Amanda Gan and Spencer Harrison claimed medalist honours after the stroke play qualifying rounds at the WA Amateur Championships today.
The WA state representatives are now the top seeds as the championship moves into its knock-out match play phase at Cottesloe Golf Club on Friday.
Royal Fremantle’s Gan — playing just her third competition after a six-month injury lay off — added a three-over-par 75 to her opening 72 on Wednesday to top the women’s standings by two strokes.
It marks the second time in her career that Gan has claimed the stroke play medal, the first coming in 2024 when she went on to win the overall title.
Following her injury woes, Gan admitted that she came into the week with low expectations and was delighted to have found her top level.
“I’ve played such little golf that I really didn’t have any expectations. I just wanted to enjoy myself this week,” she told GolfWA.
“It feels good to come here and compete. It’s a bit of validation for me that I can still play to a pretty good standard.”
While her confidence is high, Gan says she’s taking nothing for granted heading into the match play rounds.
“Match play is so unpredictable, but that’s one of the things I like so much about it. I’ll just be taking things a shot at a time and a hole at a time and not getting ahead of myself.”
Amanda Gan claimed the stroke play medal for the second time (Pic: Brandon Barclay)
Top seed Gan will take on Chanelle Maxwell in the women’s round of 16 on Friday morning, which features a number of mouthwatering ties.
Boosted by a best-of-the-day 71, Gosnells’ Sasha Hofman is the second seed and is paired against the dangerous Heejoo Cho from Royal Fremantle.
Third seed Kortni Houston (Lakelands) takes on good friend Sienna McCulloch (Joondalup CC) and there’s a blockbuster meeting between WA state teammates Valerie Khuu and Isabella Leniartek, the respective 8th and 9th seeds.
Meanwhile, Sarah Terrell (Royal Fremantle) was the runaway winner of the concurrent Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship for golfers over the age of 30.
Terrell carded rounds of 78 and 79 for a 36-hole total of 157, which was 12 shots clear of Nadine Smith. Terrell qualifies for the match play rounds as 10th seed.
The full women’s match play draw is below. View the stroke play leaderboard here.
Women’s match play draw
Amanda Gan (1) vs Chanelle Maxwell (16)
Sasha Hofman (2) vs Heejoo Cho (15)
Kortni Houston (3) vs Sienna McCulloch (14)
Ruby Cotton (4) vs Emmaline Curic (13)
Sophie Williams (5) vs Rose Moorby (12)
Georgia Garner-Dart (6) vs Dempsey Brown (11)
Taehee Woo (7) vs Sarah Terrell (10)
Valerie Khuu (8) vs Isabella Leniartek (9)
Harrison rises to the challenge
Despite temperatures of nearly 40 degrees for the afternoon starters, Royal Perth’s Spencer Harrison maintained his cool to add a three-under-par 69 to his opening 68 to take the stroke play medal with a -7 total.
Spencer Harrison conserving his energy on a scorching hot Perth afternoon
This left him two clear of fellow Australian international Josiah Edwards (Gosnells), who also fired 69 today, with 2023 champion Ollie Marsh (Wanneroo) a further stroke back after he, too, carded 69.
Amongst the other players to reach the match play rounds are past and present state players Adam Baillie (The Vines), George Barclay, Nate Johnson (both Joondalup CC) and Michael Hanrahan Smith (Cottesloe GC), as well as rising junior stars Mason Burr (Gosnells), Thomas Pyke (Royal Fremantle) and Declan Pereira (The Vines).
Despite a match play draw awash with talent, 17-year-old Harrison is in confident mood as he targets a first state crown after a runner-up finish in 2024.
“I’m feeling good about my game,” he told GolfWA. “My putting has started to come good and my approach play has been getting better each day. It’s all starting to fall into place.
“Match play is unpredictable and you’ve got to take each match for what it is, but I feel good about my chances. If you’re not backing yourself to win, then you’re not really out there to win.”
In a drama-packed finale, the men’s second round required a seven-way play-off to fill the last six spaces in the match play draw.
Along with Ronan Nayar, James Dyer, Mandeep Singh and Lachie Hall, home-club father-and-son duo Jack and Paul Patterson successfully negotiated the pressure-cooker play-off.
Meanwhile, Royal Fremantle’s Scott Baker won the WA Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship for golfers aged 30+ after rounds of 73 and 76. Baker qualified for the WA Men’s Amateur match play draw as 15th seed.
The full men’s match play draw is below. You can view the stroke play leaderboard here.
Men’s match play draw
Spencer Harrison (1) vs Jack Patterson (32)
Josiah Edwards (2) vs Paul Patterson (31)
Ollie Marsh (3) vs James Dyer (30)
Mason Burr (4) vs Mandeep Singh (29)
Thomas Pyke (5) vs Lachlan Hall (28)
George Barclay (6) vs Ronan Nayar (27)
Bailey Hampson (7) vs Edmund Hall (26)
Jordan Jung (8) vs Darren Neilson (25)
Michael Hanrahan Smith (9) vs Simon Liddell (24)
Adam Baillie (10) vs Caolan Dunn (23)
Riley Schafer (11) vs Justin Wei (22)
Kloden Brown (12) vs Zach Nayar (21)
Zach Capelli (13) vs Gagan Dhaliwal (20)
Jakeb Dunkley (14) vs Connor Roberts (19)
Scott Baker (15) vs Declan Pereira (18)
Nate Johnson (16) vs Lucas Wan (17)
You’ll be able to follow the match play scores at our WA Amateur Championship hub from Friday morning.
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