Stieger leads Australians at Western Am
BY Bruce Young | US Mens Amateur Tour | 2012 Western Amateur Championship | Round One | 01 Aug 2012
The opening round of the Western Amateur Championship was played overnight at the Exmoor Country Club in Highland Park in Illinois and it is the American 19 year old Curtis Thompson who has a one shot lead over a group of four players including Australian golfer Matt Stieger.
Stieger played early on day one and actually had the outright lead with a few holes to play but bogeys at his final two holes saw him finish at 4 under par 68. Late in the day Thompson passed him with his round of 67.
The field will be cut to the low 44 players and ties at the completion of 36 holes tomorrow with the leading sixteen players at the completion of 72 holes entering a match play phase.
Other Australians to have made a good start include Geoff Drakeford in 10th position, Rory Bourke 20th and Daniel Nisbet and Dimitrios Papadatos 28th.
The event will finish on Saturday when the semi-finals and finals of the match play are staged.
The last Australian to win the event was Bronson La Cassie in 2006 although New Zealander Danny Lee was the champion in 2008.
First played in 1899 the Western has a great honour roll including the names jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
Discuss this article in our forums
