“ I ’ d love to come back and play . I know the course pretty well ,” said Dobbelaar , a country member at the club with his father ’ s family living just around the corner .
“ But there ’ s a lot of things that have to happen first .”
Dobbelaar , whose skills were honed around the challenging Brookwater layout near Ipswich but who has recently taken up membership at The Brisbane Golf Club , is well aware that despite his recent airplay that he ’ s the 56th-ranked Australian in the world amateur standings .
Refreshingly , despite his status in the Queensland Academy and national squads , he ’ s well aware his age and development mean he ’ s a work in progress .
And even more importantly , he ’ s got a brilliant ethic to maintain his current trajectory .
“ It was fantastic to win and I ’ ve really been enjoying everything that has happened afterwards ,” he said .
“ But I know it ’ s just part of what ( coach ) Grant ( Field ) and the squads have us all on track to achieve .
“ It ’ s great , but hopefully if we all keep working at it , I ’ ll get to that position when I can play in things like the Asian Amateur .
“ But there ’ s a lot of guys ahead of me right now and I have to keep working hard to get there .”
Dobbelaar won a quality final despite being 3-down through 29 holes – his steady hands and head proved the key to winning five consecutive holes before a par on the 35th sealed victory .
But the final was just one remarkable chapter of
Dobbelaar ’ s incredible run to the title .
An epic semi-final tussle with highly rated New Zealander Luke Toomey ended when Dobbelaar chipped in to win on the 21st hole .
He ’ d earlier won his quarter-final on the 19th hole and his Round of 32 match on the 20th to steel his nerves for the run that followed .
But if you aren ’ t already sold on what makes Dobbelaar such a likeable prospect for Australian golf fans to ponder , try this on for size …
An avid social media participant , Dobbelaar is always among the first to note and congratulate his peers among the current wave of elite amateurs who have achieved such great feats this year .
So when picking his outfits as the New Zealand Amateur progressed , he had no problems remembering what good mates Min Woo Lee , Harrison Endycott , Curtis Luck and Brett Coletta wore in the final rounds of their US Boys ’ Amateur , Porter Cup , Asian Amateur and Queensland Open triumphs , respectively .
“ I ’ d seen the guys all holding trophies in their blue and yellow Golf Australia shirt and I thought , `I might just keep that for Sunday in case I get a chance ’,” Dobbelaar said .
“ I think it might become a bit of a tradition – we ’ ve got a pretty fair record in that shirt , haven ’ t we ?” he joked .
“ Nah , it ’ s just great to have seen all the guys do so well around the world – it really shows we are all on the right path , I think .”
You ’ d be hard pressed to argue with that , Louis .
Harrison Endycott , Louis Dobbelaar , Curtis Luck , Min Woo Lee and Brett Coletta
www . golfqueensland . org . au Summer 2016 Q Golf 7