A hot putter has propelled The Vintage’s Josh Fuller to a well-earned win in the 2023 Tasmania Amateur Championship at Devonport.
The 22-year-old cast aside almost 12 months worth of injury woes to claim the crown, his first win in nearly two and a half years.
“I played pretty solidly the whole tournament, probably not my best golf, but it was really satisfying to get the win.”
Fuller comfortably made the matchplay section of the championship after finishing 6th in last Friday’s 36-hole strokeplay.
If he thought his first couple of matches would be easy, he was sadly mistaken. Fuller came up against the local club champion, Jonty Lunson, in the round of 16, followed by Queenslander Mitchell Revie in the quarters.
“We had 13 birdies combined, and I got up on the last in the morning match,” Fuller said. “I didn’t play great in the afternoon but holed a few coming down the stretch and eventually won on the 19th hole.”
With the putter behaving, Fuller cruised past another Tassie local, James Goffman, winning yesterday morning’s semi 2/1.
The final was a grind, but when Fuller managed to sneak out to a three-hole lead with four to play, it would be a matter of when, not if, the win would come. It eventually did, 3&1.
Fuller said the win felt like a massive monkey off his back, especially after spending a large chunk of the year recovering from a bizarre finger injury sustained at last January’s Australian Master of the Amateurs.
“I was on the chipping green, and my finger just suddenly blew up,” he explained. ” A blood vessel had burst. I couldn’t move it or put pressure on it; it was twice the normal size. It was purple, it was really bad.”
The injury forced Fuller to put the clubs down for almost three months, forcing him to re-assess his immediate golfing goals.
“It was very frustrating not being able to touch a club, but I put a lot of work into my recovery with my coach, Anthony Summers and Nils ( at Precision Athletica) from then until now.”
With the injury on the mend, Fuller hopes the win will propel him onto bigger things this upcoming summer. He has his eyes set on a busy run of tournaments in the new year.
“I’m hopeful of getting an invite to the Australian Master of the Amateurs, then following that will be the Australian Amateur, Avondale, then the NSW Amateur at Belmont.”
“The NSW Amateur is kind of a home game for me next year, so I’m looking forward to it.
“Hopefully, I will stay injury-free and have a full summer of golf.”
Match play results:
Rd 16: Josh Fuller Def Jonty Lunsen (TAS)- 2 Holes
Quarters: Fuller Def Mitchell Revie (QLD)on the 19th
Semi: Fuller Def James Goffman ( TAS) – 2&1
Final: Fuller Def Alexander Yap (QLD) – 3&1
