England's Whitnell leads Federal Amateur
BY iseekgolf.com | Australian Mens Amateur Tour | 2007 Federal Amateur Open Championship | Round One | 28 Sep 2007
Nearly 150 players including a selection of Australia’s top amateurs and representatives from England, Asia and New Zealand faced very windy conditions on a difficult day for golf during the first round of the Federal Amateur Open.
Leading English amateur golfer, Dale Whitnell (ranked 74th in the world amateur rankings) leads the field after compiling a battling 71 to be 1 under par. Whitnell was generally happy with his first round lead.
“The conditions on the day were similar to those encountered on some of the UK links courses and that he was used to playing in these type of conditions.”.
There are a group of players chasing Whitnell, after scoring 72 (even-par) including Victorian state squad member Daniel Beckmann, Michael Foster (WA state squad), Luke Bleumink and Brendan Smith. One shot further back were a number of players on 73 that included Englishman Matthew Baldwin, Matt Jager (WA state squad) and Josh Younger (Victoria).
Tournament Director, Col Tolano said “The winds made scoring difficult and they were somewhat higher than the first round in 2006, but that the conditions were the same for all players throughout the day”.
Previous winners of the Open include Rick Kulacz (2006), Andrew Martin (2005), Gavin Flint (2004), Nick Flanagan (2003) and Andrew McKenzie (2002). Play starts again at 6.52am tomorrow on the 1st and 10th tees with the higher profile players hitting off shortly after 12pm.
The prestigious Federal Cup for amateur Club golfers will also held on Sunday and Monday with a field of over 70 competing for a range of prizes.
