JYE Halls and Rachel Lee are the new adidas Australian Amateur champions after the two NSW golfers scored dominant wins at Commonwealth Golf Club in Melbourne during January.
Lee, from the Avondale Golf Club, claimed the women’s title by three shots over Queensland’s Sarah Hammett, while Jye Halls, originally from Mollymook on the NSW south coast, now playing out of the NSW Golf Club, registered a seven-shot margin of victory in the men’s event.
Halls defied windy conditions to shoot a 6-under-par 67 to end the championship at 15-under-par, well clear of Victorian Hamish Farquharson (Metropolitan).
While despite battling windy conditions in returning a final round score of four-over-par 77, Lee would finish at nine-under-par in emulating her Avondale clubmate, Grace Kim, who was the last Australian victor in the national championship in 2021. Kim has since gone on to win on the LPGA Tour.
2005 adidas Australian Amateur champions Rachel Lee and Jye Halls.
“This is unreal,” Lee said after holing out on the 18th green. “I’m really excited and pretty stoked. It will probably wear off after a bit, but I’m really thrilled that I won this event.”
Lee took the lead after the second round when she shot an equal course record 65 at co-host Cranbourne Golf Club.
In the men’s event, Halls started the final round one shot behind another of the NSW competitors in Declan O’Donovan, but seized the lead after opening with three consecutive birdies
“I was very nervous teeing off with the tough conditions today,” Halls said. “I played very smart though and took advantage of the downwind holes and played really solid all day.
“The first two holes are definitely very gettable and I did a good job of birding those two then yeah, got a bonus one on the third hole.
“We get a lot of wind out at New South and that definitely played a helping hand today.”
– Additional reporting Patrick Taylor golf.com.au
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