Top junior golfers to play state comp

Reset and ready: Liam Howlett has been getting back to the basics of his golf game in 2020. Photo: FILE

BALLARAT District Golf has a team of fourteen local athletes prepared to play in the Golf Australia – 2020 Victorian Junior Country Regions competition next month, and they’ll be teeing off on home turf.

The squad includes Nicholas Crellin, Kacee Kirwan-Hamilton, Liam Howlett, Paddy Murphy, Ryan Wilson, Thomas Yorke, and reserve Manish Puvanendran from Ballarat Golf Club, Rose Britt from Midlands Golf Club, Joel Smith and Alicia Todd will represent Buninyong Golf Club, Millie Cassidy is from Maryborough Golf Club, Jarryd Martin and Taruni Prasad for Bacchus Marsh West Golf Club, and Mo Haintz is a reserve from Mount Xavier Golf Club.

The players are preparing to hit the fairways from Friday, 4 to Sunday, 6 December. They will compete at Buninyong, Midlands and Ballarat golf clubs.

It’s the first time girls and boys have been able to play representative golf together after Ballarat District Golf lobbied Golf Australia.

For stroke and handicap awards, these ‘super region’ representatives will play 54 holes against the Gippsland, Hume, North West, Peninsula, South Western and Western Vic groups.

Each team has eight boys and three girls. On each day of play, the scores from the top two girls and top six boys will be included in the counts towards the handicap and stroke trophies.

The competition was planned for last May in Cobram Barooga but was postponed due to the pandemic.