New South Wales Amateur Championships
Leading county amateur Ben Jones rediscovered his best form down under as he reached the semi-finals of the New South Wales Amateur Championships in Australia.
Although the England international didn’t put a run of consistent scores together in the Australian Master of the Amateurs and Australian Amateur Championship earlier in the month, he started brightly with five birdies in an opening 69 at Mona Vale GC.
The Northants County member then carded three more birdies in a 72 at Terrey Hills Golf & Country Club to qualify for the matchplay stages as the seventh seed.
Once into the knockout rounds Jones stepped up another gear as he beat Australia’s Mitchell Varley in his first match, knocked out Indonesia’s Naraajie Emerald Ramadhanputra, before defeating Canada’s Joey Savoie, who had qualified as the top seed, in the quarters.
The plus-handicapper couldn’t maintain the momentum unfortunately as he was beaten in the last four by India’s Kartik Sharma, who went on to claim the title with victory over Australia’s Nathan Barbieri in the final.