SOME of the regions premier junior golfers hit the fairways last week for Tenterfield’s annual Junior Golf Tournament.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
While organisers admitted it was a “lighter” field than they’re used to, numbers didn’t detract from a competitive two day event.
Players made the journey from Inverell, Warwick, Goondiwindi, Toowoomba, Tamworth and one came all the way from Bribie Island.
There were two days of competition and an afternoon of tutelage with Ballina golf professional Colin Edwards and Australian golfing great, Charlie Earp.
Mr Earp is no stranger to Tenterfield and said he’d enjoyed yet another visit to the town.
Charlie was inducted into the Sports Australia Hall of Fame in 1990 and awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to golf in 1993.
He most famously nurtured golfing greats, Greg Norman and Wayne Grady.
These days he spends the bulk of his time teaching junior golfers.
Event organiser Patricia Barry said they were blessed to have the continued support of Charlie and Colin as well as Gerard Wilkinson from the Jack Newton Junior Golf Foundation.
Ms Barry said she was thrilled with this year’s competition and singled out a few for praise.
“We had one seven-year-old here who I think will go on to be an Australian champion,” she said.
She also thanked three local organisations for “very generous” sponsorship.
In the boys 18 hole competition for players aged 9-12, local boy Charles Campbell claimed the win with a 126 gross score.
Makalaha Cutmore from Tenterfield won the same division for the girls with a 139 gross score.
Boys nine hole competition for 5-8-year-olds was won by Uralla’s Cooper Smith with a gross score of 46. Girls nine hole was won by Lennox Head’s Franceska Payne with 58 gross.
Five-year-old Tamworth boy Josh Weir impressed onlookers while on his way to winning the boys six hole event.
In the under 18, 36 hole division, Josh Hynes from Warwick won the boys while Alana Hopkins from Nambour claimed the win in the girls with gross scores of 178 and 248 respectively.
In the 54 hole event Helidon-based Nathan Dionysius won the colts with 218 gross and Dylan Barraclough from Broadwater won the A-grade with 210 gross.