Flint looking to add NZ Amateur to his impressive list
BY Bruce Young | New Zealand Mens Amateur Tour | 2004 New Zealand Amateur Championship | Round Four | 24 Apr 2004
It is to be an all Australian final at the New Zealand Amateur Championships tomorrow when Queenslander Gavin Flint takes on Victorian Jarrod Lyle in the 36 hole final at the Taupo Golf Club.
Flint overcame a perhaps surprise semi-finalist, in Logan Holzer from Auckland, by a margin of 5 & 4 after having accounted for New Zealand representative, Mark Smith, in the quarter final this morning. The semi-final started slowly with each of the first five holes being halved with pars until Flint edged ahead with a birdie at the par five fifth. From that point on it was almost one way traffic as the 22-year-old from the Virginia Golf Club in Brisbane applied the pressure and Holzer unable to respond. Flint won five of seven holes from the fifth and although Holzer claimed one back at the par three 12th, the match was all over at the 15th.
In the other semi-final, Jarrod Lyle, who only a month ago was runner up to Andrew Martin at the Australian Amateur Championship, accounted for another surprise package in Christchurch’s Andrew Searle. Lyle never gave the Russley Golf Club amateur a look in as he swept to a 7 & 5 victory and he now faces Flint in what promises to be an absorbing final. The 22-year-old Lyle is from the Shepparton Golf Club in Victoria.
Flint currently holds the Queensland, New South Wales and Victorian Amateur titles, a feat that had not been previously accomplished since 1951. Should he win tomorrow, it will be an impressive list of titles he holds at the one time.
Both Flint and Lyle are members of the Australian National Squad, Flint a member also of the Queensland Academy of Sport’s Golf programme and Lyle a member of the VIS programme at Moonah Links.
