Jason Holloway, BenTucker, Tom Miller, Ben Snell The 2011 SA Country Junior Golf Championships were held at the Port Augusta Golf Club on the 17th and 18th September. The South East had seven players travel to the event which included a new event The Invitational for players on handicaps between 19 – 27. The main team consisted of Robes Ben Tucker, Kingstons Jason Holloway along with Mt Gambiers Ben Snell and Tom Miller. Traveling away for their first major event were Harry Coote from Millicent along with Mt Gambiers Perry boys Caleb and Jhett. With high temperatures combined with strong winds on the Saturday the scoring was tough with players feeling the local elements as red dust blew over the course. The best score for the South East in the first round came from Ben Snell with a 76 which had him sitting 4th after the first 18 holes. With the team struggling to post low scores from here on it was Ben Tucker who was the most consistent backing up his first round 80 with another 80 and a 79 in the final round. Josh Hayes from the McCracken Golf Club survived the play off on the 55th hole to defeat Joel Durnford from Wirrabra for the title. Along with the championship is a team event and with the South East dominating this for the last two years the other regions were out for revenge and looking to claim the title. The Southern group took this event out with a score of 728 followed by the Murraylands on 735 with the South East filling 3rd place on 741. A state team of six country juniors was announced to be joined by six from the metropolitan clubs to play the annual match against Victoria in November. Robes Ben Tucker was successful in making the team for his second year in a row after coming 5th in the championships while Ben Tucker finished 7th and was named as reserve after making last years team. It was in the Invitational Event where the South East excelled all expectations with eleven year old Caleb Perry taking out the event shooting great scores of 89, 88, 88 giving him a total score of 265 a seven shot win from the nearest competitor. His score would have seen him place mid field in the championship in a very strong performance. Also showing immense talent at various stages were eleven year old Harry Coote who finished 4th with 280 and ten year old Jhett Perry 7th with 295. These three juniors all made the SAPSASA state team a few weeks ago to play the Australian Championships and have a bright future at representative level.
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