Rotherham GC’s Ben Schmidt took the New South Wales Amateur Championship, beating England team-mate Callum Farr 7&5 in the final – his fifth national title in less than a year

BEN Schmidt made it an Aussie double for England when he won the New South Wales Amateur Championship after Charlotte Heath’s brilliant weekend victory in the Australian Women’s Amateur.

The 17-year-old Rotherham GC member turned in a dominant performance against Northamptonshire’s Callum Farr in the all-England final, at St Michael’s Golf Club, near Sydney.

The 7&5 victory was highly impressive and another landmark moment in the career of one of world golf’s most promising amateur talents.

Last year, Schmidt completed the Brabazon and Carris double – breaking Sandy Lyle’s 42-year-old record in the process, the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters, and the Justin Rose Daily Telegraph Junior Championship at Quinta do Lago, in November.

The Yorkshire teenager, who became the youngest-ever winner of the Brabazon Trophy at the 2019 English Men’s Amateur Strokeplay at just 16, helped England’s men to Home International success.

Schmidt’s success comes hot on the heels of Heath’s stunning win in the Australian Women’s Amateur Championship.

Heath – who also hails from Yorkshire – claimed the biggest win of her career with a 7&6 triumph over Indonesia’s Mela Putri, at Royal Queensland.

Heath’s victory helped create the feelgood factor among the seven England internationals who travelled to Australia for four top amateur events, as she became just the fifth Brit since 1894 to win the ladies crown, in what is the 10th oldest championship in world golf.

And Schmidt was happy to ride the crest of the wave just five days later.

“It’s great to get a win and the first trophy for the season,” said the player who is a member at the same Yorkshire club as Masters winner Danny Willett.

Schmidt said: “I have played really well all week and felt comfortable out on the course, and was able to continue that feeling into the final.

“To be honest, I played pretty flawlessly and against a player of Callum’s standard that had to be the case.

“My main goal before I started was to treat the 36-hole final as two separate matches. It helped to narrow it down and focus on a shorter target.

“I was able to win the first hole of the day hitting two good shots into the green and from there I just grew in confidence.

“Over the last few weeks everyone in the England team has been able to find a bit of form, and it’s great that I could follow up Charlotte’s win with this success.”

Schmidt was two-up after four holes of the morning round, but was pegged back when Farr managed a brilliant birdie two at the fifth.

But a strong back nine saw him take a five-hole cushion into the afternoon round.

When Schmidt won the fifth hole of the afternoon round with a par to move six clear, it was clear he had one hand on the trophy.

“Me and my caddie Sean had a great game plan and we stuck to it all week.

“I hit some great golf shots and didn’t make many mistakes, and the result shows what happened out there.

“You’ve got to hit it in the right places out here,” Ben added.

“I did all right last year. It’s good to get my first win for this season under my belt. It’s a massive confidence boost.”

Northamptonshire County’s Callum Farr
Picture by LEADERBOARD PHOTOGRAPHY

And Schmidt was full of praise for Farr, and admitted it was tricky taking on a team-mate and friend in such an important final.

“Callum’s a great mate and we get on really well,” said Schmidt.

“There were no hard feelings – we both knew we had to compete and someone had to win. Callum’s had a great week too and it’s great for English golf.”

It also meant an Englishman had won the New South Wales Amateur for the third time in four years.

Hampshire’s 2016 Amateur Champion Scott Gregroy beat Marco Penge, from Goodwood, in another all-English final, in 2017, while Staffordshire’s Gian Marco-Petrozzi won 12 months later.

Schmidt and the other six players representing England on the trip to Australia now have a day off, before a practice round on Sunday ahead of the Avondale Amateur, which starts on Tuesday.

Ben added: “The whole experience of being in Australia and coping with travel, time differences and style of golf courses has been amazing.

“I’ve played four courses now and they all have different features, different types of grass and that’s all part of learning the game.

“Hopefully, all the England players can show up well again in the Avondale.”

Heath returns to fray at Avondale

Charlotte Heath became just the fifth British player to win the Australlian Women’s Amateur Championship in 128 years at Royal Queensland GC. Picture by GOLF AUSTRALIA

HUDDERSFIELD’S Heath missed the NSW Amateur Championship as the final of the Australian Women’s Amateur finished some 12 hours before play began at St Michael’s.

But the 18-year-old will be back for the Avondale and does so with a spring in her step.

After winning on Sunday, she said: “It was a bit stressful and I was super nervous to start.

“I got off to a quick start and then in the second 18 she started playing really good and it was tense.

“I made two bogeys and she made two birdies and I dropped a few. But I kept my head and kept going.”

Heath’s win has earned her spots in two professional events next month – the Vic Open on the Bellarine Peninsula, and the Women’s Australian Open, at Royal Adelaide.

The England international is hoping her school teachers will be wiling to let her take up what should be the opportunity of a lifetime.

•GRACE KIM WINS NSW WOMEN’S AMATEUR

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Northamptonshire County’s Callum Farr – runner-up in the English Amateur in August – is one of a seven-strong England team heading to Australia in January.
Picture by LEADERBOARD PHOTOGRAPHY

SEVEN members of the England Golf’s performance squads are travelling to Australia in the New Year, to kick off their 2020 amateur golf season.

