Matthew Griffin writes: The Aussies arrived last Monday for the final event in our schedule and one of the biggest: The Western Amateur. It is played on Point O Woods GC which is a real US Open style layout playing 7300 yards and a par 70. It is a wonderful course and a true test of golf. With the practice rounds out of the way it was Wednesday and time for round one. A quality field teed it up as this was the second best field for the year anywhere in the world. A 44 man cut means you have to be on your game right from the start with 156 teeing it up. With perfect weather conditions in round one scoring was good with about a fifth of the field shooting under par. I started solidly with one over par after coming home with a couple of birdies. In general the Aussies struggled but hoped for a better day two. On Thursday scoring was a little better again in perfect conditions. For myself it was one of my best ball striking rounds I have had for a 68. I just couldn&apost get my putter going all day, which would have meant a much lower number. Hitting one out of bounds after hitting a cart path didn t help either. But it was good to make the cut and give myself a chance for the final two rounds. Jason Scrivener also had a 68 and was the only other Aussie to make the cut. On Friday we played 36 holes before the field got cut to 16 for the matchplay. The mark to qualify would end up being even par which was the same as the previous year. Unfortunately despite a good start I just couldn’t repeat Thursday s form and ended up shooting 72 and 74 for a five over total. With only 4 holes left I was only one over but in trying to make a couple of birdies to catch up, I ended up in trouble and dropped back. In general it was a disappointing week for the Aussies after what has been a good summer. It was probably due in some part to tiredness after a heavy schedule for many of us. So from here we all head home to return for the Intersate Series at the start of September. But before that it is off to the beach for a couple of days of relaxation.