14 Oct 2024 | Professional golf |
Qld amateur beats the pros in Fiji
by Martin Blake
Promising Queensland amateur James Goffman has pulled off the biggest win of his career, beating the professionals at the Fiji Open in Suva.
Royal Queensland product Goffman shot rounds of 73-69-71 to finish at 3-under overall at the weekend and win the $10,000 tournament by a shot.
"As a golfer just to beat any pro is special,," he told Golf Australia today. "To beat them all on an international stage is something else."
The 21-year-old lives at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast and is coached by Cameron Smith's mentor, Grant Field, and is headed back to Queensland this week to compete in the prestigious Keperra Bowl.
He is studying international relations at Bond University, but intends to become a touring professional. "The goal is to turn pro after I finish my degree, so that I can focus on my golf," he said.
Goffman led the tournament by two shots through 36 holes but lost the lead on the front nine of the final round. Two birdies on the back nine - including one from close range at the short par-4 17th - set up the win for him, and he was able to parachute in with a safe par at the 18th.
"It's funny, there's a creek at 18, and I missed my drive. If finished about a metre from the water! There was a palm tree in my way, and I got a gap wedge and shaped it around the tree, on to the green, and two-putted for par."
Goffman is a previous winner of the NT Classic and the Darwin Open, and has played the sport since he was five. He wrote to the tournament organisers earlier this year to secure a start in Fiji. "I was looking at the WAGR (World Amateur Rankings) website and I saw the tournament, I wrote to them and said 'any chance of an invite' and they said 'no worries'."
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