Jarryd Felton has gone back to back on the amateur circuit with a two shot victory in a shortened Steelscene Mandurah Amateur. A long blast of the siren early into Round Four confirmed what most had been suspecting through the weekend, that the weather would have its say by the end of the event. Despite the shortened format, no one could suggest that Felton&aposs victory in a field that boasted eight of Australia&aposs top 20 amateur golfers was anything but a worthy one. In a tournament where weather took centre stage, Felton handled the difficult conditions masterfully, shooting 71, 71 and 73 to lead wire to wire and take the championship by two shots over Aaron Wilkin and Nathan Waters of New South Wales. The highlight of Felton&aposs weekend was an eagle on the 11th in Round Three that catipulted him from equal first to the outright lead with a two shot buffer. Felton had pushed his lead out to three shots to sit at 2-under par into Round Four when play was cancelled with rain and wind inexcess of 130km/h forecast. Ranked in the four-hundreds at the start of September, Felton will move well into the top 200 after his back to back victories this month. Felton&aposs first National Amateur championship could also have big implications in helping him move into the higher tiers of the WA High Performance Program where increased funding and career development are available. Felton was cruising when play was called off on the 5th tee, a drive down the middle was immediatley followed by being informaed that he was the Mandurah Amateur Champion. “Yeah it felt strange. I hit my tee shot on the par 5 on the fifth hole and I was told were pulling play. I thought I would have to come back in a few hours to finish off but then he said ?Congratulations you&aposre the champion&apos.? “I was playing really well and hitting the greens and two putt pars so I was happy with how I was going to that point.? Felton has long been touted as the next big thing in WA golf and his two recent victories will certainly give some weight to the hype around the 18-year old from Gosnells Golf Club. “Its good to finally live up to expectations, last week gave me a lot of confidence and it was good to bring that through to this weekend.” With his victory, Felton joins previous champions such as 2006 US Open Winner Geoff Ogilvy, Brett Rumford, and Jarrod Moseley and will be looking to taking his run of form to Mount Lawley Golf Club where he will take on some of the nations best professionals at the Nexus Risk Services John Hughes WA Open Championship in October. In the teams event, Western Australia and New South Wales have shared the spoils of the Interstate Teams competition, tied on 447 strokes each with Queensland taking third place with 448 strokes.
Author: Tom Fee / Golf WA