Australian Schools 15 and Under Championship
Eastlake Golf Club in Sydney and JNJG hosted the 2016 Australian Schools 15 and Under Golf Championship from 14-17 November. Eastlake Golf Club is nestled among three of Sydney’s most prestigious sand belt courses, the Australian, The Lakes, and Bonnie Doon. It is designed on a narrow strip of sandy soil and wetlands with a 5881, par 72 layout for men, and a 4859, par 72 for women.
The event, in its inaugural year attracted teams from Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania. Each State/Territory fielded a team of 4 boys and 4 girls. The ACT Team representatives were:
Boys:
Riley Willcox, Belconnen Magpies Golf Club
Aaron Maxwell, Federal Golf Club
Michael Nguyen, Gungahlin Lakes Golf Club
Jack Nisbett, Fairbairn Golf Club
Collin Ellems, Manager
Girls:
Cassandra Linares, Federal Golf Club
Taylah Ellems, Yowani Golf Club
Molly Perren-Leveridge, Belconnen Golf Club
Meghan Farrell, Gungahlin Lakes Golf Club
Sue Harrison, Manager
Monday 14th saw the opening of the event with a 2BBB aggregate event in mixed teams followed by a dinner at Eastlake Golf Club. On Tuesday we commenced the serious competition with the first round stroke play hit offs commencing at 8am. Wednesday was our excursion day and it just happened that the Australian Open Pro Am was being held at Royal Sydney Golf Club. After a fine bacon and egg roll breakfast at Eastlakes we travelled to Royal Sydney and set out to see the big names in golf (and cricket). Adam Scott was playing with Brian Lara (West Indian cricketer) and Jordan Spieth teed off in the afternoon field. This was a fantastic opportunity to get up close with the talented and famous. Jack Nisbett was selected to attend the Q&A session with Adam Scott and by all accounts enjoyed the experience. Everyone else scurried around getting autograph from the players. The final day of play occurred on Thursday with quite a bit of pressure building for the ACT Team. We were positioned in second place and Riley and Aaron were tied first in the nett event. Cassie was also positioned well in the nett event.
The honour board event was the Mixed Teams Event, which was determined by the best 3 boys and girls nett scores over both days of competition. The Northern Territory came in with a very strong performance to take out the Golf Medal, followed closely (3 shots) by ACT. What a wonderful performance by the Territories.
Team Results:
NT 433, 442 = 875 1st
ACT 435, 443 = 878 2nd
VIC 446, 438 = 884 3rd
QLD 449, 436 = 885 4th
NSW 454, 434 = 888 5th
TAS 460, 438 = 898 6th
Individual ACT:
Ellems Taylah - 95/84, 90/79 - 185/163
Perren-Leveridge Molly - 94/76, 99/81 - 193/157
Farrell Meghan - 97/76, 110/89 - 207/165
Linares Cassandra - 87/72, 80/65 - 167/137
Maxwell Aaron - 77/68, 86/77 - 163/145
Willcox Riley - 78/68, 78/68 - 156/136
Nguyen Michael - 88/75, 86/73 - 174/148
Nisbett Jack - 93/79, 95/81 - 188/160
Full tournament results can be found here: https://www.jnjg.com.au/files/Australian_Schools_15__Under_Championships_Final_Round.pdf
Congratulations go to Riley Willcox on winning the Overall Nett Champion. For his amazing efforts Riley wins a trip to New Zealand in January 2017, as part of the JNJG Tour Team. Almost as equally impressive was the overall second place nett effort by Cassandra Linares. Well done to all of the team.
The efforts of the team were not only impressive on the course, the whole team – including parents and club members at respective golf clubs raised funds to assist with expenses incurred by the trip. These efforts are greatly appreciated by the organisers of the event. Thank you for your support. We were also able to reduce costs by hiring the South East Region Academy of Sport (SERAS) bus, which proved to be a fantastic transport machine for our purposes.
