The switchboard at Australian Golf Union headquarters in South Melbourne was close to meltdown yesterday after amateur Brett Rumford's win in the ANZ Players' Championship at Royal Queensland on Sunday.
Rumford's stunning birdie putt at the fourth playoff hole to edge out Craig Spence for the title made him the second "lilywhite" in as many weeks to leave the professionals in his wake.
Aaron Baddeley captured the Australian Open at Royal Sydney the week before, finishing ahead of a top field which included Colin Montgomerie, Greg Norman and Nick Faldo.
But AGU executive director Colin Phillips is not surprised by their success.
"We've had some pretty good amateurs for the last 10 years," Phillips said yesterday. "It's just that until recently they have not been able to play in PGA events other than the Australian Masters and the opens."
In many cases Phillips believes Australia'stop amateur players are better than the professionals. But it has not come about by chance. Most of them are products of the Australian or state institutes of sport programs.
"If you want to get back to the grass roots, it stems from our 'go-go-golf' program instituted into 2000 schools about seven years ago," Phillips said.
A month ago many people believed Rumford and Scott Gardiner from Coolangatta-Tweed Heads were better players than Baddeley.
First-year professionals Kim Felton, Brendan Jones and Paul Sheehan were top amateurs who played for their country. Felton and Jones teamed with Baddeley and Rumford to finish second in the Eisenhower Cup in Chile last year. Felton also finished individual medallist.
Jarrod Moseley, Greg Chalmers and Brett Partridge were all top amateurs before they joined the play-for-pay ranks.
Moseley won the PGA Tour Australasia Order of Merit last season. Partridge could have won on Sunday with an ounce of luck. Chalmers, who has a ticket to ride on the USPGA Tour, has also won twice on local soil including last year's Australian Open at Royal Adelaide. Craig Spence won two Victorian amateur crowns before making a huge success of his professional career including the Ericsson Australian Masters victory early this year.
Phillips says all this is not a matter of coincidence.
"Sure, a lot more kids are playing which means you're going to get better players," he said. "But these days ability-wise there is very little difference between amateur and professional golf."
There's a bit to be learnt, too, he said, by young men who decide to stay amateurs until they are ready to make the switch to professional ranks.
"They learn more than just hitting a golf ball," Phillips said. "They learn how to conduct themselves on and off the golf course, the etiquette of the game and what's expected of them. I think that's why golf produces so many good sportsmen."
