Gough and Araki respective Master of Amateur Champions


Gough and Araki – Master of Amateurs Champions – photo Anthony Powter

England’s John Gough and Japan’s Yuna Araki have emerged as the winners of their respective Master of the Amateurs Championships at the Southern Golf Club in Melbourne, Gough home by four over Scotland’s Gregor Tait while Araki won by six over her fellow countrywoman, Mamika Shinchi.

Gough had led by just one entering today’s final round but six birdies in his first ten holes set up a comfortable victory especially when Tait and 3rd placed Chi Chun Chen faltered after they too had made fasts starts today.

Gough, the 2021 Men’s English Amateur Champion and brother of 2019 English Amateur Champion, Conor, played collegiate golf in North Carolina for five years but in 2022 has produced some excellent results in European Amateur golf and is currently 19th in the World Amateur rankings.

Araki is currently ranked 11th in the women’s world amateur rankings and recently finished 3rd at the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship in a year which included a win at the Japan Junior Championship.

Araki made a shaky start to her final round, after taking a five shot lead through 54 holes with three early bogeys, but with six consecutive birdies in the middle of her round it was a case of job done.

New Zealand’s Fiona Xu finished in 3rd place.

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Adam Scott Australia’s flag carrier at Sentry Tournament of Champions


Adam Scott plays his 8th Tournament of Champions – photo PGA of Australia

The PGA Tour begins its 2023 calendar schedule this week with the now traditional staging of the Sentry Tournament of Champions for winners and those otherwise eligible from performances in the previous calendar year, but twelve months on from Cameron Smith’s first of five titles in 2022 things have changed for the once Holy Grail of professional golf.

Players such as Smith and Joaquin Niemann who would have qualified to play at Kapalua have left to join LIV Golf and the world number one, Rory McIlroy, has made the decision to give the event a miss despite it being one of the now 13 ‘elevated’ events the PGA Tour promotes to attract the best players into events where prizemoney begins at US$15 million and in some cases reaches US$20 million per event.

Clearly, this has been a reaction to the money on offer for players who have switched to LIV but in order to play the events, players, as members of the PGA Tour, must commit to all but one and in the case of McIlroy he has decided to extend his Xmas / New Year break and begin later in the season as he has done regularly.

39 winners or those otherwise eligible from the 2022 year are in the field including last year’s runner-up Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay (4th last year) and world number 2 Scottie Scheffler who did not play in 2022 as it was not until Phoenix in February that his amazing run began.

Adam Scott is the only Australasian in the field, the 42 year old earning the right to play not because of winning in 2022, but having made the Tour Championship he benefits from a newly introduced category.

Scott has only seven previous starts in the event for two top tens, often preferring to start his season later in the year but he does come off a runner-up finish at the Australian Open and as Australia’s flag carrier this week his progress will be watched with interest.

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Master of the Amateurs gets amateur golf underway in 2023

Harrison Crowe – defending champion, Asia Pacific Amateur Champion and 2023 Masters invitee – photo AAC

The Master of the Amateurs gets amateur golf underway for 2023 when the highly regarded title goes up for grabs at the Southern Golf Club in Melbourne’s Sandbelt, where the event is to be staged for the next three years.

From its inception in 1997 until now, the event has regularly seen players destined to be amongst the game’s best either win or compete with distinction on some of Australia’s finest layouts.

Names such as Brendan Jones, Jason Day, Aaron Wise and Sahith Theegala stand out amongst the winners, but others such as Cameron Smith, Rickie Fowler, Will Zalatoris, Russel Henley, Marc Leishman, Morgan Hoffman, Tommy Fleetwood and Bryson De Chambeau, to name but a few, have graced the fairways of high quality layouts en-route to a successful professional career.

The defending champion is New South Welshman, Harrison Crowe, who gets a chance to hone is game ahead of teeing it up at the Masters in April, a right he earned courtesy of his fine win at the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship.

Crowe may well have been a professional by now, but by winning the Asia Pacific title and gaining a start at August National, provided he remains amateur, then he gets a chance to defend the title he won by a narrow one shot at the Victoria Golf Club twelve months ago.

A women’s division was introduced in 2018 and players such as Japan’s Yuka Yasuda and Sydney’s Stephanie Kyriacou are prominent on an honours board, still very young in the making but one sure to produce world class players in the future.

108 male golfers and 48 females will compete in their respective events over 72 holes.

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