Top-10 for Hart at Players Amateur

BY Anthony Powter | US Mens Amateur Tour | 2010 Players Amateur | Round Four | 12 Jul 2010

Tim Hart fired rounds of 74-69-72-70 to finish at 3-under-par and in a tie for 8th position at The Players Amateur in Bluffton, South Carolina.

Hart was the best of the Aussies for the tournament, eleven strokes behind eventual winner, Kevin Tway, after the Oklahoma State Collegiate player carded rounds of 70-71-68-65 to finish 14-under-par.

Tway, the 2005 US Junior Amateur champion and son of PGA Tour member Bob Tway, started his final round one shot off the pace before matching the low round of the tournament with a bogey free score of 65 to pull away from the field. He finished seven ahead of overnight leader James White, who ended his tournament with a closing 73 following rounds of 67-66-75, which at one stage saw White leading the tournament by six strokes after Friday’s second round.

“I played well all round, but my chipping and putting saved me today,” said Tway, who notched his first career victory at the 2009 NCAA South Central Regional and in 2008 qualified for the US Open at Torrey Pines.

“I made a couple of birdies there on the closing nine and was able to secure the result.”

Tway, 21, becomes the third Oklahoma State player in the 11-year history of the Players Amateur to be crowned the Champion. The world number 22 stands along side former college mates Jonathan Moore, who won in 2006, and Rickie Fowler, who claimed medalist honours in 2007.

A top-10 finish is Hart’s best since arriving in the US last month for his first US tour.

Hart secured a top-20 at the Northeast Amateur and last week at the Dogwood started well with an opening round of 5-under-par, 67, to be the best of the Aussies after the opening round and went on to eventually record a top-30 finish.

With each tournament Hart’s confidence continues to grow as he seeks his first win after being close on so many occasions back in Australia at the Federal Amateur and the Queensland Amateur Championship where he secured runner-up finishes.

“I’m pleased overall with how I played and I’m feeling very confident with my game,” said Hart after his final round.

“I’m also feeling really good about this week. I played solid last week, preparation has been great overall and I’m just looking forward to the next event at the Southern Amateur.”

Ryan McCarthy was the best placed Australian behind Hart, finishing in a tie for 25th position at 3-over-par with rounds of 75-71-76-69.

Daniel Beckmann, runner-up in the 2009 Australian Amateur championship, finished in a tie of 29th position at 4-over-par with rounds of 79-73-69-71, along with fellow Aussies Bryden Macpherson (70-76-77-69) and Jordan Sherratt (71-71-75-75).

Kieran Pratt fired rounds of 75-71-77-72 to finish at 7-over-par and in a tie for 36th position. Kalem Richardson had opened well at the Players with rounds of 68-73, but found the conditions during the closing rounds a little tougher as he carded 79-77 to finish to a tie of 42nd position.

Luke Bleumink (76-77-72), Jason Scrivener (74-72-80), Mitch Krywulycz (71-83-76) and Brendan Smith (75-76-80) had missed the cut for Sunday’s final round.

Last year’s champion, Alabama’s Bud Cauley, finished at even-par 288, good enough for a share of 18th place.

Tway as the 2010 Players Amateur winner receives an exemption into the PGA Tour Verizon Heritage, which is played at Hilton Head’s Harbour Town Links as well as an invitation to play the Master of the Amateurs at Royal Melbourne next January.

The Australians move onto the Southern Amateur Championship at Shoal Creek starting 14 July 2010, where their New Zealand mates, Ryan Fox and Ben Wallace, will also contest for the prized amateur title.

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