Perth’s golfing stars of the future embraced the past at the 80s-themed Crunch&Sip Junior Presentation Day at Rockingham GC.
The annual GolfWA event recognises and rewards the top-performing junior golfers of each year, while also inviting clubs to participate in a fun, fancy-dress team competition – hence the 80s-inspired fashions in evidence on the fairways.
While the Lake Karrinyup team of Mike Williams, Krishav Sheth, Frieda Williams and Lachlan Pastor claimed bragging rights by winning the team comp, and Gosnells GC’s Grace Cheetham, Isabel Wee, Nariko McDonnell and Brianna Chueakrungthep (pictured above) won the Best Dressed prize, the more serious business was to follow at the post-golf awards ceremony.
The big winners on the day were Erina Tan (Mount Lawley GC) and Josiah Edwards (Gosnells GC), who landed the respective girls’ and boys’ Junior Golfer of the Year titles.
Erina’s magnificent year saw her represent GolfWA in the girls’ and women’s Interstate Teams Matches, win the Drummond Golf Junior Amateur Championship and finish as runner-up in the Women’s Amateur Championship of WA – all while completing her Year 12 studies.
Erina Tan signed off her junior career on a high
Erina also finished in 8th place in the national Girls’ Order of Merit and was named as winner of the Junior Golfer of the year ahead of fellow nominees Hayley Rasmussen (Pinjarra GC), Amanda Gan (Mount Lawley), Celine Chen (Joondalup CC) and Lakelands CC duo Kortni Houston and Emily McLaughlin.
Josiah, meanwhile, won the boys’ title ahead of Nate Johnson (Joondalup CC), Declan Pereira and Matthew McLaughlin (both Lakelands CC), Joseph Buttress (WAGC), Liam Sullivan (The Vines) and Krishav Sheth (Lake Karrinyup).
During another typically strong season, Josiah topped the Australian Boys Order of Merit after a string of high finishes both at home and interstate. His finest achievement was an 18-stroke victory in the Tasmanian Junior Amateur Championship in January, while he also represented WA in the Junior Interstate Teams Matches in April.
Most improved players rewarded
There were also awards presented to the juniors who have reduced their handicaps by the highest levels in 2022-23, with Lucas Cowton (Gosnells) and Jade McCulloch (Joondalup) the category winners.
At just 10 years of age, Jade’s can-do attitude and strong work ethic saw her handicap drop by 19 strokes over the course of the year. Lucas, meanwhile, only attained a handicap of 46 in July and has already seen that slashed to 28.1 in a few short months.
Lucas Cowton and Jade McCulloch were the most improved juniors of 2023
Last but not least, prizes were also presented to the winners of the Junior Stroke Averages categories, granted to the players who have reduced their stroke average the greatest amount over the past 12 months.
For the boys, the winners were Blake Wager (11 and Under); Thomas Pyke (12-13); Josiah Edwards (14-15) and George Barclay (16-17), with Isabella Leniartek (14 and Under) and Celine Chen (15-17) winning the girls’ awards.
Jordan McSkimming, GolfWA’s Junior Development Officer, said: “Overall, Junior Presentation Day was a fitting finale for another outstanding year of junior golf in WA and we look forward to seeing which players really step it up again in 2024.”
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