Queensland targets successive Interstate victories

BY iseekgolf.com | Australian Mens Amateur Tour | 2005 Australian Interstate Teams Matches | Preview | 11 Sep 2005

Queensland will be aiming for back-to-back titles when the Interstate Teams Matches gets underway at Perth’s Royal Fremantle Golf Club this week. The event is a round robin match play tournament with each Australian state represented. A contest between two states is comprised of four morning foursome matches and seven afternoon single matches. Each team is comprised of eight players.

Queensland and Victoria have dominated the series since 2000 but this year’s tournament appears to present a more even competition with several states likely to be in contention.

Last year Queensland won the crown and it goes into this year’s event with a strong team which includes AGU international team member Andrew Dodt and junior star Jason Day.

Dodt, 19, was runner-up in the Malaysian Amateur Championship this year while 17-year-old Day was the Australian and World junior champion last year and leading amateur in the Australian Open.

Western Australia will have a home advantage but the team also includes one of the world’s best amateurs, Michael Sim, who was ranked Number 1 in the US earlier this year.

Sim, 20, collected consecutive wins in key US amateur tournaments this year when he won the Sunnehanna Amateur and Monroe Amateur championships.

Veterans Jamie Crow and Lester Peterson have been included in the Victorian and New South Wales teams respectively.

Crow, 43, was a member of the Australian team which won the Eisenhower Trophy – the World Amateur Teams Championship – in 1996 and the previous year was runner-up in the Australian Amateur Championship.

Peterson, will line up for New South Wales in his 17th year representing the state. It will be a continuation of the long and successful amateur career for the 44-year-old. Peterson is a former winner of the Argentine, New Zealand, and Malaysian amateur championships.

The Interstate Teams Matches will be staged from 12-16 September.

Being held at the same time and with a similar format to the Interstate Teams Matches will be the Interstate Colts Teams Matches, for teams of six, aged 18-23. These matches will be held at Perth’s picturesque Western Australian Golf Club. This event was first conducted in 1993, whilst the winner last year at Keperra Country Golf Club was New South Wales.

Source – AGU