16 Jan 2020 | National Championships |
Porter pushed to playoff, progresses at #AusAm
by Contributor
By Kirsty Wrice
Nail-biting playoffs were the order of the day on Thursday at the Australian Women’s Amateur in Brisbane.
Half of the 16 matches in the Rd of 32 made it up the 18th hole, with four of those needing extra golf to decide the victor.
But the mightiest of battles was between Queenslanders and training besties, Cassie Porter and Sarah Wilson.
Wilson, who hails from Pelican Waters, held the upper-hand in the early stages but neither player could build a lead of more than one hole all day.
Porter took the lead with a birdie at the 12th but couldn't put Wilson away, the Sunshine Coast local missing a chance to end the match on the 18th when her 10-foot par putt slid by.
For the second time in six days, Porter was forced to enter sudden death mode, on the back of a disappointing finish to her Australian Master of the Amateurs campaign last week.
But after rifling her approach straight over the flagstick, the 17-year-old drained the resulting mid-range birdie putt to seal the win and keep her Australian Amateur dream alive.
“I was going down that last hole with a bit of ‘last week-itis’ so it’s nice to break that trend,” said Porter.
“It was unfortunate that we came up against each other today, but it was a great match and so friendly.
“It would be such an honour to do well in your own Aus Am, in your own state.”
The recently crowned Vic Junior Open champ will face off against young gun Kirsten Rudgeley tomorrow after the West Australian was the first woman to punch her ticket into the Rd of 16 thanks to a dominant 6&5 win over Victoria’s Kono Matsumoto.
But the intensity remained at Royal Queensland as the day went on with No.64 seed Alex Hilliard, who earned her place following a two-hole playoff in the morning, taking control in her match against No.2 seed, Doey Choi.
Hilliard missed an opportunity to win on the 18th green after both girls drove into the fairway trap.
The duo headed back down the first and Choi offered Hilliard no chance at redemption, draining a birdie from the back of the green to book another tee time for tomorrow.
Fellow New South Welshwomen Kelsey Bennett (5&4), Grace Kim (1-UP) and Steph Kyriacou (5&4) also progressed, but it was Indonesia’s Ida Ayu Indira Melati Putri who produced the upset of the week so far.
The Indonesian knocked off No.1 seed and stroke play medallist Emily Toy of England 3&2, after earning the final women's spot in today’s match play field via this morning's last gasp playoff.