By Graham Croker
Sydney University golf Blue Julia Boland has won the 2008 Riversdale Cup, Australia’s premier amateur 72-hole golf championship for women, by one shot from New Zealander Dana Kim.
Boland finished four under the card on 288, with rounds of 71, 73, 69 and 75, to finish one shot clear of Dim and five shots clear of Kristie Smith of Western Australia, who finished third.
The 22-year-old Boland etched her named into the record books as the 50th winner of the women’s Riversdale Cup. A solid par at the final hole of the championship was all she needed to hold off Kim and receive the trophy from 90-year old Mrs Dorothy Walkingshaw, who won the title in 1960.
Boland and partner Jessica Noh also took out the National Teams event on a score of 590, 11 shots clear of the New Zealand pairing of Kim and Penny Smith.
“Yeah I had a good day, I got up in both which was lovely,” Boland said. “It was really close with Kristie and me in the first few holes and then Dana started making a few birdies and started making a few putts from nowhere. It was a good competition and I think it would have been a good competition to watch.”
Boland, a Bachelor of Applied Science student, said the pressure of being chased for the title did affect her and that was reflected in her two over par final round.
“I guess I would have preferred an eight-shot lead heading up the last, but I thought to myself it was a good experience for me being so close coming up the last, so there was pressure on me for my last shot,” she said.
“I think the occasion got to me a little bit too much, which was unfortunate, but I guess I did enough anyway, so that was nice”.
Having won the Lake Macquarie Amateur at Belmont in January and followed that up with the Riversdale title, Boland now has renewed confidence in her game.
“I feel for the first time that I have been on the national scene, that I am deserving to be in the top or the lead group and I feel at home in that situation,” she said.
“My coach Glenn Whittle said to me that the benefit that I got from Belmont is huge knowing that I can win, so it’s all positive.”
“I am happy with where I am but I am not yet satisfied that I have finished where I want to be.”
Boland earned her Sydney Unviersity Blue in 2006 after winning the gold medal at the Australian University Games in Adelaide. Her three rounds of 72, 74 and 71 (217) saw her win the individual strokeplay event by a massive 16 shots from Griffith University’s Kate McMahon (233) and Hyo Jeun (246). Boland and Sydney University’s Courtney Dickens (274) also won the teams event at the Games.
She was one of 10 Sydney University athletes selected in the Australian team to compete at the 24th World Universiade (Summer Games) held in Bangkok, Thailand in 2007.
