PORT Macquarie Golf Club junior Oli Payne will head to Stonecutters Ridge for the junior pro am championship on November 9.
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A feature of this year's NSW Open Championship at Stonecutters Ridge GC is going to be an 18-hole junior Pro-Am tournament on the eve of the Championship.
It will see 60 junior golfers from across NSW being given the opportunity to play the course with a star of the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia.
Payne is one of 60 juniors who will compete at the junior event.
The teenager has only been playing golf for three and a half years, but he is already ranked in the top 50 in the world in his age division.
He knows what to expect at Stonecutters Ridge which is the only Greg Norman-designed golf course in Sydney.
“I’ve played at Stonecutters before and it’s a pretty good course,” he said.
“It’s a bit different to Port Macquarie because this one is really soft on the fairways but it runs on down there and you get heaps of roll.”
Payne was given a position in the field after each club nominated a selection of juniors.
“It’s really good to have my name put forward because it boosts my confidence knowing I’m good enough to be there,” he said.
“But my consistency as a whole needs to improve although I’m hitting them alright at the moment.”
Payne hopes to hit a good score at the junior event and he was looking forward to representing Port Macquarie.
It’s really good to have my name put forward.
- Oli Payne
“There’s no amateur guys playing; it’s all juniors so it’s the best of the best and I can test myself.”
While he won’t be caddying for the likes of Peter Senior or Adam Scott, the 14-year-old was still looking forward to the experience.
“It’ll be really good to experience what they do and learn from them,” he said.
The NSW Open is the opening event for the Australian summer of golf and it presents a pretty unique opportunity.