22 Dec 2022 | Professional golf |
Davis wins Sandbelt Invitational
by Dane Heverin
The cream rose to the top at the Sandbelt Invitational as Presidents Cup star Cam Davis held firm to claim victory by a shot from Kiwi Momoka Kobori at Peninsula Kingswood Country Golf Club on Thursday.
It was a dual-gender showdown between Davis and Kobori as they started the final round tied for the lead at 12-under par, but the PGA Tour player started hot with a trio of birdies to kick off things and he went bogey free from then in his four-under round of 67 to secure a wire-to-wire win.
”That was a hard fought battle over the last couple of days,” Davis said.
“I’m very pleased that I was able to play good enough golf to get on top. It was such a good week playing these courses, I’d love to do this as many times as I can.”
Kobori, who will play on the Ladies European Tour next year, was left to rue consecutive bogeys at the 12th and 13th holes, but she still claimed the women’s top honour.
Rounding out the podium was Peninsula-Kingswood member David Micheluzzi who fired home a final round 66, after a course record 64 at Yarra Yarra on Wednesday, to finish two shots back from Davis.
Highly regarded 14-year-old Victorian Amelia Harris took out the women’s amateur trophy with rounds of 75, 79, 72 and 74, and she admitted to constantly checking the leaderboard throughout her final round.
“(I checked it) like every hole,” she said with a laugh. “On the back nine I was getting pretty nervous, checking every couple of minutes to see what everyone else was doing. I stopped checking towards the end though.
“I knew I needed a par (at the last) because I didn’t know what the other girls were. I absolutely flushed my second shot (which she put to about 4 feet from a fairway bunker from around 135m) and made par. I was pretty scared of three-putting so I wanted to just tap it right next to the hole and two-putt for par.”
Fellow Victorian Connor McDade was the men’s amateur champion after finishing in a tie for eighth at one-under par after making four birdies in the last six holes. He carded rounds of 73, 70, 69 and 70.