India's Sharma defeats Barbieri for NSW Amateur title

TERREY HILLS, NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia (Jan. 25, 2019) – India’s Kartik Sharma is the New South Wales Amateur champion after getting past Australian Nathan Barbieri in the scheduled 36-hole final at Terrey Hills. It’s been a rough run for Barbieri, who last week made it to the final match of the Australian Amateur only to lose to Conor Purcell.

On Friday, Sharma took a big lead into the afternoon session, but Barbieri did make a charge.

By the 16th hole in the afternoon, Barbieri had cut Sharma’s lead to 1 up after winning Nos. 14 and 15.

After Kartik played a solid 5-iron second shot to the middle of the 17th green, Barbieri launched a missile from the right rough. It flew the green, however, and almost ended up out of bounds over near the 18th tee.

Still, Barbieri recovered with what looked like a miracle pitch, only for it to check on the downslope and come up 9 feet short.

Kartik putted up to a couple of feet, then, in the cruelest twist, Barbieri’s putt did a 180-degree turn on the lip to stay out. With the match effectively over, Kartik rolled in his putt for his first ever international title.

“It’s funny, it’s what I thought on the 17th, that you have to have it in here,” he said, pointing to his chest. “I committed to what I was doing. Starting the year, I had it as one of my goals to win an event internationally.

“People were asking me if it was achievable and I knew it was because I know what I am capable of. I thought I could win and it feels great to have won this event.”

Information from NSW Golf used in this report