Five Australians and a New Zealander tackle US Amateur Championship
Connor McKinney – file photo AAC
Five Australians and one New Zealander will take to the fairways of the Ridgewood Golf Club in Paramus in New Jersey, chasing a third US Amateur Championship for Australia and a second for New Zealand.
Perth’s Connor McKinney, heads the group in terms of world ranking but Hayden Hopewell, Harrison Crowe, Karl Vilips, Jack Buchanan and New Zealander Kazuma Kobori also get their chance.
Nick Flanagan became the first Australian to win his event in 2003 followed in 2016 by Curtis Luck.
New Zealand’s Danny Lee became the only New Zealander to take the title when he won in 2008, Lee now firmly ensconced on the PGA Tour while Flanagan and Luck have previously held PGA Tour cards.
McKinney is the current Australian Amateur Champion winning in a three way playoff at the Cranbourne Golf Club in Victoria in April while Buchanan was joint runner-up to McKinney.
McKinney was born and raised in Scotland but moved to Perth at the age of 13. He not only won the Australian Amateur Championship but also the South Australian Amateur and earlier this year finished 5th at the WAPGA Championship.
Perth’s Hayden Hopewell is a highly credentialed player with wins in the West Australian Open and a runner-up finish in that same event two years ago. He has not played well in leading amateur events over the northern summer in 2022 but there is little doubting his significant potential.
Karl Vilips was born in Indonesia but then moved to Perth and in more recent times has based himself in the US where he attends Stanford University. Three years ago he won the prestigious Southern Amateur Championship and played on the International Junior Presidents Cup team.
Vilips reached the quarter finals of this event at Pinehurst in 2019.
New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori and his sister Momoka are the New Zealand version of the Lees from Perth.
At the age of just 17, Kobori won the New Zealand PGA Championship and earlier this year finished 6th in a Japan Tour event while Momoka is making her mark in secondary events on the Australian and European Tours with several wins already.
The event will see the leading 64 players at the completion of 36 holes advance to the matchplay phase.
Karl Vilips on his way to the quarter finals in this event in 2019 – photo Chris Keane USGA