Aussies keen to end US season on a high

BY Anthony Powter | US Mens Amateur Tour | 2008 Western Amateur Championship | Preview | 30 Jul 2008

Rickie Fowler, the world’s top-ranked amateur golfer heads a talent-laden field set to compete in the 2008 Western Amateur starting tomorrow at Point O’Woods Golf & Country Club in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Joining Fowler are five players among the world’s top-10 including Danny Lee, Kyle Stanley, Rory Hie and our own Rohan Blizard, Matthew Griffin.

Fowler was the 2005 Western Junior champion and a quarterfinalist last year in the Western Amateur. In June, Fowler qualified for and made the cut in the 2008 US Open, finishing tied for 60th. He also is the 2007-2008 Sunnehanna Amateur champion and the 2007 Players Amateur champion.

The American starts as tournament favourite, if there can be such a thing, in a field that’s bursting with exciting talent.

Both Danny Lee and Matt Griffin arrive this week in Michigan playing some of their best golf and should seriously challenge for the title.

Danny Lee secured the William C. Campbell Award last weekend following the Porter Cup, which is given to the best player to record the low aggregate score in the Northeast Amateur, Players Amateur and Porter Cup. Lee finished even-par, 6-under-par and 1-under-par in each of the respective tournaments, for a combined 7-under-par total.

Victoria’s Matt Griffin is playing the best golf of his amateur career this season in the US having won the Rice Planters Amateur and has not finished outside the top-15 in his other US tournaments.

“It’s been a dream season so far,” remarked Griffin ranked 6th in the world.

“The Western is one of the bigger, if not the biggest amateur tournament outside the national title events like the Australian, British and US Amateur. The field is strong and the format is tough. It’s a real test.”

The Western Amateur combines a stroke and match-play format with a cut of low 44 and ties after the second round of stroke, then moving to the top-16 for the elimination match play rounds to determine the champion.

“It’s a tournament within a tournament,” says Griffin, who made it to the final round of stroke last year but just fell short of qualifying for the match play.

“I’ve learnt a lot about this event from last year, which is in a way a survival of the fittest type event. You have to focus upon each day and just keep yourself in there to make the match play rounds. Then once there as with match play typically, any qualifier is really in with a chance.”

Scott Arnold agrees with Griffin as to the toughness of the Western Amateur, the second ranked world amateur tournament.

“It’s a demanding course off the tee and you have to be coming into the greens with the right club as they are hard to hold. It’s my last event before heading back home, so I’m looking forward again to the week and hopefully getting the job done as this is just a quality tournament.”

Matt Giles is one of our most promising young talents and is playing in his first Western Amateur. Giles is appreciative of the enormity of the tournament and the history associated with it.

“This is a tournament that you want to win as a lot of big names have played and won the Western. I’ll expect the scores to be high as the course is set up hard and the greens are firming. I’m looking forward to it as there’s been so much talk about this event.”

One look at the list of previous winners of the Western Amateur confirms it’s standings on the world amateur stage. Jack Nicklaus (1961), Ben Crenshaw (1973), Curtis Strange (1974), Hal Sutton (1979-80), Chris DiMarco (1988), Phil Mickelson (1991), Justin Leonard (1992-93) and Tiger Woods (1994) are all former winners at the Western.

Australian Bronson LaCassie won the title in 2006 in what he later described as one of his major achievements as an amateur, before he joined the professional ranks.

“These tournaments are major events and a lot of people back in Australia don’t realise how big events like the Western really are. They are run like professional events with huge galleries and they are some of the toughest events you’ll play.”

This week marks the beginning of the end of the Western Amateur at Point O’Woods Golf Club in Benton Harbor Golf Club. Following this year’s event, the Western Golf Association will move the tournament to the Chicago area. Conway Farms (2009), Skokie (2010), North Shore (2011) and Beverly (2012) are scheduled to play host to the next four, with Olympia Fields and Rich Harvest Farms penciled in for 2013-14.