Paul Howard of England claims New South Wales Amateur

PYMBLE, Australia — Paul Howard was one of a few amateur golfers from England to spend the warm summer months of January and February in Australia. Along with the highly-ranked Nick Marsh and Ben Stow, as well as a few others, the English players escaped the brutal winters of Great Britain for some spectacular golf down under. On Tuesday at Avondale Golf Club, Howard captured the New South Wales Amateur with an extra-hole victory over Australia's David Micheluzzi at Avondale Golf Club. Howard was playing in his fourth Australian event, having already completed the Lake Macquarie Amateur, Australian Amateur, and Master of the Amateurs, where he tied for fifth. Howard reached the halfway point of Tuesday's 36-hole match 1-down to Micheluzzi before the Aussie made back-to-back birdies on holes 1 and 2 to go 3-up. Howard brought the match to all-square with wins on holes 12 and 13, then made a clutch birdie to bring the match square again on 17. Recent Australian Amateur winner Cameron Davis medaled in the event, which was shortened due to rain. The typical 72-hole stroke play was truncated to only 36 before the top-32 met in match play. Davis fell in the quarterfinals to Brayden Petersen, who Micheluzzi defeated in the semis. Click here for the full match play bracket. On the women's side, Eun-Bin Lim defeated Eun-Jeong Seong in an all Korean final. So-young Lee, also of Korea, medaled for the second time in less than a month, but fell in the quarters to Lim. Lee also was medalist at the Australian Amateur before she was ousted in the quarters. For the full women's match play bracket, click here.