Date: December 14, 2014
Author:

Frazer Droop & Shelly Shin – Port Phillip Amateur Champions

Frazer Droop from the Commonwealth and Yarrawonga Golf Clubs has won the 2014 Men’s Port Phillip Amateur while New South Wales’ Shelly Shin has taken out the Women’s Port Phillip Amateur following the final 36-holes played at the Commonwealth Golf Club on Sunday 14 December.

 
A member of the Victorian Junior Boys Team in 2014, 18-year-old Droop came home with a final round of 72 for a four round total of 284 to win the men’s title by three-strokes from The Australian’s Kevin Yuan. Yuan had led going into the final round after a superb five-under morning round of 68 but faltered slightly during the afternoon with a 78.  
 
Shin, Australia’s No.1 ranked woman amateur, played superb golf across the four rounds. Consecutive one-under par rounds of 73 at Kingston Heath were followed by a 71 and 73 at Commonwealth for a four round total of 290.
 
The 16-year-old from the Concord Golf Club in Sydney won the women’s title by seven-strokes from Western Australian Hannah Green who closed with a 78 for a 72-hole total of 297. Mandurah’s Hayley Bettencourt finished in third position on 302 after closing with a one-under 72.
 
Fine but windy conditions continued into the final 36-holes at Commonwealth, creating scoring challenges for the 56 men and 25 women who qualified from the opening two rounds played at Kingston Heath on Friday and Saturday. With a blustery southerly wind ever present across the final day, the men collectively returned twelve sub-par scores while the women returned five.
 
Following the appreciated support of the Commonwealth and Kingston Heath Golf Clubs, the qualifying rounds of the Victorian Amateur have been held in conjunction with the Port Phillip Amateur from 2008 for the men and from 2012 for the women.
 
The leading 32 men with 72-hole scores of 305 or better and the leading 16 women with 72-hole scores of 320 or better following the completion of the Port Phillip Amateur now progress to the match play rounds of the Victorian Amateur Championship which will be played at the Victoria Golf Club.
 
With the Port Phillip Men’s runner-up Yuan unavailable for the Victorian Amateur match play rounds, a play-off was needed to decide the final qualifying position for the men between three players tied on 305. George Foo from Singapore was the successful player with a par on the third play-off hole to outlast Queensland’s Charlie Dann and James Grierson from Bonnie Doon. The match play rounds will begin at the Victoria Golf Club from 7.30am on Monday 15 December culminating in the 36-hole Men’s and Women’s finals on Wednesday 17 December.
 
The Men’s Port Phillip Amateur commenced in 1976 and has been played annually over that time at Kingston Heath and Commonwealth within Melbourne’s Sand Belt. The 72-hole Championship boasts former winners such as Mike Clayton (1977 & 1980), Brad Hughes (1987 & 1988), Craig Spence (1994), Stephen Allan (1995) and Scott Gardiner (1999).
 
The Women’s Port Phillip Amateur commenced in 2012 with Metropolitan’s Su-Hyun Oh winning in both 2012 and 2013.
 
Click here for the final results of the 2014 Port Phillip Open Amateur.

Click here for the 2014 Men’s and Women’s Victorian Amateur Championship match play draw

Click here for Match Play Progressive Scores for the 2014 Men’s and Women’s Victorian Amateur Championship