West Australian Jarryd Felton has been rewarded for his excellent form with elevation to the Golf Australia national squad.
Felton, 19, of Gosnellls Golf Club in Perth’s southern suburbs, is expected to surge well inside the top 50 of the world amateur golf rankings when they’re updated on Thursday after his impressive showing in the Australian Amateur Championship in Sydney last week.
After qualifying eighth through the strokeplay phase at The Lakes and The Australian golf clubs, Felton fell to eventual finalist Tyler Hodge 1-down in an epic matchplay contest.
But it’s his extended run of good form, especially in professional events, that has prompted Golf Australia’s high performance director Brad James to promote Felton to join Lucas Herbert, Ryan Ruffels, Cameron Davis, Zach Murray, Shelly Shin, Brett Coletta, Cory Crawford and Antonio Murdaca in the nine-strong national squad.
Felton finished fifth at the WA PGA Championship in Kalgoorlie in November, then backed it up to win the prestigious Dunes Medal on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula later that month.
“Jarryd has shown over the past three years that he’s one of the best ball-strikers in the country. He’s competed extremely well at the professional level – showing he can take his game to that next level,” James said today.
“We’re delighted that we can look after his development processes going forward.
“We wanted to see a little bit more of him on some of the most elite courses in the country and the Australian Amateur Championship provided another opportunity for him to prove that he’s more than ready to step up by competing so well on Australia’s toughest courses.
“To finish eighth in the strokeplay we thought was an impressive effort and again proved to us that he’s up for the next level.”
Golf WA national coach Ritchie Smith was thrilled Felton had earnt his chance with consistent performances.
“He’s a very good golfer who I’m sure will take this opportunity to further his golf,” said Smith, also Felton’s personal coach.
“He’s obviously a really good ball striker and if he can get his short game to a competitive level with the tour players, I think he’ll turn into a really good, strong player.”