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South Australia is dreaming of a rare double — and chasing the end of a 33-year drought — at Golf Australia’s men's Interstate Series in Brisbane next week.
The state’s best amateur golfers will aim to emulate the SA boys' team that last month shared the junior crown with New South Wales when they take on the country’s elite amateurs at the four-day Australian Interstate Championships, starting on Tuesday.
Three members of that victorious boys' team have won selection in the eight-man senior squad to compete for South Australia’s first title since 1983 at Brisbane Golf Club.
Boys' team captain Lachy Barker, 17, will play his second senior series, while fellow Glenelg player Ben Layton and The Grange’s Liam Georgiadis have also been included for their men’s debuts.
Barker said form and belief generated from the under-age success in Tasmania is on South Australia’s side.
“With the win earlier this year, hopefully we can carry that momentum through,” Barker said.
“We know we can win at that level. There’s a few senior players as well as us younger guys and they’ve been around for a while and have the experience in this format.
“I feel like we can almost get the double-header this year.
“I know we’ve got the talent, we’ve got the players who are capable of doing it. It would be great to get it done.”
Last year Victoria secured a junior-senior double, while Western Australia poses a massive threat in 2016.
All eight of the WA players made the halfway cut at last week’s WA Open, and will be spearheaded by tournament champion Curtis Luck and Min Woo Lee, younger brother of touring professional Minjee Lee.
Last year SA’s men finished fifth with a team including junior star Antonio Murdaca, now professional.
Barker, still studying Year 12 at Tatachilla Lutheran College, has skippered SA’s junior team for the past two years at interstate titles.
He was introduced to the senior team last year, but played only selected matches.
Next week, the Willunga product hopes to take on more responsibility by climbing the team line-up.
He said SA’s 33-year blackout from the champions’ list did not daunt a team captained by The Grange’s Matthew Lisk and coached by Gareth Jones.
“Hopefully this year I can move up the order a bit and get some results for SA,” he said.
“It’s a long time since we’ve won it, so if we could do that it would be something special.
“If the golf is good anything can happen. The beauty of the individual match play format is that anyone can win on any given day.”
The women’s interstate series will be played across three days at Royal Queensland. SA last won the women’s crown in 2006.
AUSTRALIAN INTERSTATE CHAMPIONSHIP
SA men: Matthew Lisk (Grange), Lachlan Barker (Glenelg), Sam Earl (Glenelg), Liam Georgiadis (Grange), Ben Layton (Glenelg), Scott Ready (Flagstaff Hill), Heath Riches (Kooyonga), Will Somerfield (Kooyonga).
SA women: Cassidy Evreniadis (Grange), Ella Adams (Grange), Sarah Crocker (Glenelg), Charley Jacobs (Ardrossan), Elysia Yap (Glenelg), Jin-Young Yun (Grange).