Jake Higginbottom and Saki Suzuki emerge as the winners of Queensland Amateur Championship
Welshman Jake Higginbottom defeated Tim Hart in a tightly contested match in the final round of Queensland Amateur Championship at Arundel Hills Golf Club.
Hart, who was also the runner-up in last year’s event, gained an early lead in the opening 18 and was 1-up by the lunch break. Higginbottom, however bounced back and turned the table around with his winning the 22nd and 23rd.
The 17-year-old Welshman further solidified his lead with birdies at the 26th and 27th and while Hart tried to stage a comeback with 30th and 33rd holes, Higginbottom made the final move on the 35th
to win the tournament with 2&1. Higginbottom is the second Welshman who has won on the Queensland Amateur circuit.
Hart suffered another disappointing week at the Arundel Hills as his runner-up streak seems to continue endlessly. Hart had no less than five runner-up finishes before he was finally able to win a tournament at the Federal Amateur. He finished second at
the 2009 Mandurah Easter Amateur, the 2008 NSW Amateur Championship, the 2009 Federal Amateur, 2009 Victorian Amateur and the 2010 Port Phillip Amateur. Hart defeated Daniel McGraw in the semifinal with a convincing 2&1.
Higginbottom won the South Wales Amateur title in 2010 when he defeated England’s Tommy Fleetwood with a 3&2 at the picturesque Royal Sydney Golf Club and seems to be quite at home with the Match Play format of the sport. He defeated Dimitrios Papadatos
1-up in the quarter final and Adam Mollis in the first round with an overwhelming 9&8.
Alongside the men’s championship, Saki Suzuki of Lakelands won the Women’s Championship by defeating Ali orchard with 2&1. The women’s final proved to be much tighter as both the contenders did not move past the three hole lead throughout the match.
The final also culminated at the 34th hole as Suzuki edged past Orchard in the final round. Orchard was three hole clear of Suzuki with her superb performance coming into the final set of holes but Suzuki gradually pushed herself closer and with
an excellent approach shot for the 34th she was able to clinch victory from Orchard. Suzuki was also the winner of last year’s Queensland Amateur title.
Higginbottom and Hart will now be setting their eyes on the next week's Keperra Bowl which is also World Amateur Ranking event.
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