Billy Dowling and his caddie plot their way around the course during the Open Amateur Championship at Royal St Georges.
WHEN Billy Dowling inevitably turns professional, perhaps within the next few months, he will do so on the back of an amateur career as impressive as any we’ve seen in recent years.
Dowling has been making people sit up and take notice since 2021 when, at the age of 15 and with his 13-year-old mate Alfie Ward lugging his clubs, he shot rounds of 72 and 73 to miss the cut in the Queensland Open by just a stroke.
Now 20, he’s just completed what has become an annual campaign in the United Kingdom, where he performed with distinction against some of the best players in the world – amateur and professional.
He finished fifth of 144 in the English Men’s Open Amateur Championship, then was runner-up to England’s Eliot Baker in the Scottish Men ‘s Open Championship at North Berwick.
He led that event at the half-way mark, after shooting rounds of 64 and 67, modestly confirming that he’d played well and would have been happy with any score under par.
A fortnight later he reached the quarter-finals of the British Amateur Championship, competing against the world’s best amateur golfers at Britain’s Royal St Georges Golf Club.
“If I could come away satisfied from that tournament, proud of my efforts and proud of my score, then that was all I could really ask,” said Dowling, who was seeking to become the first Australian to win the event since Bryden Macpherson in 2011.
He followed up by having a crack at the Open, taking his place in a field of hopefuls at West Lancashire. He shot 67 in the first round of the 36-hole qualifier to take the lead before falling away with a 74 in the second round.
Even so he was only two strokes from qualifying, and five behind the winner, fellow Australian Lucas Herbert.
Before returning to Australia, Dowling visited the United States, where his main target was the US Amateur Championship at the Olympic Club in San Francisco from August 11 to 17.
He got into the event, which has been won in the past by such legends as Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods, by shooting 70 at a qualifier in Orlando, Florida, in mid-July. Sydney’s Coby Carruthers won the event with a 65.
After that, Dowling warmed up for the US Amateur by finishing 13th in the Pacific Coast Amateur, at Eugene Country Club, Oregon, shooting rounds of 72, 71, 72 and 71.
“I wanted to go over and play those international events and actually contend a little bit more. I haven’t played too much in the US, so that’ll be a new experience and I’m sure I’ll enjoy that.”
Billy Dowling in action.
Dowling, who has been coached since he was five by Canadian-born Nancy Harvey at Royal Pines, has been playing off scratch since he was 13. Two years ago, he shot 59 to set a course record at his home track at Surfers Paradise, a performance that saw his handicap drop to an eye-watering plus 6.3.
Not that he worries too much about his handicap. He has higher goals.
He finished fourth in the Riversdale Cup in March – his first outing since the Australian Amateur in January when, after the first round, he was rushed to hospital for an emergency appendix operation.
Then he took on the professionals in the National Tournament at Gunnamatta, on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, where he found himself in the lead after two rounds of 66. He closed with 72 and 69 to finish sixth.
Challenging himself against professional golfers is nothing new for Dowling, who last year finished top 10 in successive professional tournaments – the Webex Players Series Adelaide in late October and the Queensland PGA at Nudgee the following week.
Earlier wins for the man ranked Australia’s leading amateur last year included the 2023 Queensland Amateur, the 2023 Keperra Bowl, 2023 South Pacific Junior Open, 2023 Gary Player Classic, the 2024 South Australian Amateur and the 2024 Pacific Harbour Amateur.
He’s reluctant to speculate when he might turn professional, but there’s little left in amateur golf for a young man who’s already proved he’s competitive against the toughest opposition.
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