Tim Hart leads Federal Amateur
BY Anthony Powter | Australian Mens Amateur Tour | 2009 Federal Amateur Open Championship | Round One | 02 Oct 2009
Queensland’s Tim Hart is the opening round leader at the Federal Amateur Open after a 6-under-par, 66, to have a two stroke margin over Brendan Smith and Ronald Su’A-Walker.
Matt Jager started the defence of his title at Red Hill strongly with the New Zealand Amateur Champion and Australia’s highest ranked world amateur firing a 3-under-par, 69, to be in a tie for 4th, along with Craig Hancock, Andrew Kelly and Luke Bleumink.
The late withdrawal of 2007 Federal Amateur champion, Daniel Beckmann, who had to leave yesterday’s sponsor’s day to have emergency surgery to remove a tooth, Bryden Macpherson with an illness and the absence of the talented Jordan Sherratt, has reduced the depth of field at the Federal Amateur this year.
Despite the loss of several marquee players, this weekend’s Federal Amateur is sure to shape up as an opportunity for the next wave of young guns to stamp their authority on the main Australian amateur scene.
Hart is one of them following a strong Inter-State Series by the Queenslander.
With a world amateur ranking of 121st, Hart has yet to secure a National Trial event and his best finish is a 2nd at last year’s Mandurah Easter Amateur, behind Beckmann. Hart has also five top-10 finishes during 2009 in main Australian amateur events and in 2008, was runner-up to Michael Raseta at the 2008 NSW Amateur Championship.
Today’s opening round at Federal Golf Club was the perfect start for Hart and the confidence booster he was after. No first round leader has gone on to claim the Federal Amateur in the last six years of the tournament and Hart will be seeking to alter this statistic.
The format at this year’s Federal Amateur is also unique with the cut being determined after 54 holes as opposed to 36. This change will open the field further and provide more opportunity for talented players like Jason Scrivener, who opened with a 78 to be in a tie for 86th position, to make a move, whilst Tasmania’s Ryan McCarthy will also be relishing the opportunity to improve on his opening 74, which has the dual 2009 Tasmanian Open and Amateur champion in a tie for 37th.
With previous winners including Nick Flanagan (2003), Gavin Flint (2004), Andrew Martin (2005) and Rick Kulacz (2006), who all have turned professional, the Federal Amateur is a sought after title. This year’s event is now an open affair for those fringe players to make their move and get onto the amateur radar.
Then again, watch the likes of Jager, Bleumink and Nisbett, all of whom are within striking distance of Hart.
