Lee on target for semis berth at Amateur
BY Liz White | Australian Ladies Amateur Tour | 2009 Australian Women's Amateur | Matchplay Round Two | 23 Mar 2009
Justine Lee has hit form at the right time and is a hot favourite to make the semi finals at the Australian Amateur at Royal Queensland tomorrow.
Following on from her blazing 1 under 71 finish at the Australian Stroke Play on Saturday, Lee demoralised her opponent, Queensland’s Ash McCourt, 6 & 5 in the first round of the Australian Amateur match play today.
She then backed up with a convincing 4 & 2 win over Western Australia’s Jayde Panos in the round of 16.
The 16-year-old member of the Australian Golf Club in Sydney will meet Queensland’s Sheree Hasson in the quarters tomorrow after Hasson ended the run of New Zealand’s impressive amateur Zoe Brake, on the 18th.
In the toughest first round encounter today, Western Australia’s Whitney Hillier upset her fellow Institute of Sport squad member, Stacey Keating on the 20th.
Keating was a finalist at last year’s amateur and was aiming to go one better this year.
Hillier though faces a tough task tomorrow when she meets the Australian Stroke Play Champion, Julia Boland in the quarters.
Boland has hardly been troubled so far, winning her first round match over Malaysia’s Anil Johani Abu Bakar 5 & 4 and then recording a solid 5 & 3 win over recent Riversdale Cup winner Ashlee Dewhurst in the round of 16.
The two other quarter final matches sees Bree Arthur take on the talented Pei-Ying Tsai from Taipei, while Western Australia’s Jemma Partridge faces Malaysia’s Amanda Chin.
The semi-finals will start at around 12:30pm while the 36 hole final will kick off early on Wednesday morning at Royal Queensland.
