King the Queen at Dunes

BY Liz White | Australian Mens Amateur Tour | 2008 Dunes Medal | Round Four | 05 Dec 2008

South Australia’s Sarah King has shown she is a new force in Australian amateur golf, by claiming her second tournament in a row.

Today, the 22-year-old, who for so long has lived in the large shadow of Stephanie Na, beat home her State team-mate in spectacular fashion at the Dunes course on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.

With both girls even on ten under on the final hole, it was King who gave the lesson, birdying the par four 9th hole to take the Dunes Medal. Na, meanwhile made bogey.

“I have played with Steph a lot and I know what she has done, and I know how hard she works, and to be able to go out and do today what I did, it means a lot to me,” she said.

“It was pretty exciting to win it that way.”

King is particularly thrilled that she was able to win back to back national ranking event and both in wire-to-wire fashion.

“If someone had have told me at the start of the year that I would win two tournaments in a row, I probably would have laughed,” she said.

“After Tassie I thought ‘Oh well maybe I can do it,’ I actually do believe I am a good golfer and I can do it.

“But I have put a lot of hard work into my golf in the last 18 months, so it is great to see that hard work finally paying off.”

For Na, try as she might, she just couldn’t snare her first victory for the season.

“I have had so many birdies this week and just way too many bogeys, so today I just went out there and gave it all I had,” she said.

“It was good fun and a good challenge against Sarah, she is so very steady and consistent.

“It was good to see a mate do so well, she really has put in such hard work and it is all paying off now.”

King went into today’s final round with a four shot lead but surprisingly wasn’t nervous.

“I was more nervous yesterday, I don’t know why, but today I just tried to stay calm,” she said.

“I wasn’t really nervous until we came up the last hole, but that turned out alright.”

King finished her tournament on 11 under, while Na finished two shots back on 9 under.

On the final green, Na knew she had to make her 7 metre putt for any chance at victory.

“I had a feeling she was going to hole hers, I was trying my best to hole mine and it just didn’t happen,” she said.

“I went for it and I probably just tried too hard, but as much as I hate losing it is great to see Sarah win.”

Na threw everything she had at King today including a stunning eagle on the 15th hole. Her second shot was unbelievably an 8 iron into the par five green.

She stuck it to within 3m and sunk the putt.

“I was pretty pumped today so I ripped out a few,” she said.

NSW’s Allyce Watkinson finished third at the Dunes after shooting the round of the tournament, a stunning seven under 66. It placed her four shots ahead of Victoria’s Stacey Keating, who ended her tournament on a two under 290 total.

Sarah King plans to practice even harder in the next few weeks before she heads across to NSW to play the Lake Macquarie Amateur at Belmont in mid-January.

“I plan to play in a lot more tournaments next year,” she said.

“Winning these events has just given me so much more confidence, it is great.”

And the bonus for the South Australian is she is now ahead in the Karrie Webb points race. Waiting for the winner and runner up is a $10,000 cheque and a trip overseas to watch Webb prepare for the US Open.

“There is still a long way to go, but it would mean a lot to win that.”

On her current form it would take a brave man to bet against her.