This was published 8 months ago
The PlayStation game that helped an Australian amateur learn to play Augusta
A young Australian amateur golfer reckons he was so unbeatable at Augusta National that his brother and sister spat the dummy.
He knows it all. The winding hills around the front nine. Amen Corner. That thread-the-needle drive through the pine trees on 18. He also hasn’t been there.
“There was one game, Tiger Woods 2012 at The Masters,” laughs Jasper Stubbs. “Oh, it used to be my favourite.
“It was on PlayStation. I would have played it thousands and thousands of times on that console. My brother and sister used to get tired of playing me because I was good at it. I know [Augusta National] pretty well already – and I’m going to do some more recon over the next few months.”
If there was an esports competition for shooting a low score at Augusta National, Stubbs might be in with a shot at winning. Luckily for him, he can now play his video game obsession out in real life.
The 21-year-old Melburnian booked his golden ticket to next year’s Masters and British Open tournaments with a stunning comeback win at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Royal Melbourne last weekend. It was the second straight year an Australian had won the event, with viral sensation Harrison Crowe earning his way into the majors last year.
Jasper Stubbs celebrates his Asia-Pacific Amateur win at Royal Melbourne, booking his ticket to The Masters and The Open.Credit: AAC
Stubbs plans to play several practice rounds at Augusta National early next year after he receives his official invite.
For now, there’s no time to rest. He jumped straight on the plane the day after his Royal Melbourne triumph and shot three-under 69 in the first round of the New Zealand Amateur on Wednesday, a tournament he won last year.
He will be teeing it up alongside compatriots Cameron Smith, Adam Scott and Jason Day at Augusta National next year, but only after working with his father, Peter, and the family’s skip bin company to make ends meet.
Still an amateur, he can’t earn any of the money reserved for professionals.
“I’ve done plenty of work with my old man since I finished high school in 2019,” Stubbs said. “I worked all through COVID when there wasn’t much golf happening. Whenever I’m home and have a chance to earn a bit of money, I’ve got to make it up somewhere. It’s pretty easy having your dad as your boss.
“And it’s definitely all credit to my parents. I said in my speech afterwards [winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur] I wouldn’t be able to do it without them. It was 100 per cent true.”
Peter and Stubbs’ mum Fiona, a pharmacist, moved from their Gippsland home almost a decade ago to allow Jasper to attend school in Melbourne and pursue his golf dreams. His sister Piper is a Royal Melbourne club champion and is now on a scholarship in the United States.
At one stage of the Asia-Pacific Amateur final round, Stubbs was seven shots behind. But having been told by his caddie Simon Clarke how cool it would be to have the final putt of the tournament when walking down the first fairway after hitting the opening shot of the tournament, Stubbs prevailed in a playoff, which will take him to golf’s two biggest individual events.
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