Melbourne, Australia: There’s something in the Australian air that agrees with Korean teenager Yang Hyo-jin.
Last month, the 17-year-old from Jeju Island placed third in a high-class field at the ISPS Handa Australian Open, finishing ahead of a host of LPGA Tour players and Major professional champions including Australians Hannah Green and Minjee Lee.
Returning to Melbourne last week, Yang once more was to the fore, emerging triumphant in the women’s category at the Australian Master of the Amateurs – her first significant win.
Displaying a steely nerve, Yang made a string of seven straight pars to finish the final round and win from New South Wales star Ella Scaysbrook, the 54-hole leader, and Rianne Malixi of the Philippines, the defending champion.
“This is my first (big win),” she said, admitting to surprise at the result. “Because I like Australia, I like these courses,” added Yang, who began the week in 84th place in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
Yang had been close to winning on several occasions in 2024, ending eighth in the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific and runner-up at the Malaysian Amateur Open.
In a field boasting some of the world’s best amateurs, the Australian contingent were always facing a stiff challenge, even before the rain that drenched the course on the final morning and forced a delay of more than an hour.
Scaysbrook, a member of the Golf Australia and Golf NSW High Performance teams, could not maintain her momentum from the first three rounds, with four bogeys in the first six holes allowing both Yang and Malixi into the contest.
But Scaysbrook steadied on the back nine at Southern Golf Club, and a birdie at the par-three 16th brought her back within a shot of Yang. However, a wayward drive into the left fairway bunker cost her a shot at the 17th, and needing birdie 18 to have a chance of making a play-off, her tee shot flared right and into an awkward lie near the water hazard.
Yang, meanwhile, made another steady par to complete her victory with rounds of 72-70-71-73 for a six-under total, two shots ahead of Scaysbrook.
A member of the Korean national team in 2024, she is no longer part of that squad although she will compete in the adidas Australian Amateur this week.
Malixi, third in the WAGR, made a brave title defence, finishing third on three-under 289, one shot and one place ahead of Australian Sarah Hammett, the individual runner-up at last year’s Queen Sirikit Cup.
In the men’s Australian Master of the Amateurs, victory went to American Ian Gilligan.
The 21-year-old senior at the University of Florida holed a curling 30-foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole to win the title, celebrating with a Tiger Woods-esque run and fist pump as he edged out Queenslander Kai Komulainen.
Gilligan shot rounds of 68-64-70-72 to reach 14-under 274.
In a share of eighth place on five-under 283 was Le Khanh Hung, a member of the winning Vietnam team at the 2024 Nomura Cup.
