Eighteen WA golfers have their eyes on the coveted prize that is the Australian Amateur Championship title when it tees off in Victoria tomorrow.
Fourteen WA men and four women will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Cam Smith, Brett Rumford, Minjee Lee and Lydia Ko in landing the historic championship titles, which date back to 1894.
Both men’s and women’s competitions will be played concurrently at Yarra Yarra and Keysborough golf clubs in Melbourne’s revered sandbelt, with a number of WA’s finest considered realistic title contenders.
Despite a shaky closing round at last week’s Master of the Amateurs event in Victoria – at which he was right in the mix after 54 holes – Mount Lawley’s Jordan Doull has been in fine form in Golf Australia ranking events for several months.
With top-10 finishes in the Queensland Amateur Championship (9th), Mandurah Amateur Open (9th), South Australian Amateur (2nd) and Dunes Medal (5th) in the closing third of 2023, Doull also racked up a top-20 finish at the WA Open and a glut of victories at prestigious WA club championships.
The 24-year-old finished 2023 in 6th place on the Golf Australia Men’s Order of Merit and could well be one to watch this week.
Jordan Doull has enjoyed a fine string of results in recent months
Playing in his final Australian Amateur before heading off to play college golf in Idaho in August, Joseph Buttress of The Western Australian Golf Club is another decent dark horse for the title.
Still only 18, Buttress has twice finished 2nd in the Australian Junior Amateur, and enjoyed a top-20 finish in this event in 2023. He has also produced some fine results overseas, notably a top-10 finish at last year’s US Junior Amateur, setting a course record in qualifying.
On his day a match for anyone in Australia, the 2022 Australian Boys Order of Merit winner and 2023 Cam Smith Scholarship recipient has all the goods required to make a good run this week.
WA state captain Connor Fewkes (Goldfields GC) will also be looking to make an impression in Victoria. The 23-year-old played some of his best golf of 2023 interstate and overseas last year, with a top-five in the SA Amateur Classic and two top-20s in the Pacific Coast Amateur and North & South Amateur in the US.
Fewkes’ consistency was rewarded with a first call-up by Australia for last October’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.
The strong contingent of WA golfers in the men’s championship also includes 2023 Australian Boys Order of Merit winner Josiah Edwards; reigning WA Amateur champion Ollie Marsh; Joondalup Classic winner Tom Addy; and Mandurah Amateur Open champion Michael Hanrahan Smith.
With Abbie Teasdale not competing, WA’s best prospect in the women’s championship looks to be Lake Karrinyup GC’s Jennifer Herbst, who largely competes on the US college circuit for Sam Houston State University.
Lake Karrinyup’s Jennifer Herbst plays most of her golf in the US
Herbst underlined her credentials with a strong showing at the Master of the Amateurs, where she finished outright 5th in the women’s championship, leaving a trail of Australia’s most highly rated players in her wake.
Three other WA women will compete: GolfWA squad members Amie Phobubpa and Sophie Williams, and former state junior captain Jorja Hinson-Tolchard.
The 72-hole stroke play Australian Amateur takes place between January 16-19. The 2023 champions were Kazuma Kobori (NZL) in the men’s event and Mizuki Hashimoto (JPN) in the women’s. The most recent WA winners were Connor McKinney (2022) and Minjee Lee (2014).
WA players in the men’s event
Tom Addy (Joondalup), Adam Baillie (Lakelands), George Barclay (Joondalup), Joseph Buttress (WAGC), Zach Capelli (Royal Fremantle), Jordan Doull (Mount Lawley), Josiah Edwards (Gosnells), Connor Fewkes (Goldfields), Ken Gao (Mount Lawley), Lachie Hall (Joondalup), Michael Hanrahan Smith (Cottesloe), Adam Hatch (Royal Fremantle), Ollie Marsh (Wanneroo), Ian Pienaar (Joondalup)
WA players in women’s event
Jennifer Herbst (Lake Karrinyup), Jorja Hinson-Tolchard (Gosnells), Amie Phobubpa (Joondalup), Sophie Williams (Mount Lawley)
You’ll be able to keep up with WA players’ progress at the Australian Amateur via the GolfWA news section and our Facebook and Insta accounts. You can also subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter here.
