Victorian pair Ryan Ruffels and Lucas Herbert are at Martis Camp Club in Truckee, California for this week's U.S. Junior Amateur held from 22-27 July.
Held near the state border of California and Nevada, the Junior Amateur will be the first USGA national championship to be held in the region since the 1985 U.S. Senior Open.
Ruffels, 15, is considered by some the best talent from Australia since Jason Day, a U.S. Open runner-up in 2011 and 2013. His parents, Ray and Anna-Maria, were both tennis professionals. Ray won 16 doubles titles, including the 1977 Australian Open, and played on Australia’s Davis Cup squad. Anna-Maria (Fernandez) captured five WTA doubles titles. Ryan received his first cut-down club from Mark O’Meara when his parents were in-house tennis pros at Isleworth Golf and Country Club in Florida.
Herbert, 17, was the runner-up after losing in a three-man playoff at the Australian PGA Tour’s Heritage Classic in January of 2013. Herbert recently finished second at the Junior Golf World Cup and led Australia to a second-place finish. Herbert, who attends Bendigo Senior Secondary College in the state of Victoria, was third at last year’s Australian Junior title.
Martis Camp Club, which opened for play in 2008, features mature pines, natural elevation changes and mountain views on the first nine, then criss-crosses Martis Creek and the valley floor on the second nine.
The town of Truckee is located 32 miles southwest of Reno, Nevada. and 100 miles northeast of Sacramento, California.
Andy Zhang of the People’s Republic of China, has already qualified at Lake Wales Country Club. Zhang, who advanced to match play at last year’s US Junior Amateur, became the youngest U.S. Open qualifier (age 14) at The Olympic Club in 2012.