By David Tease, Golf NSW

It took a birdie-par finish to even get into the playoff before Avondale’s Chris Fan could claim the biggest prize in his amateur career at the NSW Medal today. Riding a rollercoaster of emotions and battling more than a few self-doubts along the way, the Avondale member held his nerve to claim medallist honours for 2023, defeating Queensland’s Lincoln Morgan in a sudden-death playoff after the pair finished tied at 8-under par 134 in the 36-hole event. The playoff was an anti-climax in the end, with Morgan unable to get his ball to the green on the first hole, effectively conceding the victory to a delighted Fan. “If you look back over my last few weeks, I didn’t really expect this to come my way, but I managed to find some form coming in, and yes, I put it to good use," said Fan. “It was like a battle out there today. There was a lot of wind going around and constantly switching. I managed to hold on and made a good birdie on 17, then made a good up-and-down on the last to get in the playoff, so yes, happy with the result.” Fan will be hoping he can ride his newly found momentum into the matchplay phase, which gets underway tomorrow at Pennant Hills. First up for Fan will be Mollymook’s Jye Halls, who holed a clutch birdie in sudden death to claim the last spot in the knockout phase. Fan will be out to avenge his defeat at the hands of Halls in last year’s championship. “I’m gonna ride this momentum.” Fan grinned. “I know what I can do around that (Pennant Hills) golf course. I’ll just go out there and do my best, hit all my shots, pick up my targets, stick to my processes, then hopefully I’ll be holding the trophy at the end of the week.” Surfer’s Paradise star Haruhi Nakatani has claimed the NSW Women’s Stroke Play crown from a fast finishing Belinda Ji in a tense battle at Pennant Hills Golf Club. The Queenslander added an impressive 69 to her opening round 70 yesterday at Ryde-Parramatta to finish with a three shot buffer from JI. Last year’s NSW Women’s Amateur Runner-up, Shell Singh could only manage a second round 73 to finish a further shot back. The top 16 qualifiers for the match play was a clean cut affair, with Charlotte Perkins Matilda Miles and Michelle Bang locking up the final spots.

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Men's NSW Medal result

NSW Women's Stroke Play result