Date: January 14, 2013
Author: Golf Australia

All set for go at Australian Amateur

The 2013 Australian Amateur Championship tees off in Melbourne tomorrow, with a field of Australia s best amateur golfers joined by over 50 players representing 13 countries, all vying for Australia s premier amateur golf crown. A total of 288 men and women will conclude practice rounds today at Commonwealth and Woodlands Golf Clubs in readiness to contest qualifying over 36-holes with the leading 64 men and 32 women then contesting elimination match play, from 15-20 January. Viraat Badhwar (Qld) and Su-Hyun Oh (Vic) will come into the event full of confidence after winning the first Australian Ranking Events of the year the Australian Master of the Amateurs and the Lake Macquarie Amateur respectively. The World s Number 1 female golfer and defending Champion, New Zealand s Lydia Ko will go into the Women’s Championship as strong favourite, however four-time US Mid Amateur Champion Meghan Stasi will also be a strong force. The contingent of five players from Japan and Korea will also be hoping to take the trophy off shore, while World Number 4 Minjee Lee (WA) will be looking for her first Australian Amateur crown. Of the Australian players in the Men’sChampionship, 2012 Australian Amateur Medalist Cameron Smith (Qld), in-form Brady Watt (WA), and National Squad Member Brett Drewitt (NSW), will all be hoping the trophy remains Down Under. However 2011 Asian Amateur Runner Up, Korea s Soo-min Lee will be looking to take the trophy overseas, as will one of the three Japanese players or one of the four Englishmen or five Germans who warmed up on the Melbourne sandbelt last week at the Australian Master of the Amateurs. Vaughan McCall and 2012 Australian Boys Amateur Champion Tyler Hodge will head the New Zealand contingent. Once again, State and International Teams will contest the Ross Herbert National and International Teams Trophies, played in conjunction with the two qualifying rounds. The Amateur Championships are Australia s oldest golfing events, dating back to 1894. Past winners include Michael Clayton, Michael Campbell, Matt Goggin, Brett Rumford, Kristie Smith, and Nikki Campbell, and with both champions receiving exemptions into the Australian Open, they are the most prized titles in Australian amateur golf.