29 Apr 2024 | Amateur golf |
Vic Amateur semi-finalists decided
by Golf Australia
The semi-finalists have been decided in the Vic Amateur championship at Victoria Golf Club, with national champion Quinn Croker and prolific winner Caitlin Peirce looming ominously and a 14-year-old in the mix.
Indulging his love of the Melbourne sandbelt golf – he won the adidas Australian Amateur at Yarra Yarra just a few months ago – Royal Queensland’s Croker eclipsed Ali Rachid 3&2 and Jackson Green 5&4 on Monday to secure his spot in the top four.
Croker, who has already secured playing rights on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia for next season, will play Kingston Heath’s Abel Eduard in the semi-finals. Eduard was the 2023 NSW Amateur champion.
Concord’s Blake Phillips dominated his quarter-final against Queensland’s Harry Takis to win 6&4, and he will take on another NSW star, Kayun Mududana in the semi-finals on Tuesday.
Phillips is coming off a brilliant win in the Next Gen Amateur series in Sydney, while Mududana was a powerful force in the NSW triumph at the recent Junior Interstate Series in Perth.
Two of the country’s finest women amateurs will face off in a women’s semi-final on Tuesday, with national representative Caitlin Peirce from Royal Adelaide matched against Belinda Ji from Concord Golf Club in Sydney.
Peirce, the 2024 Riversdale Cup champion and a previous winner of both the SA and Queensland Amateurs, took down Jueun Jung 4&3 in a quarter-final on Monday. Ji defeated Victorian Jazy Roberts 4&3.
The other semi-final is between Kooyonga’s Imogen Jessen and Jaehee Yun from Box Hill Golf Club in Melbourne.
The 14-year-old Yun produced a stunning quarter-final win 2-up against Queensland's Annabelle Hutchings having shot 8-under for the afternoon.
In an illustration of the unpredictable nature of matchplay golf, Ella Scaysbrook, the NSW player who had won the strokeplay section by a whopping 11 shots on Saturday, was ousted in the first round by Gracie Larsen.
The semi-finals tee off at 7.30am Tuesday with the finals in the afternoon. Women’s semi-finals:
Belinda Ji (NSW) v Caitlin Peirce (SA) Imogen Jessen (SA) v Jaehee Yun (Vic)
Men’s semi-finals:
Kayun Mududana (NSW) v Blake Phillips (NSW) Quinn Croker (Qld) v Abel Eduard (Vic)
