Golf: Australians in control in the cold

Mitchell Brown said the Palmerston North victory was the biggest win of his career. Picture / Fotopress

Despite appearances, there was nothing cartoonish about Australian golfer Mitchell Brown when he won the New Zealand amateur championship over compatriot Andrew Dodt in Palmerston North yesterday.

The mop-haired, loose-limbed Brown strikes more than a passing resemblance to the Scooby Doo character, Shaggy, but he showed his serious side in overcoming bitterly cold conditions to beat Queenslander Dodt 1 up in the 36-hole final at the Manawatu Golf Club's Hokowhitu course.

The Sydneysider fought back from a two-hole deficit at the halfway mark and hit the lead for the first time on the 25th hole with a birdie four.

Dodt replied immediately when Brown bogeyed the next but the New South Welshman reasserted himself when Dodt bogeyed the 31st.

Brown was not headed again, although he missed a 1.8m birdie putt on the 34th and halved the hole in pars before defending his advantage on the closing two holes.

Brown, 19, the reigning New South Wales amateur champion, described the result as the biggest win of his career as he became the fourth Australian in as many years to win New Zealand amateur golf's premier title.

"Andrew's a great player and I knew it was always going to be close," said Brown, who revealed he had played all week with a sore back, which troubled him mostly when walking or bending down.

Both players - and a healthy sized gallery - shivered in the cold, with temperatures in single figures all day. At various times both had four layers of clothing on but even then it was a battle.

Brown said he appreciated the 30-minute lunch break, not only to regroup after dropping a couple behind but also to regain some feeling after being left numbed by his morning experience.

"They're the coldest conditions I've had to play in."

It was a sentiment echoed by Dodt, who leaves today for a practice round on the Gold Coast before the Queensland amateur starts there on Wednesday.

"It was freezing ... but Mitchell came out on fire after lunch, which he usually does."

Dodt could not feel too despondent about his loss.

"If someone had said at the start of the week that I'd be the losing finalist I would have taken that."

The quality of the golf improved after lunch, apart from Brown's schoolboyish tee shot on the par-three 28th which he advanced just 65m before a priceless pitch left him a 1m par putt to halve the hole.

Brown's short game picked up immeasurably as he completed the second 18 holes two-under the card.

"My putting this morning was terrible," said Brown after he'd set about righting the ship with an important birdie putt on the 19th hole to halve Dodt's lead.

Three Australians had featured in the semifinals when Brown eliminated Queenslander Tom Davis 6 and 4 and Dodt saw off Rotorua schoolboy Danny Lee 2 and 1.

Five New Zealanders reached the quarter-finals, but Lee, 14, was the only one to survive.

- NZPA