Joondalup Country Club’s Luke Kidd stormed to the Men’s Stroke Play Medal as the weather-delayed WA Amateur Championship reached the knock-out phase today.
After lightning activity forced a three-hour suspension of play on Thursday, nearly half the men’s field were required to rock up early to Sun City to complete their second qualifying rounds before the match play draw could be decided.
Amidst some hot competition, it was 23-year-old Kidd (pictured above) – a little-known quantity coming into the event – who topped the men’s stroke play standings after he added a three-under-par 69 to his sublime opening 65.
His 36-hole total of 10-under-par left the big-hitting Kidd two shots clear of George Barclay (Joondalup CC) and WA state skipper Connor Fewkes (Mount Lawley), with 32 men qualifying for the knockout rounds.
Number one seed Kidd was given a tough opening match play clash against talented Lake Karrinyup teen Krishav Sheth, but he prevailed in testing, swirling conditions to post a 2&1 victory.
It was the culmination of an excellent day for Kiwi southpaw Kidd, who earns an exemption into the 2025 WA Open courtesy of his stroke play medal win and is feeling good about his match play chances, too.
“The driver has been performing these past couple of days, so I’ve probably had a few more wedges into the greens than other players and I’ve putted well, too,” he told GolfWA.
“The course is set up pretty nicely for a left-hander, with a lot of dogleg lefts that really suit my fade. Anything can happen in match play but I’m going well and looking forward to tomorrow.”
A former MMA fighter before shoulder injuries forced him to quit, the octagon’s loss could be golf’s gain with Kidd eying a swift transition to the professional game.
“I’ll definitely be jumping onto that WA Open exemption and hopefully it won’t be too long before I’m running amongst the pros as well,” he added.
Elsewhere, on a day of few surprises in the match play draw, a number of hotly tipped players made serene progress with big wins for Fewkes, Spencer Harrison, Ollie Marsh and Silvester Tan.
Defending champion Barclay survived a scare against Brendon Nazar to eke out a 2UP victory, but there was disappointment for WA state representative Tom Addy, who was ousted 2&1 by Pete Jefferis (The Vines) in what was arguably the upset of the day.
Also of note was a vintage display by the evergreen Stephen Lord, who romped to a 7&6 win over Royal Fremantle’s in-form Kloden Brown.
More at home on sand greens, Goomalling GC member Lord keeps the flag flying for country golf in the last 16 of the men’s draw.
The full match play scores are listed at the end of this story. Head here to access the final stroke play leaderboards.
Garner-Dart derails Smith’s comeback
Similar to the men’s draw, there were few surprises in the women’s round of 16, with the higher-seeded players winning six out of the eight encounters.
However, Lake Karrinyup’s Georgia Garner-Dart produced the result of the day as she fended off ex-tour pro (and former WA Amateur champion) Kristie Smith 2&1 to record the best win of her career to date.
Georgia Garner-Dart recorded a famous win over Kristie Smith
Twenty-one-year-old Garner-Dart – a geology student at UWA – admitted she had low expectations entering into her match with Smith but was delighted to get the job done.
“I definitely wasn’t expecting to win and it was pretty nerve-wracking to play against Kristie,” Garner-Dart told GolfWA.
“I arrived this morning and just told myself to give it my best but then I won the first hole and was like ‘right, let’s try and stay here’, and I managed to hold on.”
Garner-Dart’s reward is a match against fifth seed Kortni Houston (Lakelands CC), who eased to a 4&3 win over Royal Fremantle’s Taehee Woo.
Top seed Molly McLean from Victoria continued her fine form to beat Gosnells’ Saehi Suh 5&3, while WA’s Sheridan Clancy, Valerie Khuu, Amie Phobubpa and defending champion Amanda Gan all posted big wins.
Saturday will see the men’s last 16 and quarters and the women’s quarters, with the semi-finals and finals on Sunday.
Due to the loss of play on Friday due to stormy weather, the finals will now be played over 18 holes instead of the usual 36.
Match play results
Women’s Draw (seeding in brackets)
Molly McLean (1) 5&3 over Saehi Suh (16)
Sheridan Clancy (2) 5&4 over Nim Ford (15)
Valerie Khuu (3) 5&4 over Isobel Dorrington (14)
Georgia Garner-Dart (13) 2&1 over Kristie Smith (4)
Kortni Houston (5) 4&3 over Taehee Woo (12)
Amanda Gan (6) 7&5 over Heejoo Cho (11)
Grace Operchal (7) 1UP over Isabella Leniartek (10)
Amie Phobubpa (9) 5&4 over Katie Seol (8)
Men’s Draw (seeding in brackets)
Luke Kidd (1) 2UP over Krishav Sheth (32)
Connor Fewkes (2) 8&6 over Connor Pearson (31)
George Barclay (3) 2UP over Brendon Nazar (30)
Jakeb Dunkley (4) 1UP over Christian Nicholls (29)
Silvester Tan (5) 4&3 over Edmund Hall (28)
Declan Hoskin (6) 1UP over Nate Johnson (27)
Ryan Gault (7) 3&2 over Braedon Law (26)
Adam Baillie (8) 4&2 over Rocco Cucchiara (25)
Stephen Lord (9) 7&6 over Kloden Brown (24)
Ollie Marsh (10) 7&5 over Tavis Whitcher (23)
Liam Sullivan (11) 5&3 over Declan Pereira (22)
Riley Schafer (12) 2&1 over Jamie Warman (21)
Pete Jefferis (13) 2UP over Tom Addy (20)
Spencer Harrison (19) 8&6 over Paul Bucan (14)
Sang Jun Lee (15) 4&2 over Mason Burr (18)
Lachlan Hall (16) 1UP over James Dyer (17)
View the match play draw for Saturday here.
Connor Fewkes looks to be in ominous form after an 8&6 win today
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