Arnold out, Jager in at NZ Amateur Final
BY Anthony Powter | New Zealand Mens Amateur Tour | 2009 New Zealand Amateur Championship | Semi-Finals | 27 Apr 2009
Matt Jager will encounter South Africa’s, Nicol van Wyk, in tomorrow’s final of the New Zealand Amateur Championships at Titirangi Golf Club.
Jager has played superb golf all week, grinding it out in the tough conditions as the Titirangi layout on the south western outskirts of Auckland continues to be lashed by strong winds.
It will be Jager’s first national championship final and the world number sixteen remains confident with his game and the 22-year-old is ready to secure another major amateur tile.
“I’m playing well and keeping the ball on the fairways, which is important on this layout,” remarked the world number eighteen.
“I’ve had two solid matches leading into this final, so I feel that my game can withstand the pressure time situation that will occur tomorrow.”
During his semi-final 2-up win over good friend Ben Wallace, Jager showed real poise and courage to come from behind during the last four holes to win the match against the New Zealander.
The same poise and determination were again exhibited in his afternoon match against another New Zealander, James Hamilton.
For the best of their match Jager was in the box set, at one stage breaking out to a lead of 3-up.
Hamilton then produced some immaculate approach shots into the greens to apply pressure and when Jager flew the green on the 16th to loose his ball in the thick rough, the match had evolved into an even affair.
The 18th would be the turning point as Hamilton’s wayward drive into the thick bushes just left off the dogleg proved penalising, after Jager’s approach landed safety in the centre of the green.
“It was tough out there,” remarked Jager after their match.
“I was just able to hang in there and whilst the way the win came about on the 18th was not really ideal, I again proved to myself that I can finish strongly to get the job done.”
Van Wyk was also required to do extra overtime in his match with Australia’s Scott Arnold.
Some streaky putting from the South African during the closing stages of the match proved the killer for Arnold, after the world number four held the lead for the best part of their encounter.
Usually a player will occasionally drain a 20 footer once in a match and consider themselves lucky, yet Van Wyk produced monster putts on the 15, 16 and on the 18th the square the match. All Arnold could do was sit back and watch.
A further three extra holes were required before a result came on the 21st hole after Arnold pushed his approach left of the green and was unable to get up and down to stay alive.
“That’s golf,” remarked Arnold about Van Wyk’s putter.
“Full credit to Nicol, he held in there and got the match with some impressive putting. Overall this has been a great tournament for me and I head now to Europe for some European Tour events events before turning professional in May.”
Arnold leaves the amateur ranks as the world’s number one amateur according to the R&A ranking and 8th under the American Scratch Players ranking.
With tournament wins in Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand to his credit, the 22-year-old has a promising future ahead in his formative years in Europe.
Australians have experienced considerable success at the New Zealand Amateur with eleven of the last twenty winners being Australians, with James Nitties (2003) now playing the PGA Tour arguably the most successful of recent winners.
Jager is poised to add his name to the championship trophy, however he’ll have to overcome a very determined and tenacious competitor in Van Wyk. Let’s just hope the South African’s putter has cooled down before tomorrow’s final.
