Wong, Lewis take out Riversdale Cup titles
Lawrence Curtis withheld challenges from Lewis Hoath and Haydn Barron in a three way playoff to win the 2020 Riversdale Cup after the trio finished regulation play at 10-under-par.
Playoffs are a tradition at Riversdale and the short par 4 18th hole has provided plenty of excitement over the years and it was no different last Sunday in an event that was reduced to three rounds following last Thursday’s downpour of rain in Melbourne.
Earlier Curtis joined the lead when he birdied the par-four 16th hole after an exquisite approach to set up a tap-in putt before closing with a four-under par 68 to reach a playoff with Barron who also closed 68 and a fast finishing Hoath who fired the day’s second best low round with a 66.
Barron could have taken the title at the 18th in regulation when he had a downhill putt from inside two metres to reach 11-under, but being above the hole on the fast Riversdale greens is never easy and it missed.
As a strong following gathered around the 18th green on the 280 metre par 4, the three put on a wonderful show of power golf.
Curtis hit his tee shot on to the green in the first playoff hole as did Hoath and both he and Curtis two-putted for birdie while Barron could only make par from the right, greenside bunker to be eliminated.
Curtis then found trouble with his second tee shot and look to be out of it before Hoath’s tee shot found a terrible lie short of the green. Both ended up making bogey to head back for a third time.
Curtis then drove a career shot to land just in front of the green after Hoath had driven far right into the trees near the first tee and was in trouble. He would go onto make another bogey with Curtis getting up and down for his first main amateur title.
In the Women’s championship, Jeneath Wong cruised to a six win finishing at 9-under-par over Kirsten Rudgeley and Kathryn Norris sharing second position. Doey Choy was outright third at 1-under.
Wong has enjoyed a solid run of late with a win at the Victorian Girls Championship in January and a runner-up at the Victorian Junior Open in December last year alongside a string of top-10′s including the Vietnam Ladies Amateur Championship, Victorian Amateur and the Avondale Amateur.
