Portsea Open Amateur 2025

2025 Event

With perfect weather for the first round of the Portsea Open Amateur, 2024 Men’s Winner Max Moring (Yarra Yarra) hit the opening tee shot of the event. Max also laid claim to the early lead after posting a 2 under par 69, although short-lived since Shaun Hedger (Woodlands) quickly followed with a 4 under par 67. Harry Ritchie, first off in the afternoon, matched Max’s Score of 69, with Ben Stevens (Victoria GC) and Ted Sargent (The Heritage) also matching with 69. Late in the day it was Franklin Lydra (Washington Golf) who matched Shaun with the early first round lead of 4 under 67.

With a field of 26 contesting the Women’s Event, it was Mornington Peninsula Local Molly Mclean (The National) who was first out of the gate with a super round of 5 under par 67 to take a 4 shot lead ahead of Jessie Yun (Southern). Amelia Whinney (The Grange) and Grace Yang (Southern) a further 2 shots back on 73.

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Round 2 saw typical blustery winter conditions with 40km northerly winds. There was some terrific play from Jack Nibbs (Metropolitan), who navigated the difficult morning conditions the best with a 2 under par 69, whilst playing partner Ted Sargent’s 71 gave him the early 36 hole lead after early struggles from Franklin Lydra. The afternoon saw many of the top players tee off with slightly more favourable conditions. Shaun Hedger followed his first round with a 1 over par 72 to sit one ahead of Ted, but it was the defending champion Max Moring who’s second round 67 shot him to a 3 shot lead after 36 holes.

With the women off early in the wind, it was a test for leader Molly who finished her round with a 9 over par 80, allowing Allegra de Guzman (Pacific) to grab the 36 hole lead after a second round 2 under par 69, to pair with her first round of 75. Allegra led by 3 ahead of Molly and 6 ahead of Olive Spitty (Commonwealth) with a group of 3 all one shot further back.

The final day brought out the best conditions of the event. Players were greeted with blue skies and low winds, perfect scoring conditions for the morning round.

Even with perfect conditions, the women’s event continued to be a tight tussle with all top 6 players shooting between 72 and 74. In the second-to-last group, Feiyu Xing (Peninsula Kingswood) and Seabil Leong (Southern) posted the best scores of the morning with even par 72s, yet were only able to claw back 1 shot as both Allegra and Molly posted 1 over par rounds of 73 to maintain their position as 1st and 2nd on the leaderboard.

In the men’s section, Max continued his dominant display taking advantage of the conditions to again post the round of the morning with another 4 under par 67. The only other players who were able to break 70 were Kade Bryant (Glenelg) and Matthew Dahlsen (Peninsula Kingswood). Max’s exceptional play had given him a 9-shot lead over Ted Sargent, with Jack Nibbs and Shaun Hedger a further 3 back.

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With Max only needing to navigate disaster on his final round, he shot a cool 1 under par 70 to post a 6-shot victory over Ted and become one of the very few back-to-back winners and an even rarer feat of 4 rounds under par.

The women’s event had 5 players all within 6 shots, it was anyone’s game. Whilst many were focused on the lead group of Allegra and Molly, it was Feiyu who took charge on the front 9 with 3 birdies and no bogies to take the lead from Molly and Allegra, who were tied with each other after they both birdied the short par 4 10th. Molly picked up another birdie with no bogeys on her back nine, but it wasn’t enough to chase down Feiyu as she posted a final round 5 under par 67, the equal low round of the tournament, to win her second major event in as many weeks.

Max and Feiyu were fitting winners of the 2025 Portsea Open Amateur Men’s and Women’s Events, with both crediting the course conditioning and many locals who both followed and volunteered for the event.