Koh tops Luck, wins Australian Amateur
-- Golf Australia Photo
SEATON, Australia (Jan. 19, 2014) -- New
Zealand 19 year-old Tae Koh
clinched the first major win of his amateur
career on his first trip to Australia
with a resounding 6&5 win over Western
Australian Curtis Luck at The
Australian Amateur Championship presented by
Audi at The Grange Golf Club in
Adelaide.
The Manukau Golf Club member and World
Number 275 led 4up after the first
18 holes and said he was overwhelmed to
clinch
victory.
"It feels great obviously. Winning 6&5 was a
pretty good effort I thought. I
thought it was going to be a pretty tough
match. You play pretty good
players. To do it in that fashion is awesome,"
Koh said.
In doing so, Koh becomes the first New
Zealand
man to win the title since
former U.S Open champion Michael Campbell
did in 1992. Koh also earns an
exemption into the Emirates Australian Open at
The Australian Golf Club in
Sydney later this year.
"That’s big – Michael Campbell won a major and
was a great player. Hopefully I
can follow in his footsteps. The Australian
Open
– wow. Big crowds, I’ll have to
get used to that. Hopefully I get to play with
some good pros and see what
they do," Koh said.
Born in Korea, Koh moved to New Zealand at
the age of six and began playing
golf when he was seven after caddying for this
father. He stopped playing golf
for four years in his early teens to pursue
cricket
and soccer before returning
to the golf course four and half years ago.
For Luck, from Cottesloe Golf Club, it was the
end of a solid week and
continues his good form in 2014 following his
win at the Boys' Victorian Junior
Masters earlier in January.
ABOUT THE
Australian Men's Amateur
The Australian Men's and Women's
Amateur
Championships are Australia's oldest
Amateur
Golf Championships, with both having
been
played since 1894. Long held as a match play event,
in 2021 the format changed to 72 holes
of stroke play.
View Complete Tournament Information