Three Kiwis qualify at Australian amateur

Three New Zealand golfers have qualified for the matchplay phase to chase the ultimate honours in the Australian amateur men's championship in Perth.

Ryan Fox, of Auckland, Masterton's Ben Campbell and Andrew Stewart, of Tauranga, qualified after the final round of the Australian strokeplay championship today.

Fox, who started the final round two shots behind the leaders, had an unhappy day at Lake Karrinyup, losing his accuracy off the tee en route to a seven-over-par 79 which dropped him to a share of eighth place.

It was a tighter time for Campbell and Stewart, who both shot 73s to leave them at 294 in a six-way tie for 29th place.

But both used their experience to prevail in a playoff to secure the final spots in the top 32 for matchplay starting tomorrow.

Western Australia's Mat Jager ran away with the strokeplay title with his 70 moving him to 12-under for the tournament and victory by five shots.

- NZPA