QLD AMATEUR STARS SHINE BRIGHT ON STUNNING DAY AT BONVILLE

Sarah Hammett and Justice Bosio have looked at plenty of leaderboards, but none have had impact such as those at Bonville Golf Resort did recently.

The young Queensland amateurs, just two groups apart in the final round of the Australian Women’s Classic, each made extraordinary title bids in a pulsating final round.

Bosio, 18, went out in four-under 32 having started at two under to set minds racing back to the epic 2020 event here when then amateur Steph Kyriacou surged clear and changed her career forever.

And as she did, Hammett, perhaps even more amazingly aged just 15, went with her having begun at three under.

Bosio’s scoreboard moment came on the 13th tee when she saw her name prominent among the elite leaders.

“I didn’t have much of an idea until then and I pointed the leaderboard out to Dad and said ‘Look at that, I’m third!’,” she recalled with a broad smile.

“Then I bogeyed that next hole, eagled the next and then bogeyed again – it was a crazy few minutes.

“But I held my nerves OK, better than I have before probably, and that’s a good step.”

Bosio parred in from that point and sat as her young mate’s drama only heightened behind.

Hammett, who had not had a bogey since her 10th hole of the first round, turned in 33, but pressed higher with birdies at 12 and another on 14 when her eagle putt shaved the hole.

Blissfully unaware that she now led the tournament at eight under, Hammett left another birdie putt from the fringe one roll shy on the 15th, then made a sound par on 16th before her leaderboard moment became her undoing.

“Seeing the leaderboard on the back of 16 really shocked me because I had no idea I was leading at that point,” the year ten student at Somerset College said.

“Then the nerves really got to me. I was in my own little zone … so it sort of blew my mind a bit.

“I saw the leaderboard, and I said to Dad, `Oh my God, what the heck?!? I’m all the way up the top’.

“I’d just been playing my own game and not really worrying about what everyone else was doing and just making birdies.”

Then it happened.

With a surge of adrenaline adding to her perfectly struck 7-iron on the 17th tee, her ball flew into the back bunker, leading to that first bogey in 42 holes.

She then lost her drive on the 18th right, scrambled well to give herself a birdie chance on the par-5, but three-putted for another nervous bogey to fall to six under alongside Bosio as joint leading amateurs and top Aussies.

It was a slightly sad finish, but an overall result that absolutely wowed the galleries around her at Bonville and a global TV audience.

“It’s such a strong field and being up the top, I’m extremely proud of that,” she said with complete modesty.

“I came in this week just trying to make the cut, so it’s great.

“There was such a big audience out there watching today, it was such a great experience – I’ve never felt anything like that before.

“I think I’ll be able to remember it, but just to keep putting myself in those positions in upcoming events would be nice.”