CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Rising young Australian star Michael Sim romped to a 3-shot victory in the 98th Southern Amateur Saturday at the Honors Course.
Playing in the final grouping against his closest pursuers -- two of the most prominent players in amateur golf today ' the overnight leader fired a solid 1-under-par 71 in Saturdays final round to seal the prestigious amateur title.
By virtue of winning, the 19-year-old from Perth earned an invitation to test his considerable talents against PGA Tour pros in the Bay Hill Invitational next March. Thatll be a real experience. Ill definitely come across to be there, said Sim.
Californian Spencer Levin, the low am in the U.S. Open last month, and career amateur Trip Kuehne from Dallas were four shots back at the start of the final round. Neither could mount a challenge as Sim calmly widened his lead.
At one point, he was seven in front until the frustrated Levin finally made the first of his two birdies at the 15th hole after 14 straight pars on the difficult and storied Honors layout. To play a course like this with no bogies, I cant be disappointed, said Levin.
Trailing Sims 10-under-par 278 winning total were Levin (281) and Chattanoogan Andrew Black (283).
Final scores:
Michael Sim, Perth Australia 71-66-70-71'278
Spencer Levin, Elk Grove CA 73-69-69-70'281
Andrew Black, Chattanooga 67-76-71-69'283
David Noll, Dalton GA 72-72-69-71'284
Ryan Posey, Dallas TX 71-73-68-73'285
Lee Williams, Alex City AL 73-71-69-72'285
Rick Honeycutt, Chattanooga 70-74-72-69'285
Mark Blakefield, Maysville KY 74-72-69-71'286
Alex Hamilton, Aiken SC 73-73-69-72'287
Ryan Blaum, Miami 73-76-72-66'287
Jake Thompson, Greenville SC 71-73-71-72'287
Trip Kuehne, Irving TX 71-73-67-76'287