Riversdale Cup: The One to Win

BY Anthony Powter | Australian Mens Amateur Tour | 2008 Riversdale Cup | Preview | 06 Mar 2008

The Riversdale Cup, is an amateur championship our top amateurs want to win.

The championship is not only steeped in history, being Australia’s second oldest amateur championship (the first tournament was contested two years after the Australian Amateur was first played in 1894), but recent winners like Robert Allenby (1990-91), Brendan Jones (1998), Aaron Baddeley (1999) and Michael Sim (2004), have all progressed to made their respective marks on world golf.

“I rank it right up there as a title you want,” remarked 2007 champion, Tim Stewart.

Stewart returns to defend his Riversdale Cup title, starting tomorrow at the Mt Waverley layout in Melbourne’s east, appreciative of what’s needed to repeat his 2007 victory, where he secured the championship at 9-under-par, by a stroke from Andrew Dodt.

“Riversdale, is a course requiring precision off the tee, as well as keeping the ball under the hole, simply because of the severity of the greens,” commented Stewart after his first practice round.

“It’s a great tournament and one you look forward to. It attracts a strong field, no more so than this year where I hear organisers received too many entries, and had to ballot spots”.

Due to the enormous number of entries received, tournament officials were forced to ballot out over 70 players for this year’s tournament. The handicap limit was 1.1, reflective of the level of talent playing this week at Riversdale.

All the national squad members and the elite of Australasian amateur golf have entered, ready to challenge Stewart, who’s exhibiting great form, after winning the last national selection trial, the Tasmanian Open in late February.

“I like the look and feel of this course, but it’s a strong field and I’ll be taking one round at a time, but I feel my game is there are the moment,” said Stewart.

The cut will be determined after the third-round on Sunday and last year was at 7-over-par. The Championship will then be decided proper on Monday.

The majority of the players have already experienced the tournament conditions, having competed in the Australian Amateur Foursome championship at Riversdale yesterday.

Michael Foster, who with Michael Dennis claimed the national foursome title, is aiming to improve from his T5th finish last year and views that to play well in the Riversdale Cup, your approach shots need to be spot on.

“The way they set up the pins here at Riversdale, if you overshoot the mark, you’re in trouble,” remarked Foster, the 2007 US Rice Planters champion.

That’s the view shared by many of the main players, including emerging guns, Matt Jager and Jason Scrivener.

The two Western Australians have exhibited impressive form of late, with both having top-10 finishes in the last two national selection events. Each have the game and ability to win this event and are players to follow.

For Jager, it’s his third Riversdale Cup. He was T5th last year, and continues to challenge the more seasoned amateurs in major amateur events. Many believe it’s only a matter of time before Jager claims a major amateur title, and he’s optimistic it could be as early as this week at Riversdale.

“Sure, I glad with the way things are panning out,” commented Jager, who was 6th at the Tasmanian Open, T5th at the Lake Macquarie Amateur, 3rd at the Dunes Medal and 6th at the Federal Amateur.

“My goal is to try and grab one of these titles early in my amateur career and my game’s good at present. Both Jason [Scrivener] and I played this morning and agree with each other, this is a course where you cannot be too aggressive off the tee. That’s not the play and I’ll be surprised if you see many of the top line players using driver all the time here.”

It’s a full field of promising talent, and includes international stars like Danny Lee, winner of the 2008 Lake Macquarie Amateur and a strong contingent from the Singapore Golf Union. The Riversdale Cup ranks highly amongst other world amateur events.

According to the Scratch Players Group amateur title ranking, the Riversdale Cup has a 25th world standing, and is Australia’s 4th ranked tournament, behind the Australian Amateur, Lake Macquarie Amateur and the NSW Amateur. You then appreciate the event’s standing and understand why the Riversdale Cup, leaving aside its rich history, is one to win.