Sandwich, Kent, England: Sticking rigidly to his game plan, Australian Billy Dowling has breezed into the quarter-finals at The 130th Amateur Championship.
Having swept aside Mexican Rodrigo Vasquez 5&3 in the Round of 32 on Thursday morning, Dowling eased his way past Italian Filippo Ponzano 3&2 in the afternoon Round of 16.
Those authoritative performances have secured the 20-year-old a quarter-final clash with another Italian, Riccardo Fantinelli, at Royal St George’s this morning.
Dowling said: “I feel great. I played really well, both in the first match and then in the afternoon. I don’t think I did too much wrong, to be honest. I stuck to my game plan the whole day and I’m just happy it paid off.
“My caddie really kept me level-headed the whole way, just one shot at a time, one hole at a time. I never got too ahead of myself if I was up, and if I was down, I just held in there. I just felt like it was a good game plan.”
Despite his excellent run, Dowling is not allowing his mind to wander to thoughts of victory, and the prizes on offer to the champion.
He said: “I think it crosses the mind here and there, but at the same time I’ve still got a job to do. I’m just taking it one opponent at a time because anything can happen in match play, so there’s no point really getting ahead of yourself and thinking about what could be.”
With the elimination of fellow-Australian Kayun Mudadana and Japan’s Rintaro Nakano on Thursday, Dowling is the last remaining representative from the Asia-Pacific region.
While Mudadana was soundly defeated, 4&3, by South African Daniel Bennett in the Round of 32, Nakano’s brave run was halted by Finland’s Veikka Viskari, 3&2, in the Round of 16.
Nakano at least had the satisfaction of adding the scalp of Dominic Clemons to his collection when he beat the Englishman, last year’s losing finalist, 3&2 in the Round of 32.
It was a sweet success for Nakano who also beat Clemons in a foursomes clash in the Ryder Cup-style Bonallack Trophy in the United Arab Emirates in January, helping the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation team to victory against their European counterparts.
Meanwhile, 20-year-old Oklahoma State student Ethan Fang, seventh in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), rallied in both his matches on Thursday to secure his place in the last eight.
In the morning, he came from three-down to beat top qualifier Connor Graham of Scotland on the 20th hole before defeating Milan Reed in convincing fashion in the afternoon.
Having made the last-eight at the US Amateur Championship in 2024, Fang will now draw on that experience as he plays Callixte Alzas from France in the first of today’s four quarter-final matches.
France is well represented in the final eight with Matthis Lefevre continuing his positive play from the stroke play, defeating Junior Ryder Cup player Kris Kim of England 2&1 in the morning, before getting the better of South African Bennett by a 4&3 margin in the afternoon.
Lefevre, who has made the match play in four of the last five years, faced a tough opponent in Kim, the pair trading the advantage four times in a tight tussle that eventually went the Frenchman’s way thanks to a birdie at the 16th followed by a concession from his opponent at the next.
The 24-year-old will now face Finland’s Viskari who easily disposed of Germany’s Laurenz Schiergen 5&4 in his opening tie of the day, before bettering Nakano in the afternoon to book his place in the quarter-finals.
The winner of this week’s championship gains entry to The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush, the US Open and, by tradition, will earn an invitation to compete at the Masters Tournament. In addition to three Major championships, they also earn a place in the field at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo on the DP World Tour.
The R&A will provide live broadcast coverage of the quarter-finals and semi-finals tod ay and the 36-hole final tomorrow. Livestreams are available globally on R&A TV and on The R&A’s YouTube channel.
