’s Marta García Llorca and France’s Anne-Charlotte Mora coming tied 46th and former English Curtis Cup player India Clyburn recovering from an opening 80 to qualify right on the mark in 58th place.
There were also good performances from former English amateur international duo Cara Gainer and Alice Hewson, who both turned professional at the end of last year. Gainer, the 2017 English Women’s Open Match Play champion, fired rounds of 72, 71, 71 and 69 to cruise through in third place while Hewson, the 2019 European Women’s Amateur champion, was eighth with rounds of 72, 72, 69 and 73.
The final Q-School starts on Wednesday, and its field will be augmented by 15-year-old Slovenian amateur Babnik and her German and Czech Republic colleagues Harm and Katerina Vlašínová, respectively. All three were exempt from the pre-qualifier.
E-MAIL COLIN