Five of the men’s squad and two from the women’s team are heading down under for four top-class tournaments in January.

Northamptonshire County’s Ben Jones and Callum Farr, Yorkshire’s Ben Schmidt, Tom Plumb, from Somerset, and Northumberland’s Matty Lamb will spearhead the men’s challenge.

Cornwall’s Emily Toy – the reigning Women’s Amateur champion – and Yorkshire’s Charlotte Heath will lead the way for the women.

Emily Toy, winner of The 2019 Women’s Amateur Championship. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

A month of competition starts with the Master of the Amateur tournament at the Victoria Golf Club near Melbourne, between January 7-10.

The England players will then travel on for the Australian Amateur, at Royal Queensland, from January 14-19.

The New South Wales Amateur follows immediately at St Michael’s Golf Club and the Coast Golf Club, in Little Bay.

The month ends with the Avondale Amateur at Avondale Golf Club, from January 28-31.

Yorkshire teenager Schmidt is the most decorated of the England Golf’s men’s party, having broken the record as the youngest-ever winner of the Brabazon and Carris Trophy double in the same season, at just 16, in July.

Jones reached the semi-final of The Amateur Championship at Portmarnock, in June, but missed out on a Walker Cup appearance at Royal Liverpool, in September.

Yeovil’s Tom Plumb did play for Great Britain and Ireland at Hoylake, where the USA regained the Walker Cup.

The 20-year-old, who won the South West Counties Amateur Championship back in June, was also crowned Cape Province Open winner in March. He has been an England international at men’s and boys level since 2015.

Hampshire Hog winner Lamb, who made his debut in the English Home Internationals alongside Schmidt, Plumb, Jones and Farr, who lost in the final of the English Amateur to Stoke Park’s Conor Gough, in August.

Corhampton’s Scott Gregory – winner of the 2017 New South Wales Amateur. Picture by ANTHONY POWTER

England’s successes Down Under – from Victorian Michael Scott to Scott Gregory

THE Australian Amateur dates back to 1894 – a year before the US Amateur was founded.

That makes it the fourth oldest national championship in the amateur world behind New Zealand (1893), South Africa (1892) and the R&A Amateur (1885).

Gloucestershire’s former Winchester College student Michael Scott, who emigrated to Australia at the start of the 20th Century, won the Australian Amateur four times between 1905 and 1911.

Scott also took the amateur honours at the inaugural Australian Open title in 1904, and won again in 1907 – beating both the professionals and the amateurs in the field by some seven shots.

The son of the Earl of Eldon also won seven Victoria Amateur state titles before returning to Europe to fight in the First World War.

Scott, whose sister Lady Margaret Scott who won the first three Women’s Amateur Championships, won two French Amateur titles in 1912 and 1922.

He made his Walker Cup debut in 1924, at New York’s Garden City Golf Club.

The Royal St George’s captain became the oldest player to appear in the Walker Cup when he also captained the Great Britain and Ireland team at St Andrews, in 1934, at the age of 55 – having become the oldest winner of The Amateur Championship a year earlier.

The only English winner Down Under in post-war times was Middlesex’s Warren Bennett – the Ealing man was crowned in 1994 – the Scots have a better record with Connor Syme winning in 2016, while Eric Ramsay won at Royal Melbourne, in 2005, and Jack Doherty at Mount Lawley in 2003.

But the English have fared better in the 36-hole strokeplay qualifier – at one point given the title of Australian Amateur Strokeplay Champion but now known as the Australian Amateur Medallist.

Danny Willett took that Strokeplay title in 2008 – preceded by Andrew Dodt and Jason Day (2006), while Wellingborough’s Ryan Evans took the prize in 2014 – followed a year later by Huddersfield’s Nick Marsh, six months after he beat Hampshire’s Scott Gregory in the English Amateur final at Saunton.

Australian Blake Windred claimed the Avondale in 2018 and 2019 and turned pro earlier this year. He was third Australian to win the Avondale back-to-back since its founding in 2006.

The last Englishman to claim the title in New South Wales was Evans in 2014 that marked a memorable month Down Under for Evans and England Golf.

Woburn’s Steve Lewton, who went on to play on the European Challenge and Asian Tours, was the second ever winner in 2007, followed by Coventry’s Matt Cryer a year later.

In 2017, Gregory, from Corhampton, claimed the New South Wales Amateur title as the reigning Amateur Championship beat Sussex’s Marco Penge in the final, at Terrey Hills G&CC.

The Corhampton player – who headed England Golf’s party that year – also featured in the Master of the Amateur tournament and met Open Champion legend Peter Thompson during a practice round.

The Australian, who lifted the Claret Jug three years’ running in the mid-1950s – and five times in total between 1954 and 1965 – died in June 2018.

Staffordshire’s Gian-Marco Petrozzi claimed the NSW title in 2018. Previous English winners include Formby’s Paul Howard (2015), Hexham’s Jack Senior (2011) and Gary Wolstenholme (2007).

The New South Wales dates back to 1898 – the most famous champion was New Zealand’s Michael Campbell, the winner in 1992, who went on to win the US Open in 2005 at Pinehurst.

•For more information about the amateur events England Golf’s party will play in Australia, in January, visit www.golf.org.au

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