Another shot at glory: Barbieri to meet Sharma in NSW final

TERREY HILLS, NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia (Jan. 24, 2019) – Nathan Barbieri is through to his second final in as many weeks. After being defeated by Ireland’s Conor Purcell in last week’s championship match of the Australian Amateur, Barbieri gets another shot this week against India’s Kartik Sharma.

It wasn’t easy getting there.

After a see-saw battle with Canadian Josh Whalen in the semifinal, where the lead changed several times, Barbieri looked to be home when he nailed a 25-foot eagle putt on the 16th to sneak ahead.

The 18th hole, however, was his nemesis for the second time today, and after making a mess of his approach shot from the fairway bunker, the best Barbs could manage was a bogey to the Canadian’s two-putt par. Barbieri was able to putt it away on the first extra hole.

“I have honestly played way too many holes today,” Barbieri said. “Both rounds I had them down pretty good, but I let it slip. Somehow I got the job done again.”

The 21-year-old has now played an incredible 15 rounds of golf over the last ten days, with four matches going to extra holes to decide the outcome.

“It’s a joke how tired I am,” he grinned. “But I’m in another final, so who cares?”

He will meet Sharma, 18, who has been quietly moving through the bracket all week. It will be his first Championship final, and already it is the best performance of his career.

“I thought I played pretty well. today,” Kartik smiled. “The second half of the day was just trying to stay in it mentally. It was very much all in the head for me, and I handled myself quite well.”

Information from New South Wales Golf used in this report