World Number 1 amateur Minjee Lee headlines a list of Australia’s best amateur golfers who will tee off in Canberra next week at the Australian Men’s and Women’s Interstate Team Matches to be played from 29 April – 2 May 2014.
In the Australian Women’s Interstate Teams Matches for the Gladys Hay Memorial Cup at Gungahlin Lakes Golf Club, defending champions Victoria boast World Number 5 amateur Su-Hyun Oh who has recently made the cut in her first Major, the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills in California. She will be joined by 2014 Riversdale Cup runner up Bianca Ling and 14 year-oldd Soo-Bin Park who won the 2014 Tasmanian Junior Masters.
Joining Minjee Lee in the Western Australian team is Hayley Bettencourt who has had a number of recent wins in Australian Women’s Amateur Ranking Events including the 2014 Rene Erichsen in South Australia and the 2014 Western Australian Amateur, as well as Australian Number 5 Hannah Green who was the WA Amateur Medalist and the Runner-Up at the Lake Macquarie Amateur.
With Australia’s Number 1, 3 and 5 ranked golfers in the Women’s team, WA will go in as hot favourites after winning the title twice in the past three years as well as finishing runner-up in 2013. Joining Lee, Bettencourt and Green in the squad will be Claudia Pisano and Hira Naveed of Mount Lawley and Alyssa Keir of the Vines.
The Australian Men’s Interstate Teams Matches at Federal Golf Club will showcase the most talented players in the men’s amateur ranks.
Favourites for the men’s event are defending champions Queensland who have won the Championship three times in the last five years in 2013, 2011 and 2010.
The team is headlined by National Squad Member and 2013 Keperra Bowl winner Taylor Macdonald along with Simon Viitakangas who has had a great start to the year with wins in the 2014 Australian Master of the Amateurs and 2014 SA Classic.
The Western Australian team is also a top contender featuring 2014 Australian Amateur runner up Curtis Luck who currently sits on top of the Australian Boys’ Amateur Rankings with wins in the 2014 NSW Medal and 2014 WA Amateur. He is joined by Jarryd Felton, winner of the 2013 Mandurah Open, 2013 Queensland Medal and 2014 Tasmanian Open.
Captaining the side will be Royal Perth’s Michael Dennis, who has over 80 Paxton event wins to his name. 2014 will mark Dennis’ 12th interstate series campaign as a WA representative, and his 8th as the captain. Dennis, Felton and Luck will be joined by Mount Lawley’s Michael Montgomery, Min Woo Lee of Royal Fremantle, Ben Ferguson of The Vines, Paul Chappell of Hartfield and Kiran Day of Royal Perth, who is replacing the injured Daniel Hoeve.
This year will also see the Australian Foursomes Championships contested at the respective courses for men and women on Sunday 27 April.
The Championships are Australia’s premier teams championships, with the men’s event having been played since 1894, the women’s since 1897. Entry is free for spectators, so golf enthusiasts are encouraged to watch the state versus state rivalry.
