Fleetwood beaten in New South Wales final

England international Tommy Fleetwood was beaten by fellow teenager Jake Higginbottom in the 36-hole final of the New South Wales Amateur Championship in Sydney.

The 19-year-old Lancastrian  went down 3 and 2 to his 16-year-old opponent at Royal Sydney having never held the lead throughout the 34 holes played.

Higginbottom, the current NSW Junior Champion from The Australian Club, was 1-up at lunch after both players went round in two-under-par 70.

But the Australian took a grip in the afternoon and twice held a 5-up advantage. He was out in 31 thanks to a run of eagle-birdie-birdie at the 25th, 26th and 27th to be 5-up for the first time, while Fleetwood covered the same stretch in birdie-par-par.

However, Fleetwood (photo © Tom Ward) is a renowned fighter and he battled back to win two of the next three holes only for Higginbottom to go dormie-five. Although Fleetwood won the 32nd and 33rd to cut the deficit to three, the Australian chipped-in at the 34th to secure victory.

At the finish, Higginbottom was an approximate six under par and Fleetwood four under after a gruelling week in which both played ten rounds in six days.

Fleetwood qualified for the Amateur by finishing tied sixth in the preceding New South Wales Medal while England team-mate Todd Adcock was equal 13th but lost in the first round of the knockout stages.

The other English representatives were Matt Haines who tied 44th in the Medal and failed to qualify while Neil Raymond tied 6th but lost in the first round.

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