Dylan Perry has become a Golf Australia benchmark athlete.
Perry, 23, recently completed his move to become a full-time member of the Queensland Academy of Sport squad and will represent his new state in next month’s Interstate Series having been a staple of recent New South Wales teams.
Perry achieved tier two benchmark status having finished runner-up in The Amateur Championship in Britain last year, finishing T27 in the 2017 NSW Open and now having been steady in the top 30 of the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
“It’s a great recognition for Dylan for having been one of our most consistent athletes of the past two years,” GA high performance director Brad James said.
“He has played well in professional events, domestic amateur events and had a particularly great run internationally last year, including his great result at The Amateur and then at the US Amateur where he reached the final 32 as well.”
Golf Australia Queensland national coach Tony Meyer is excited that Perry has already become a key component of the QAS squad.
“Dylan was obviously already a very good player when he came north and you can see in his work ethic that he’s driven to achieve his best,” Meyer said.
“So we’re very excited he’s reaches this benchmark status and very much look forward to his debut for Queensland in Adelaide next month.”
James said the change in Perry’s address had no bearing on his new status.
“It’s a national program and it does not matter which state the athletes come from,” James said.
“Regardless of their state, all the high performance programs are striving for the same goals and objectives.”
Perry joins 19-year-old Min Woo Lee (tier one), of Perth, and 18-year-old Jackson Kalz (who reached tier two as a junior), of Adelaide, as Golf Australia benchmark athletes in 2018.
There have now been six benchmark athletes since Golf Australia introduced the criteria early last year when three NSW state team athletes Travis Smyth, Grace Kim and Josh Armstrong (Canberra) met the requirements.
The benchmark athlete status enables extra benefits for players over and above their existing funding and support through their state high performance programs. They retain their new status until 31 December.
Among a range of additional benefits, they get a stipend for travel to international tournaments, more funding towards coaching fees and sports science expenses and a subsidy towards playing professional events.
See www.golf.org.au/hp-program and www.golf.org.au/selectionpolicies for more information on the Golf Australia high performance program.