Golfexplorer.com.au is delighted to announce that on Sunday October 26th, Adelaide’s Anthony Murdaca gained automatic entry into the 2015 US Masters with a commanding performance at Royal Melbourne. The Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship was held in Australia for the first time this year and Anthony celebrated by winning the tournament with the biggest margin of victory in its history. His 7-shot win not only saw him crowned champion but also earned him a coveted invitation to the first of the golf majors in 2015, the US Masters, which tees off as usual in April at the Augusta National Golf Club.

Although Anthony was clearly the best of the Australian players last week, he was only 9th in the home team’s ranking going into the tournament; if it were not for the fact that the host nation is allowed to field 10 players rather than the normal 6, he would not have had a place in the starting line-up. This fact certainly did nothing to dent his confidence as anybody who witnessed his 3-under par round on Thursday can attest. Despite the windy conditions, Anthony put in an impressive performance and ended the day in joint third position. Scores of 68, 67 and 71 in the following three rounds ensured a comfortable victory for the young Adelaide amateur, with the Japanese player, Horikawa Mikuma, finishing 7 shots away in second place.

Asked about his forthcoming appearance in Augusta, Anthony said that it was a dream come true and admitted that he started to think about the possibility of playing at the US Masters toward the end of play on Sunday. With an 8-stroke lead going into the last day he had a nice cushion to keep stress levels low and the impressive greens in regulation percentage he maintained over the course of the tournament (75%) ensured that he did not put any undue pressure on his putting game. In fact, the only time Anthony appeared to be under any kind of pressure on Sunday was when Horikawa Mikuma managed to cut his lead to 5 over the opening nine holes. However, birdies on the 10th and 14th took his lead back to 7 shots and it was relatively plain sailing afterwards.

Golfing fans will not need to be reminded that 2013 was the first time an Australian won the US Masters, when Adam Scott sunk a birdie putt at the 10th to beat Angel Cabrera in a sudden death playoff. Whilst nobody expects Anthony to emulate this feat in 2015, it will not be the first time that he has followed in Adam’s footsteps if he does eventually win the prestigious Augusta tournament. A 16-under par round at Pinjarra Golf Club last year saw him become the first player since Scott to rack up multiple victories in the Australian Boys' Amateur Championship.

Golfexplorer.com.au would like to take this opportunity to wish Anthony Murdaca all the best in Augusta and sincerely hope that this will be the first of many appearances for him in the majors.