Joshua Armstrong
(Golf NSW Photo)
TERREY HILLS, New South Wales (February 1, 2017) -- Joshua Armstrong has emerged as the one to beat after two rounds of the NSW Amateur Match Play Championship at Terry Hills Golf and Country Club.
The 17-year old, who won last weeks Avondale Amateur, got the better of world No. 20, Avondale’s Harrison Endycott in the morning’s Round of 32 before overcoming the giant-killing Tom Gill in the afternoon Round of 16.
Armstrong from Canberra was thrilled with the way he played today.
“I was able to put a lot of pressure on both of my opponents when I needed to today. I holed a lot of good putts, they weren’t exactly easy either, my focus on putting got the job done today.
“When I saw I was playing Harrison, it spurred me on, to beat a player of his calibre I thought it would give me a lot of confidence going into the rest of the week,”
“It was a match played in good spirit, we're both good friends, and we have a lot of respect for each other. We both played excellent golf.”
Armstrong had an easier assignment in the afternoon match up; Tamworth’s Tom Gill.
“Tom doesn’t hit it as far as me, but he hits a lot of fairways and a lot of greens, I had to work hard.
“It was a good win 5&4. I was joking with mum this morning, I might shorten it up this afternoon, turns out it worked out that way,” he smiled.
The remaining Round of 16 matches were all close affairs with the margins being little more than a couple of holes.
Armstrong’s opponent in his quarterfinal match will be Englishman Mark Hyde who had a 1 up win over NSW GC Harry Doig in a match that went the distance.
In the other matches, England's Scott Gregory had a close game against Jung Chanmin of Korea before winning 2&1, while his English Teammate Marco Penge prevailed over another Korean Seungtaek Oh, 1 up.
Victoria’s Lukas Michel took 19 holes to defeat Canadian Stuart MacDonald while England's Jack Singh Brar and Queensland Lucas Higgins fought a tight battle all the way to the last before Singh Brar prevailed 1 up.
New South Wales duo Blake Windred and Kevin Yuan had a disappointing afternoon, going down in their matches by a single hole to the Koreans Kim Dongmin and Kim Taeho respectively.
-Editors Note: Article is by Dave Tease of Golf New South Wales
ABOUT THE
NSW Men's Amateur
The NSW Medal is played over two courses. It is
two rounds of 18-holes stroke play and then match
play.
The field is evenly divided between the two
venues for the first day’s play with players
changing venues for their second round. The winner
of
the 36 holes stroke play
section of the Championship is the winner of the
NSW Medal.
The leading 32 players from the NSW Medal
(who have nominated to play in the NSW
Amateur) will be eligible to compete in the NSW
Amateur Championship Match Play, with each
match played over 18-holes other than the Final
which is played over 36-holes. The match play is
seeded with ties determined by lot.
View Complete Tournament Information