The opening round of the 2020 WA Amateur has seen records tumble on both the Men’s and Women’s side of the draw.
Fresh off a strong performance at The Riversdale Cup that saw him just fall short of the title, Haydn Barron has rebounded superbly to set a new Melville Glades GC course record.
Barron surged to the top of the leader board, carding 10 birdies in his opening round to finish at 9-under (63). The lone blemish for the day was a dropped shot on the par-4 11th, his second hole.
Speaking after his round, Barron said, “I made five birdies on my front nine and my longest putt was about 3-feet, I just kept hitting it close. The greens are tough to read but if you hit it close enough and your rhythm is good then you’re always a chance. Today was one of those days where a lot of putts dropped for me.”
“I played an Interstate Series here a few years ago so I’ve played a lot of golf here [Melville Glades] and I know the pockets you need to be in for certain flags.”
“I’ll aim to shoot another low one tomorrow to get that top seed spot for the match play.”
Not content to let Haydn Barron have all the attention, Kirsten Rudgeley carded a course record of her own just a few minutes later.
Rudgeley, the defending WA Amateur champion, carded an opening-round 68 (6-under) to break her own previous course record of 71.
Not much seems to ruffle the young Mount Lawley talent and Rudgeley was particularly relaxed after her record-setting performance.
It was a good round, I didn’t do much wrong at all today. The last hole was disappointing, I probably played it a little bit too defensive.
I got a bit of confidence after finishing second at Riversdale and that helped me today.
When asked if there was added pressure to try and defend the title she won last year, Rudgeley provided one of the quotes of the year.
I actually forgot that I won last year,” she exclaimed.
This nonchalant and calm demeanour is probably one of the secrets to Rudgeley’s success on the golf course. Combine this with her recent hot form and Rudgeley may very well be on track to claim back-to-back WA Amateur titles.
Brooke Price and Maddy Hinson-Tolchard both carded rounds of 2-under (72) to leave themselves well inside the match play qualification cut-off after the opening round.
Abbie Teasdale and Kathryn Norris are also high up the leader board after even-par opening rounds.
On the men’s side, Gareth Steyn has shown his class to sit in second at 5-under (67) alongside Hayden Hopewell.
Queenslander, Max Ford leads the interstate charge and sits T4 after an opening round of 4-under (68).
