Victoria’s British Amateur Champion Bryden Macpherson has defeated United States Amateur Champion Kelly Kraft to seize the prestigious Georgia Cup Match at The Golf Club of Georgia.
Macpherson was propelled to a 2 and 1 victory by his superb putting as he tamed the quick greens of the Lakeside Course to win the annual contest between the reigning two Amateur Champions.
“Obviously, my putting kept me in the match,” said Macpherson, who was two-down to Kraft after four holes, but rallied to take a one-up lead to the back nine. “I was able to kind of grab control of the match by holing some putts and kept myself in it.”
Macpherson stretched his lead to three-up by the 13th with a par before Kraft retaliated to sink a seven-footer for par at the 14th to cut the deficit to two-down. But it ended at the par-3 17th when Kraft left himself 40 feet to the hole for birdie and pushed the ball well past the hole while Macpherson left his 35-footer to within a foot for a conceded par.
“I just never got the speed of the greens today,” said Kraft, the former SMU player who defeated top-ranked Patrick Cantlay of UCLA in the 2011 U.S. Amateur. “I just wasn’t able to make any putts. Now I know I have something to work on this week.”
Macpherson, who played two years at the University of Georgia, was thrilled to win an event that has featured players such as Sergio Garcia, Ricky Barnes, Richie Ramsay, Edoardo Molinari, Matteo Manassero and Peter Uihlein through the years.
The Georgia Cup all-time series now stands at 8-7 in favour of the US Amateur champions.
“It’s just another one of those things you can add to your list as top achievements as an amateur,” said Macpherson. “Now I can say I’ve won the British Amateur and The Georgia Cup.”
Meanwhile, in Seoul, South Korea, Victoria’s former winner Marcus Fraser has finished third in the Ballantine’s Championship.
The tournament was won by Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger, who cruised to victory with a final round four-under-par 68 to take the trophy.
The 26-year-old Austrian collected his maiden win after compiling a total 18-under-par 270.
Second-placed Richie Ramsay of Scotland carved out a flawless 65 but was never able to challenge the Austrian who maintained his dominance with ease throughout the final day.
With Fraser, who won the event in 2010, was France’s Victor Dubuisson, who was the opening round leader. The pair were seven shots back.