Three young golfers from Hawke's Bay have qualified for the national final of the Junior Tiger at the Manawatu Golf Club on April 17.
Thirty-eight young golfers participated in the event at the Hastings Golf Club yesterday - a few just giving golf a go for the first time.
The three golfers to progress from the categories of 11 and under and 12-14 are Guy Harrison (winner boys U11, Maraenui Golf Club), Tayla Cribb (winner girls 12-14 age-group, Maraenui) and Stephen Wilding (boys' 12-14, Hastings Golf Club). Tayla and Guy will be heading back to the national final for the second year in a row and are determined to succeed.
"I'm so excited to be heading back to the final, I feel my golf has really improved since last year so I'm looking forward to it," said Tayla.
"I can't believe I won," Guy said. "I had to play really well on the closing holes to win as my playing companions were scoring very well and it became really close".
New Zealand Golf began its hunt for the 2013 Junior Tiger this weekend at clubs all around New Zealand. The young golfers are playing for the chance to represent their district at the national final. The winners at the nationals will travel to the United States to represent New Zealand in the World Junior Golf Championship.
Junior Tiger is a New Zealand Golf initiative designed to promote the game to young people as an affordable and accessible sport. Since the series was introduced in 2009, it has proven to be a very popular initiative. "The Junior Tiger series is as much about taking part as it is winning. Golfers of all abilities are encouraged to give golf a go on the day" says Jeremy Carlsen, the NZ Junior golf development officer for the region. Carlsen, a professional at Maraenui club and the GolfFanatics group, said he was most impressed with the youngsters. "Hawke's Bay has golfing talent, no doubt about it," he said. "It is great to see that many players starting out playing golf who played the first Junior Tiger event are back again playing Junior Tiger this year as regular golfers vying for a spot to the national finals and hoping to win their way to Disneyland and the Junior World Championships," said New Zealand Golf High Performance co-ordinator Liz McKinnon.
McKinnon said several players had gone from Junior Tiger to achieve great things.
"Lydia Ko is a great example. She was a national winner in 2009 and is now the world No 1 women's amateur."