Australian captures PNGA Men’s Amateur crown

Brett Drewitt of Invernell, Australia wins the 109th PNGA Men’s Amateur Championship held at Royal Colwood Golf Club in Victoria, B.C. Drewitt defeated Cory Renfrew of Victoria, B.C. in the 36-hole final match 4 and 3. Maybe Drewitt’s most impressive stat all week was that in all six of his matches, he never trailed an opponent.

In the morning 18-holes, Drewitt, the nineteen year-old #15 seed who recently was offered an opportunity to play at Texas Tech University, made six straight pars to gain an early 1-up lead through 6 holes. He broke the match wide-open with a birdie on the 7th, a par on the 8th, and back-to-back birdies on the 9th and 10th to go 5-up through 10 holes. Renfrew would buckle down and make a solid par to win one back on the tough par 3 #11, then birdied the 12th and 13th to get the match back to 2-up in favor of Drewitt.

The rich history of the PNGA Men’s Amateur Championship has included past champions, Bill Sander, Tiger Woods, Jeff Quinney, and Nick Flanagan, all of whom went on to win a U.S. Amateur title in the same summer. After winning the 1994 PNGA Men’s Amateur title Woods said, “The PNGA Men’s Amateur will always be very special to me since it’s my first men’s amateur victory.”