Two of Australia’s top amateurs will leave South Australia with some new trophies for the mantelpiece after New South Welshman Jye Pickin and Queensland’s Justice Bosio triumphed at the South Australian Amateur Championship on Friday.

South Lakes Golf Club’s Andrew Fiebig also departed Kooyonga with some hardware after he finished on top of the Men’s Country Championships played in conjunction with the stroke play for members of South Australian country golf clubs.

Emerging on top of the women’s strokeplay, in large part thanks to an opening round of eight-under-par 66, Bosio had a tough task in the final of the match play against Kooyonga member Matilda Miels.

Meanwhile, having moved through to the match play portion in a share of fourth, Avondale Golf Club’s Pickin faced off with Jordan Doull from Mount Lawley Golf Club in Perth.

Having won his earlier matches by tight margins, Pickin looked set for more of the same in the final with Doull, a player he is very familiar with from junior golf. The pair traded blows early before Pickin found his best golf to emerge victorious 6&5.

“Something we all have on our goals to win a national ranking event, and to do it at a course like Kooyonga on a challenging week was awesome,” Pickin said.

“I know playing against these guys is always going to be tough, especially on a course like this you have to plot your way around and get off the tee pretty well, then your iron play has to be pretty good into the greens.

“So it was always going to be close throughout each match, all the players at this level can play some great golf.”

Whereas Pickin eventually ran away with the title, Bosio’s victory went down to the wire, with Miels up early in the match before the Caboolture Golf Club member fought back, and with par at the 18th secured a 1-up win, her second around Kooyonga.

“It’s been a while between wins for me, so it’s good to get one done. Apparently I like Kooyonga. I’ve won there before in a junior tournament in 2020,” Bosio said.

Played for the first time as part of South Australian Amateur after a number of years inclusion in South Australian Men’s Country Week, the Country Championship awarded a reconstructed trophy and marked a special anniversary this week.

First played in 1909, the Men’s Country Championship was hosted at Kooyonga in 1923, the club’s first year, with Alan Reddy, grandson of that year’s champion Carl Faehrmann on hand to present Fiebig with the trophy as part of the club’s centenary celebrations.

A highly regarded tournament host, Kooyonga provided its typical well-presented and tough challenge this week, with Pickin noting its similarities to the Melbourne Sandbelt, where he will play the Asia-Pacific Amateur next month, as one of the reasons he had this event circled on his calendar.

“Playing this week seeing it was at Kooyonga, I knew it would be a great warm up for Royal Melbourne and test the game out for a few weeks’ time,” he said.

“It was good to get down here and play some firm and fast greens and the course in general.”

Similarly, Bosio is excited by her victory ahead of a busy summer having spent most of her time recently working on her game rather than competing.

“It’s a good little confidence booster, I’ve been grinding away at home, there hasn’t been too many tournaments on recently,” she said.

“Since I got back from the US it’s just been practice, practice, practice and it’s nice to see it’s paying off.”

Scores: https://www.golf.org.au/events#/competition/3538035/leaderboard