Stieger Wins Tasmanian Open
BY Anthony Powter | Australian Mens Amateur Tour | 2011 Tasmanian Amateur | Final Round | 27 Feb 2011
Matt Stieger secured a wire-to-wire victory at the 2011 Tasmanian Open at Kingston Beach, bolting from the field on his back nine to record a seven-shot victory with a 13-under-par total for his first national selection event title.
Stieger recorded rounds of 65-67-69-70 and entered the final round three strokes ahead of Brett Drewitt after Drewitt posted earlier rounds of 67-65-72. A closing final round of 74 in difficult conditions dampened Drewitt’s chances at the championship, finishing at 6-under-par, two strokes ahead of Daniel Bringolf, after Bringolf stormed home with a closing 7-under-par 66, to finish in a tie for 3rd along at 4 under-par with England’s, David Coupland.
Throughout the four rounds at Kingston Beach Stieger was the only player to break par in each of the rounds against a field that included many of Australia’s best amateurs.
“I was playing solid,” said Stieger.
“I’ve being working on my goals and trying to play the best I can. That meant taking one hole at the time and keeping in the moment out there on the course. This is a massive win for me and confirms the work that I’ve done is paying off.”
Stieger is originally from Bellata Golf Club just outside Narrabri, a country town in New South Wales. In recent times his being honing his game under the watchful eye of John Serhan at St Michael’s on Sydney’s eastern seaboard. It’s a classic tale of ‘the boy from the bush comes to the city and makes good’, yet Stieger remains unruffled about it and the current challenges with his journey into the main amateur golfing arena.
“I really need to win a main event and set the record,” said Stieger to me in an interview late in 2009 after he’d made the cut at the Australian Open at New South Wales Golf Club. In a space of 16 months his achieved that and in the process gained the attention of national selectors after Stieger made his debut in a National Team at the recent Ashes Series against the English in Sydney earlier this month.
“I’m feeling much better about my game now,” he says.
“I’m holing a few more putts on the course when I need to and being more consistent with my iron play. John [Serhan] being great with getting my game and focus on the course right and without him I don’t know where I would be now. Winning an event like this is an important step for us and leading into the Riversdale Cup and Australian Amateur gives me plenty of confidence to keep going.”
This victory is important in a number of ways for Stieger other than in the timing leading into two of Australia’s main amateur events with the Riversdale Cup and the national amateur championships being played next month in Melbourne.
Not only does the 2011 Tasmanian Open reflect Stieger’s first National Selection title and his first main win on home soil, it solidifies his status as one of Australia’s most promising amateurs within the current fold.
Stieger had been close before in claiming a main Australian title with a tied 3rd at the 2010 Lake Macquarie Amateur and a runner-up finish behind Jason Scrivener at the 2010 Mandurah Easter Amateur. Since then his game has improved, as has his approach on the course. At Kingston he closed out for that all important victory on home soil after winning last season at the Pacific North West Amateur in the US.
Today, he got the job done and did it in style and against a stellar field that included the likes of British Amateur champion, Jin Jeong, New Zealand amateur star, Ben Campbell and other emerging Australian amateurs including Kalem Richardson, Lincoln Tighe and Rory Bourke. The win pushes Stieger’s world amateur ranking from 98 to 42, according to the Scratch Players ranking. This first time he’s gone inside the world’s top-50.
His name will go along side the likes Geoff Ogilvy, Brendan Jones and Mathew Goggin who claimed the Tasmanian Open title during the nineties. Recent winners include Nick Flanagan (2003), Ashley Hall (2005), England’s Ben Parker (2006), Rohan Blizard (2007), Tim Stewart (2008) and Ryan McCarthy (2009) and Jin Jeong (2010).
