Queenslander Lewis Hoath and SA’s Catlin Peirce win in Tasmania
Cailtin Peirce and Lewis Hoath holding their Tasmanian Amateur trophies.
Queenslander Lewis Hoath and South Australian Caitlin Peirce triumphed in their respective 36-hole matches to win the Tasmanian Amateur titles in Mowbray recently.
Hoath, from RACV Royal Pines Resort, defeated fellow Queenslander and good friend Joel Stahlhut 5&4 to add to his 2019 South Australian and Queensland Amateur titles.
“It was a fun match. We’re in the QAS together, we gym together and have known each other for years,” Hoath said.
“We had a bit of friendly mate banter. We’re both not chirpy people so we were just enjoying ourselves out there.”
Hoath’s victory was set up by a back nine blitz that turned the match on its head.
“I was one down through the first ten holes and then I won six out of the next eight holes,” Hoath said.
“I had heaps of momentum and had a good stretch with a few birdies. I hit a lot of close approach shots - that first back nine I had probably three gimmes from close approach shots.”
Since his last win, Hoath has finished runner-up twice - at the 2020 Riversdale Cup and the 2021 South Australian Amateur Classic - and he expressed some relief upon lifting the trophy this time.
“I had a few seconds at some of the bigger events, but it wasn’t too much on my mind. I’ve always been a good match player so whenever it’s a match play tournament, I’m pretty confident,” he said.
In the women’s final, Peirce got the better of Queensland’s Sarah Hammett 2&1 in a match that ebbed and flowed throughout.
Hammett had the ascendancy on the pair’s first time around the course, but Peirce wrestled back the momentum and made a charge that blew out her lead.
“I was one down after 18, but I won the 18th with a birdie,” Peirce said.
“Then I birdied one, two, three, five and six to get five up.
“I started hitting my driver a lot better. None of my birdie putts were really that far, probably all within 10 feet.”
The damage was done at that stage and the South Australian held on from there - a par to halve the 35th hole ensured that she would take her first state amateur title back to Royal Adelaide.
The Men’s Tasmanian Senior Masters final was also a tight affair as Shayne Walker of Launceston Golf Club defeated Prospect Vale Golf Club’s Robbie Berne 1-up to win the title.