Avondale Golf Club's Declan O'Donovan (OR2020), who started playing golf when he was a student at Riverview, has become the first player to successfully defend the NSW Amateur title in almost 50 years with a resounding win in the final on 19 January.

O'Donovan, a two-time NSW representative, claimed the title with a hard-fought 4/2 win over St. Michael's Daley Loumanis in an entertaining contest at Stonecutters Ridge. Chasing his little piece of history, O'Donovan cruised through the opening 18 holes to establish a two-hole buffer. He made it three up at the 19th, before Loumanis staged a fightback. 

With a combination of solid strokeplay and some tentative putting from O Donovan, Loumanis managed to square the ledger as the pair reached the homeward nine. The tide was soon to turn in the defending champion's favour, however, and courtesy of a towering drive over the corner bunkers on the par-four 12th to set up a birdie, O'Donovan had his nose in front, and from there, he was not going to let it slip. A fist pump followed a walk-in birdie on the 14th to get to two up, and when Loumanis horseshoed his birdie putt for a half on the 15th, the match was as good as over. For good measure, O'Donovan rolled in his birdie on the par three 16th to seal his second NSW Amateur Crown.

O'Donovan said he had learned some lessons from his Ford NSW Open appearance alongside LIV stars Cameron Smith and Lucas Herbert last November. The experience, he said, helped him work on improving his game. 

"It definitely helped, I went away and tried hard to focus on things and I've come back and it worked." 

With his defence, O'Donovan joins a select club of back-to-back winners of the NSW Amateur, which includes Jim Ferrier, Alan Waterson, and the most recent repeat Champion, Colin Kaye, in 1976 and 77. 

 Congratulations Declan!