Gosnells Golf Club junior Halia Edwards was living the dream this week after she was invited to play a round at her home club with WA’s Major champions Minjee Lee and Hannah Green.
Aged just 12, Halia is one of WA’s most highly regarded rising talents, who plays off a 2 handicap and has a string of junior club titles to her name, as well as being the 2023 WA Primary Schools Championship winner.
In late 2023, Halia was called up to the GolfWA Girls’ Squad for the first time, becoming one of the youngest players ever to achieve that milestone.
Her opportunity to play alongside Minjee and Hannah came courtesy of their coach Ritchie Smith, who was conducting an on-course analysis session for the LPGA Tour stars. A place in the fourball was available and Halia was only too happy to jump at the opportunity.
And although the prospect of teeing it up alongside two of the world’s best golfers might be daunting for some, Halia says she took it in her stride.
“I wasn’t necessarily nervous, I was more excited to get to play alongside them,” Halia told GolfWA. “I’d met Minjee and Hannah before but never played golf with them, so this was probably my favourite experience in golf so far. The best part was beating Ritchie Smith!”
Playing off the back tees, Halia acquitted herself well against the hardened professionals, going round in “four or five over par” and almost matching them for distance off the tee.
“I had a pretty decent round,” Halia added. “I wasn’t much behind them in terms of distance but they are much more consistent than I am, so it’s given me plenty to work on.”
Hannah, Halia and Minjee: present and future golf stars!
With both Minjee and Hannah praising her swing and overall game, Halia also benefitted from some tips and advice from super-coach Smith that she now plans to factor into her training regime as she aims to make 2024 a blockbuster year in her fledgling career.
Halia’s dad Moka, the Golf Operations Manager at Gosnells GC, added: “I was super-excited for Halia to be able to share the course with her two golfing idols and very proud of all the hard work she’s put into her game.
“I would have been a nervous wreck playing alongside two of the world’s best golfers, especially at such a young age with a big crowd watching them tee off, but Halia handled herself very well.”
Halia is not the only golfing starlet in the Edwards’ household. Older brother Josiah, 16, has been a regular in GolfWA junior squads in recent years and won the Australian Boys Order of Merit in 2023.
Keep up to date with the latest elite golf news in GolfWA’s news section and on our Facebook and Instagram feeds.
