Victorian Junior Boys and Girls Championship
On Sunday 22nd September Jasmin Driscoll, Silka Solomon, Ethan Harvey and Jye Halls travelled to Melbourne as the JNJG Team to compete in the Victorian Junior Boys and Girls Championship being contested at Moonah Links Golf Course.
Once the team arrived, they were bused one and a half hours down to the facility, checked in, quickly got changed and headed straight out onto the course to get prepared for the week ahead. The players quickly learnt they needed their A game along with a very solid short game to contest this week. The players finished up their practice round before having dinner and an early night.
Day 1 was an afternoon start for all four players. They were faced with 35-45km winds (opposite direction to the practice round), rain, and cold weather. Preparation was great and all players were as ready as they could be to tackle the tough layout in the tough conditions. It was going to be a grind. All players got off to a solid start but mid-way through the round there were signs of how hard the day was going to be. Jye Halls fought hard all day to shoot 70 (-2) Ethan Harvey 74 (+2) Jasmin Driscoll 82 (+10) Silka Solomon 90 (+18).
Day 2 was an early start with the players preparing well again. The wind shifted again back to what we had experienced in the practice round. The toughest conditions for this course.
All four players found it a little tough early but settled into their rounds. Jye Halls signed for a round of 76 (+4) Ethan Harvey 83 (+11) Jasmin Driscoll 81 (+9) Silka Solomon 85 (+13).
Day 3 brought some much nicer weather conditions with a light breeze and some warmer weather. The Girls were off early and had the best of the conditions. Jasmin Driscoll 84 (+12) Silka Solomon 95 (+23). This showed that the tougher pin placements meant your short game had to be sharp and the putter needed to be hot. Ethan started with some very solid play but could not find the bottom of the hole. A small adjustment was made before some putts began to fall, Ethan turned 1 under and continued his solid play on the back nine eventually shooting a round of 70 (-2). Jye was also playing very solid early on making the turn in even par after a birdie on the 9thhole. Jye continued his steady play going before dropping 4 shots late to sign for a 76 (+4). An early night was had by all to be ready to finish the tournament with a bang.
Day 4 was the best day you could ask for with warmer weather and lighter winds greeting the players. Silka was in the first group off at 7am and showed some great composure early before dropping some shots mid-way through her front nine, Silka made the turn in 9 over and eventually went on to shoot 86 (+14) Silka finished in 20thposition overall. Jasmin was the next player to tee off and had the game face firmly on. Jasmin made a string of pars before a solid birdie on the par 5 4thhole to get it to 1 under par. A bogey on 7 had her back to even but it was clear she was here to play with nothing to lose. Jasmin went on to shoot a final round of 77 (+5) finishing in 16th position overall.
The boys were off in the afternoon with great conditions hanging around with the wind picking up slightly. Ethan was off first getting off to a great start with a birdie on the 1stfollowed by another one on three as he moved up the leader board. A bogey on 10 slowed the momentum but back to back birdies on 14 and 15 followed by another on 18 had Ethan finish with 68 (-4) moving up to 7thoverall. Jye Halls was off next with a steady start he made par on his first 6 holes before back to back bogeys slowed his momentum as the putter went to sleep. Four more pars followed by bogey’s on 14 and 16 had him 4 over before a birdie on the last got him into the club house with 75 (+3) . Jye finished in 10thposition overall but his score was good enough to win the under 16’s division by 4 shots. All four players will now start focusing on the International next week.
There were a number of other JNJG juniors who travelled down to the event as well and congratulations must go to Sophie Yip who took out the Girls Championship with a fantastic 4 round score of 293 (+5). Fellow JNJG junior Belinda Ji finished runner up in the Girls Championship on 295 (+7). Well done to all of our juniors who took part in the event. We hope you spend the weekend getting some much needed rest before another big week of golf next week at the JNJG International Junior Classic.
- Luke Grinham, JNJG Team Manager
