George Barclay has added the Victorian Men’s Amateur Championship to the WA state title he won in 2024.
The Joondalup Country Club member outlasted Queenslander Wesley Hinton in a tight, 18-hole final at Yarra Yarra Golf Club to clinch a 1UP victory.
It was the culmination of a fruitful few days in Victoria for Barclay, who qualified for the Vic Am match play rounds courtesy of a top-five finish in last week’s Port Phillip Open Amateur Championship.
He cruised through two knock-out encounters on Monday to set up a mouth-watering semi-final this morning against WA teammate and good friend Josiah Edwards.
Having won the Port Phillip title himself, Gosnells GC member Edwards was the top seed in the match play draw and he progressed to the semi-finals after narrow wins over Tyler Talbot and Ti Fox.
The head-to-head with Barclay was always likely to be a cagey affair and so it proved, with little to separate the pair over the course of 18 holes.
Although giving away a few yards to his opponent off the tee, Barclay is a canny match player – as he proved during his WA Amateur Championship victory at WAGC in 2024 – and he eventually edged Edwards 1UP to reach the final.
There he faced Kepparra GC’s Wes Hinton, who had beaten Barclay 3&2 during the Interstate Teams Matches in WA just two weeks ago. History was not to be repeated, though, as Barclay held his nerve to grind out a famous win.
“When I shook [Wes’s] hand today I said to him ‘that’s one-one’,” Barclay joked at the end of his round.
“It’s great to win a second state title and hopefully I can continue this run of form for the rest of the season. I have to thank my coach, David Milne. I wouldn’t be where I am today without his support and guidance over the years.”
Barclay’s name now proudly sits on the historic trophy alongside the likes of Aaron Baddeley, Cam Davis, Geoff Ogilvy, Robert Allenby and Stuart Appleby.
In the concurrent women’s championship, Ireland’s Emma Fleming defeated QLD’s Huruhi Nakatani 5&3 in the final. Nakatani had eliminated WA’s Katie Seol in the first match play round on Monday.
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