17 year old, Stephanie Bunque from Victoria Golf Club is the South Australian Women’s Amateur Champion defeating Jenny Lee from Glenelg Golf Club 2&1 in the State Final played at Kooyonga.
Bunque who was second qualifier moved through to the match play final after defeating Ebony Heard 4&2 and Sophie Cusack 2up.
Coming into the state final Bunque was relatively confident admitting she didn’t know too much about Jenny Lee having not played many women’s events.
“I felt really confident in myself, I’ve been playing pretty solid this week and I knew that my practice was going to get me to where I needed to be so I was pretty confident coming in”. Bunque said.
“I just came off recent jaw surgery so I was off for about a month or two but I’ve really worked hard over the past month.”
Bunque was 2up after 18 and playing solid golf.
“I was pretty comfortable with how I was playing early on. I won the first hole then we halved a couple, then I won a few here and there and I got out to 4 up but I lost 15 and 16 which brought me back to 2up.”
Bunque’s intentions were more of the same for the second round, playing the course as it comes.
“I was just trying to maintain what I already had, and not try and do anything silly, just play really conservative and not worry about what Jenny was doing and try and play my own game and play against the course”.
After 27 holes, Bunque moved to 5up but the margin was reduced back to two with two to play.
“I made a couple of slip ups, I lost a few holes in a row but I still stuck to my own game plan.”
Lee had momentum but crucially missed the green finding the bunker on the Par 3 14th. Par was enough for Bunque to win the hole and move three ahead with four to play.
Lee pegged another back, but with Bunque two ahead and a hitting a great second shot to find the green on 17, the match was all but over.
“As I was walking up to it, it looked closer that what I thought and then I had a look from behind the ball and there wasn’t much to it, so I was like 'just drill it home' and then you’re done. My putt lipped out lower side for birdie and I was so shattered and a bit disheartened but still managed to get it done with par”.
Being her first big win Bunque felt elated post tournament.
“I’m really stoked with the win, I didn’t think I would have square the first day of strokeplay at Tea Tree Gully so that really set the tone for me. I think it really boosted my confidence.”
“I’m been doing a bit more mental stuff just trying to stay in the moment, not get ahead of myself just hit one shot at a time. I wasn’t as nervous as I though today, I was definitely shaking over my last putt, but it was all good.”
“It’s just awesome, it’s my first big win and it has really given me a huge confidence booster into the summer tournament season I guess, like a self-motivator, now I know I can do it.”
CLICK HERE for the tournament event page on the Golf SA website.