WA’s Ollie Marsh added another title to his burgeoning resumé with victory at the South Australian Boys’ Amateur Championship in Adelaide.
The 17-year-old Wanneroo Golf Club member came out of the blocks fast in his first round at Kooyonga Golf Club, carding a four-under-par 68 to share the lead with WA statemate Declan Pereira (The Vines).
Pereira kicked on in the afternoon second round, carding 73 to Marsh’s 75 to go into the final day just a stroke behind lead Troy Storm of Singapore.
Marsh’s greater experience of front-running paid dividends during the final round, however, as he closed with a rock-solid 70 (2 under par) to edge the title from local favourite Alan Xin.
Despite bogeys at the last two holes, Marsh did enough to eke out a one-stroke victory, while Pereira’s title bid derailed on the final hole with a double bogey as he ultimately shared third place with Glenelg GC’s Jackson Leonard.
It marked Marsh’s second major junior title in the eastern states, following on from his win at the Tasmanian Junior Masters last January.
“Coming down the stretch, I missed a few short putts but I’ve had a lot of experience in final rounds, so I was able to stick to my routine and play at my near best,” said Marsh.
“It’s my second junior win outside of WA, so I’m pretty proud about that. My game felt good all week and I was happy with how I was able to get over the line.”
In the concurrent girls’ event, Victorian Jessica Zhu (pictured above with Marsh) won a playoff to deny Yisoo Min, with WA’s Katie Seol (Cottesloe GC, 5th) and Isabella Leniartek (Royal Perth, T6th) earning top-10 finishes. View the final leaderboards here.
The event was closely followed by the SA Junior Masters at Royal Adelaide GC, with Marsh and WA state junior team-mate Nate Johnson (Joondalup CC) sharing 2nd place, three strokes behind winner Hennessy De Guzman of Pacific GC in the boys’ championship.
Isabella Leniartek was the top-placed WA golfer in T19th in the girls’ event. View final leaderboards here.
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