Dennis leads Richardson at Mandurah

BY Anthony Powter | Australian Mens Amateur Tour | 2011 Mandurah Easter Amateur Championship | Round Two | 25 Apr 2011

Age is no barrier in golf as Michael Dennis has shown during the second round of the Mandurah Easter Amateur in Western Australia.

The Royal Perth member was swinging the golf club well before half the 141 field in this National Selection Trial event took to the game and having won this title in 2005, Dennis knows exactly what’s required to win around the Mandurah Country Club layout.

Dennis fired rounds of 70-69 to be at 5-under the card for a two stroke buffer over Kalem Richardson after the 2011 Tasmanian Amateur champion recorded opening rounds of 70-71.

Daniel Bringolf is in 3rd position at 2-under-par after rounds of 72-70, a stroke ahead of Oliver Goss and Ryan Peake at 1-under-par. Brett Drewitt and Anthony Houston follow in a tie for 6th position at even-par to be five behind the leaders.

First round leader, Geoff Drakeford, faded with a second round 4-over-par, 76, to be in a tie for 8th position with Mathew Stieger, Michael Montgomery, Rory Burke and Chris Brown, to be one stroke behind Drewitt and Houston.

The cut of top-70 plus ties came in at a massive 16-over-par.

Following two rounds just five players are better than par. This is a worrying statistic and again brings into question about the standard of Australian men’s amateur golf and our position on the global stage.

Even in previous years at Mandurah the scores have been elevated as the course is presented in a challenging manner reflective of hosting a main amateur event. What appears to be missing are the low rounds which have peppered National Trial events in the past, not just at Mandurah, but the other championships contested this season in Australia.

It might not yet be at the crisis stage, but we are not seeing the level of depth in our men’s amateur ranks that we’ve enjoyed in the past.

There certainly is a pool of promising emerging players making their mark, yet their numbers appear to be few.

Matt Stieger, Cameron Smith, Kalem Richardson, Daniel Bringolf, Nathan Holman, Brett Drewitt and Rory Burke certainly come to mind as the main wave of our amateur talent who are capable of ripping a golf course apart and going low into the red. Yet low scoring at these National Selection Trial events currently appears to be in the hands of a few and the breadth of our amateur pool is arguably at the lowest level it has been for a while.

Two years ago Daniel Beckmann won at Mandurah with a 14-under-par total. In the same event Matt Jager fired an impressive 65 in the final round to secure the low tournament round where fourteen players finished the tournament under par.

At Riversdale in 2009, Jordan Sherratt opened with a 63 to set up his victory. Jason Day at Belmont in 2006 closed with a 9-under-par, 63, to make the play-off with Englishman Adam Gee. Scott Arnold fired a course record 65 at the 2006 Federal Amateur, the same year that Rick Kulacz as an amateur fired a final round 65 to win the NSW Open. Bryden McPherson at the Dunes Medal in 2008 carded a sizzling course record 63 to win that event and Kieran Pratt in 2010 fired a third round 63 to collect the Lake Macquarie Amateur.

It was during this period that Australian men’s amateur golf was getting noticed, even the Americans at the time were wondering how Australia was producing players that were punching well above their weight in international events.

Presently, we are barely getting a ripple of international interest as to our status and who’s coming through. Hopefully, this will change and there has been some signs that we are not down and out for the count, yet we are certainly on the ropes and getting battered.

Nathan Holman this year at Riversdale recorded arguably the round of the season so far with a 10-under-par, 62, and Matt Stieger opened with a 65 on his way to collecting the Tasmanian Open, as did his good mate Brett Drewitt with his third round 65 in the same event. But low rounds this season from our best and finest are few and far between.

The scores at Mandurah so far don’t paint a pretty picture regarding the depth of Australian men’s amateur golf and while there are some notable exclusions from the field playing in Western Australia this week, it’s worrying to see such high numbers being recorded in an event which attracts National Selection Trial status.

Maybe we’ll see another 65 posted at Mandurah over the closing rounds. There are players competing that are capable to shooting that number, but so far no one is looking like getting close.

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