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Korea’s Min Yoon and Christopher Fan from Avondale have won the respective 2018 Port Phillip Women’s and Men’s Amateur titles following the final rounds of the 72-hole Championship played at Commonwealth Golf Club today (Saturday 8 December).
Click here for final results of the 2018 Port Phillip Amateur
Click here for 2018 Victorian Women’s Amateur Championship – Match Play Draw
Click here for 2018 Victorian Men’s Amateur Championship – Match Play Draw
A fine and mild day greeted players in a welcome respite from the heat and wind of the opening two rounds at Kingston Heath. With a gentle south-westerly breeze drifting in during the afternoon, conditions were ideal for the final day of the iconic amateur event. In an exciting finale, Fan and Yoon both fired superb final rounds of seven-under 66 to claim respective one-stroke victories in the Men’s and Women’s Championships.
Trailing Victorian State player David Micheluzzi by three strokes going into the final round, 18-year-old Fan stormed home with eight afternoon birdies to win by a solitary stroke. With both players tied for the lead playing the 432-metre par four 18th, Fan’s closing par to a Micheluzzi bogey sealed the Men’s Port Phillip.
Fan finished on a 72-hole total of seven-under 283 with the 22-year-old Micheluzzi on 284 and runner-up for a second successive year. The Lakes’ Josh Armstrong finished in outright third position after a final round of 69 for a two-under total of 288.
The Women’s Championship became an afternoon battle between 15-year-old Yoon and Maddison Hinson-Tolchard from the Gosnells Golf Club after overnight leader Kono Matsumoto dropped back during the final rounds.
The Western Australian teenager closed with a four-under 69 for a 72-hole total of 292 only to see Yoon go past with her stellar 66, including eight birdies to finish at three-under 291. In a week which saw the 168 players come from 88 different clubs, including 55 from interstate or overseas, outright third went to Yuka Saso from the Philippines on 295. Saso looms as strong contender for the Victorian Amateur match play rounds after finishing with rounds of 72 and 69 on the final day.
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.
Following the appreciated support of the Commonwealth and Kingston Heath Golf Clubs, the Men’s Victorian Amateur Championship qualifying rounds have been held in conjunction with the Port Phillip Amateur from 2008 onwards. This arrangement was consolidated further with the Women’s Victorian Amateur Championship qualifying rounds being played concurrently with the Port Phillip from 2012.
The leading 32 men’s players and the leading 16 women’s players from the Port Phillip Amateur will now progress to the match play rounds of the 2018 Men’s and Women’s Victorian Amateur Championships which will be played at the Huntingdale Golf Club beginning on Monday 10 December.
With Grace Kim and Alizza Hetherington now unavailable to play in the match play rounds, women players with scores of 309 (+15) or better have automatically progressed to the Women’s Championship, with Alex Hilliard and Jen Goh to play off for position 16. While men with scores of 304 (+14) have moved through to the Men’s Championship. While sixteen players exactly filled the women’s qualifiers, a play-off was required between four men for the final three positions with Jasper Stubbs, Andrew Richards and Darcy Brereton all surviving to reach Huntingdale.
The first round of the men’s match play will begin at Huntingdale on Monday morning at 7.30am with the first round of women’s matches take to the course at 12noon. Both titles culminate with respective Men’s and Women’s 36-hole finals on Wednesday 12 December.