11.08.2008 – Graham Croker
Sydney University Sports Scholarship holder Julia Boland has continued her stellar year with selection in the Australian women’s team to contest the Eisenhower Trophy and Espirito Santo Trophy respectively at the World Amateur Teams Championships.
Boland, Clare Choi, of the Victorian Institute of Sport, and Stephanie Na, of the Australian Institute of Sport, make up the women’s team to contest the championships to be co-hosted by The Grange Golf Club and Royal Adelaide Golf Club in October.
The Australian men’s team includes Rohan Blizard (AIS), Matthew Griffin (VIS) and Tim Stewart (AIS).
Boland has had an impressive year on the course, winning the Lake Macquarie Amateur Riversdale Cup and the NSW Strokeplay.
She also 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, who is studying full-time for a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in human movement, 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.
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.
Boland earned her Sydney University 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.
The World Amateur Teams Championships will be held 8-19 October 2008 in Adelaide. This is only the second occasion Australia has hosted the event and will mark the 50th anniversary since the inaugural Eisenhower Trophy was held at St. Andrews in Scotland.
