Jack Newton Junior Golf – Brett Ogle Junior Masters – Goulburn

The 2022 Brett Ogle Junior Masters was held at the Goulburn Golf Club over the weekend of 19^th & 20^th November with 140 Juniors registered for the event. It was great to see 6 Catalina Juniors participate, including Sophie, Oscar, Bill, Bronte, Keith & Lachie. Goulburn always seems to produce some sort of climatic challenge each year for this tournament and this year was no exception with extreme winds of 40-60 kms on the Sunday. Saturday afternoon also got pretty windy for the girls. Nonetheless, some great golf still transpired.

Sophie, Bill and Oscar produced solid rounds on Day 1 with a 2 over, 1 over and 4 over respectively. That put Sophie 5th in overall girls with the leaders 4 shots away at 2 under par. Bronte, Keith and Lachie all had their moments but left considerable room for improvement.

Day 2 brought extremely challenging windy conditions and a few spurts of driving rain. Despite this, Sophie produced her best round ever with a personal best 3 under par that included 6 birdies. It got a bit exciting for a moment as Sophie drew even with the leader after her birdie on the 14th, but a costly bogey on hole 15 and although a late birdie on hole 18, just fell one shot short of the leader who made a clutch birdie on the 17th. It was a mix of sheer determination, extreme focus, solid ball striking, reliable chipping and some great putting that helped Sophie move 3 spots up the leaderboard to finish second overall and runner up in the 16/17 girls gross comp. Her final result of 1 under par for the tournament is her best thus far.

Oscar shot out of the blocks in the trying conditions being 2 under on the turn but fell away a little to shoot another 4 over. This moved him 9 spots up the leaderboard to finish 9th in overall boys. A great effort given the conditions. Bill unfortunately struggled all day and fell to 20th on the leaderboard after a disappointing 12 over that included numerous and uncharacteristic 3 putts. He headed straight to the putting practice green after his round.

Bronte, Keith & Lachie all had better rounds on Day 2 despite the more difficult conditions. Lachie was even awarded runner up in the Nett comp for 12/13 year old boys for his efforts. I believe that he is 2 out of 2 now. Congratulations Lachie!

As the Director of Golf it was a great opportunity  for myself to see each of the 6 Juniors in action and although not playing myself, it felt great to see each of the kids put in the performances they did over the weekend.