McKibbin goes down fighting in Australian Amateur final
Tom McKibbin
Holywood's Tom McKibbin lost 5&3 to Jed Morgan on his home course in the final of the Australian Amateur Championship but he did not go down without a fight.
The 17-year old Irish international from Newtownabbey was six down after 12 holes in the 36-hole final at Royal Queensland and four down after the first 18 holes.
But after falling six down again by the 21st as Morgan birdied the second, third and fourth, he fought back to four down by winning three of four holes from the 24th in birdie, then got up and down from a greenside bunker at the 29th to reduce his 20-year old rival's lead to just three holes.
He was bidding to make it back-to-back Irish wins in the championship following last year's extra holes victory for Portmarnock's Conor Purcell.
But he lost the next, plugging his tee shot in the front bunker at the driveable, par-four 12th to go four down with six to play before eventually losing the match on the 15th when he short-sided himself in a greenside bunker in three.
We have a new champion!!! Jed Morgan from # @RQGOLF has won the Australian Men’s Amateur Championship at his home club in its centenary year. The final margin was 5&3 in a see-sawing final against a gritty @tommckibbin8. #AusAm pic.twitter.com/6SDhXVrP9A
— Golf Australia (@GolfAust) January 19, 2020
"Didn't get the win today but still delighted that I reached the final!" said McKibbin, who will head to South Africa with the Irish senior squad next month.
"Congrats to Jed who played great. Now home and school before heading to South Africa with the rest of the Ireland lads. Onward and upward!!"
Later, he added: "I felt I played okay, but I had a couple of loose holes in the first 18, and it just didn't go my way today. Other than that, I played well. Jed just got the better of me on his home course.
“What pleased me most was the way I played all week which was solid and playing the second round of the strokeplay with a niggle in my left hip which had me barely able to walk just before the round.”
Morgan was thrilled to win on his home course with his fellow members cheering him on and his younger brother Lincoln on his bag.
"You have no idea how badly I wanted to win today. No idea," said Morgan. "I had a lot of the members and my whole family here and my little brother on the bag. I couldn't have had more fun."
After racing six up through 12 holes, Morgan lost the 15th to McKibbin's long-range putt and then overshot the 18th to make bogey and go to lunch with a commanding, but far from unassailable, four-up lead.
"The demons kicked in a little bit then, I'm not going to lie," Morgan said. "I went in the locker room before I played the second round and told myself 'You're four up, mate. You've got a head start, so get going'."
Three birdies in the first four holes in the second round restored his six-up lead, but he admitted that McKibbin "just wouldn't go to bed".
The Holywood star won the sixth and seventh and after they swopped wins at the eighth and ninth, McKibbin followed a missed a chance for a win from seven feet at the 10th with a winning sand save at the 11th.
A bogey at the 12th stopped all his momentum, and while he made a par putt from eight feet at the 14th (32nd) to stay alive, Morgan matched him and went on to take the title the next.
With rain falling and a large home crowd cheering on the Australian, McKibbin was out of position off the tee a the par-five 15th before short-siding himself in a greenside bunker in three.
From the perfect angle, Morgan pitched to three feet and after failing to get his bunker shot close, McKibbin offered his hand in congratulations.
"The Aus Amateur's something I've always dreamed about winning," Morgan told Golf Australia. "My biggest idol Cam Smith, he won it, so to join his name on the trophy is probably one of the best things ever."
In the final of the Australian Women’s Amateur Championship, England’s Charlotte Heath became the first British winner for 24 years and only the fifth in the event’s 126-year history.
The Huddersfield Golf Club star was unstoppable throughout the 31-hole showdown against Indonesia’s Mela Putri on her way to a 7&6 victory.
