Daniel McGraw wins the Queensland Amateur Stroke Play title – Golf update
Daniel McGraw, who was trailing the lead yesterday by one shot, came out of the wilderness to lift the Queensland Amateur Stroke Play title on Saturday at the Pacific Harbour Golf and Country Club, Bribie Island. McGraw scored a 74 in the opening round followed
by an under Par 71 in the second and managed to throw himself into contention with three-under, 69 in the third round. McGraw had a six shot lead when he entered the final round and battling tough weather conditions, the young golfer carded a four-over, 76
for the final 18 holes, finishing with an aggregate of two-over.
This is Mcgraw’s first major amateur title victory and will go a long way in strengthening his bid to become an established player on the Australian Amateur Circuit. Overnight leader, Dimitrios Papadatos, was only able to manage a four-over, 76 in the third
round and closed with a one-over, 73, finishing off for a five-over for the tournament. He settled for second place, three shots behind Mcgraw. Papadatos is the current Australian Foursomes Champion and also made it into the quarter finals of 2011 NSW Amateur.
Australia’s hot favourite amateur player, Cameron Smith, who had disappointing opening rounds, made his move in the third round to record his first under par score for the tournament with one-under, 71. He shot a score of 76 to settle for the third place
with an aggregate score of nine-over.
In the absence of top Australian Amateur players, Matt Stieger and Ryan McCarthy, the tournament was struck with a serious deprivation of high profile players, something which is bound to affect the financial portfolio of the event. Stieger choose to play
at the adjacent tournament, the Golf South Australia Amateur Classic at Adelaide, while McCarthy is still recovering from his skateboarding injury. The defending champion of the tournament Brett Drewitt also decided to let go his title at the Queensland Amateur
Stroke Play and went ahead to be a part of the stellar field of the SA Amateur Classic.
Top 16 players from the tournament will qualify to play at the Queensland Men’s Amateur Championship which will take place at Arundel Hills Golf Club starting May 3. The final round of the upcoming tournament will be played on Friday, May 6th.
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