Seven Junior Members who represented us in the Sharp Cup, along with Matt Antell, Jane Flentje and Michael Jay are currently taking part in Royal Adelaide’s Junior Development Trip to NSW and the Jack Newton International Junior Classic.
An additional four Royal Adelaide Members are also attending as part of the State team and are accompanied by Chris Crocker.
Click here to read more about the Jack Newton International Junior Classic, including leaderboards.
Sunday (written by Hudson Haynes)
We arrived at the airport at 4.30 Sunday morning for our trip to the Hunter Valley. After a short delay we all got though security except for Jisung who had tried to smuggle a deodorant can in his hand luggage. After breakfast at Maccas we boarded the plane for the 2 hour flight to Sydney. After a smooth journey we got on board the Matt-Mobile for the 2.5 hour drive up to the Hunter Valley and our destination – Cypress Lakes resort.
We arrived there around midday for lunch, before changing in to our golf clothes to warm up for our practice rounds. We all played 9 holes (back 9) at our respective courses (Alice, Lewis and myself are competing at Cypress Lakes; Billy and Joshua are at The Vintage; whilst Mason and Jisung are at Rydges Hunter Valley resort). After golf we went to the shops and got all the food we needed for the next couple of days – including the ingredients for the first nights dinner, Tacos made by Billy and Joshua. We ended the evening with a stretching and recovery session before bed time.
Monday (written by Mason Holden)
After getting some much needed sleep, we woke up at 8am to have breakfast. We took off at 9am to depart for our respective golf courses for a late morning tee time where we would be playing the front 9 for our practice rounds this time. Jisung found out that he would be playing at Cypress Lakes (as he was 1st reserve in case of any cancellations) meaning that he played with Alice, Lewis and Hudson. Billy and Josh played together, leaving me at the Rydges Hunter Valley Resort course with MIchael Jay keeping me company.
Afterwards, we headed to the shops to get ingredients for the night’s dinner which was sausages, burgers and chops, made by Jisung. We went back to Cypress Lakes for the opening ceremony, where 15 countries and every Australian state was being represented. Then, we headed back to the house for dinner and ended the evening with a recovery session. We went to bed ready for an early start the next day.
Tuesday (written by Lewis Antell)
After an early rise for all (except Jisung, who had the luxury of sleeping in until 10 am), the gang were out the door by 6 am.
Mason was out earliest, finishing his round at around 10.30am, and was chuffed with his tap-in birdie on 4 after an amazing approach.
Hudson (per usual) had the ball ‘on a rope’ but appeared to have forgotten to bring his putter with him from the villa!
Alice had a minor hiccup on the first, topping her ball down the fairway, but bounced back brilliantly with a bogey free back nine to shoot a 3 over 76 which led the scoring for her group.
Lewis had the last tee time of the morning starters at Cypress Lakes, and begun his round by holing a monster putt on the first hole. He followed this with a further 5 birdies, but they were camouflaged by bogeys to end his round with a 3 over total of 75.
Joshua and Billy – with tee times of 8:40 and 8:50 – had rounds much like Hudson in that they struck the ball amazingly but their balls were afraid to go in the hole on the green! They finished with scores of 86 and 83 respectively.
After Jisung awoke from his beauty sleep at 10 am he started his round how he meant to go on by birdieing 4 of his first 6 holes! Unfortunately his birdie train came to a holt as he dropped shots on his last 4 holes but nevertheless it was a round to remember, especially considering it was his first interstate tournament round.
After golf we enjoyed a delicious Italian meal made by Alice, before completing our stats and daily reflections with Coach Matt.
Wednesday (written by Alice Cho)
Mason’s morning started bright and early again, having to start his round at 7:05am. His early wake up bothered him so much that he nearly killed two spectators and got a double bogey on the fifth hole. However he finished pretty clutch hitting a low stinger into the wind on 18 and left about 15 feet to get a birdie.
Billy and Josh had a shotgun start at 7:30am. Billy had a good start with getting 10 pars in a row, until one of his playing partners hit Billy on the head with a flying club after a bad putt! Thankfully he wasn’t hurt but from there he missed 4 birdie putts inside 4 feet but still finished with a handy score of 77.
Joshua bombed his drive on the first hole and followed with a chip in on the third hole but four of his birdie putts lipped out. After getting sick of the lip outs, he made a clutch birdie getting back to 11 over.
Jisung also had an early start at 7:55am, with couple good tee shots drawing right down the middle of the fairway. He managed to make a quadruple bogey by slicing the hell out of his ball into the OB on 10 and even his provisional shot somehow hit the tree! After his round, he thought his chipping wasn’t ‘well trained’ enough so he started practicing outside of the house we are staying in, that was until until he thinned one of them and it went straight into a neighbour’s garage!!
Hudson, Lewis and I started around 12:00 to 12:30 getting a nice sleep in for the first time of the week.
With Hudson getting annoyed after the first four holes he was six over including a quadruple bogey. As per usual Lewis walks up to the first tee with his game face on stripping his drive right down the middle whilst I lipped out for an eagle after an amazing shot onto the green on the first hole. Finished a bogey free front nine with two-under. After nearly hitting Hudson on the 13th hole by blading a second shot, I finished 3 over par for the day. After golf, Mason prepared a delicious meal which was stir fry with meatballs and then we enjoyed our ‘cracks and groan’ stretching after! We had an early night as Jisung and Hudson are up at 4:00am for the first tee time of the day!
Thursday (written by Jisung Park)
Today was the last round for Mason because they only have 3 rounds
Mason finish his round at 11:00
Unfortunately he had a bad round his tee shot wasn’t great. But he did great bogey chip in on the last hole.
I played very bad on the first 9 holes with 9 over. But I drive to the most of the fairways and had pretty good putting
Alice miss the lots of 4 foot birdie chance which was unlucky, but her tee shot hit the fairway every time which was great
Hudson, Hudson’s tee shot was at 6:15 which is early morning. And during the round he hit the ball well but unfortunately he couldn’t putt well.
Billy played very well today!! On the first hole he almost made incredible eagle but hits the cup and bounce out which was very unlucky, Also on second hole, he had really close birdie change but he missed the putt. Billy played very well which is shooting 72 which is 1 over.
Lewis, he start his tee shot at 1:00 so he had great long sleep.
He wasn’t really happy with his score back nine and ( he scored triple on 13th hole ) but he played very well at the back nice hole he scored 1 under so he finish his game with 8 over which was incredible.
Joshua scored wonderful birdie on the first hole with chip in!!
But his putting wasn’t great today, so he finish his score with 90 After golf we had great meal from Lewis. It was very nice!!
Friday (written by Billy)
Today was everyone’s last day except for Mason hoping for everyone to finish on a high for the week
Hudson,
Hudson was up bright and early having to be out in the car at 5 but he threw the alarm out the window and the putter came in. He learnt how to putt but then he forgot how to hit a golf ball. Played well with 9 over but having seven over in the space of 3 holes.
Jisung,
Jisung up bright and early ready for action. Having a cracker of a start being 1 under through 4 holes and being able to avoid the other days catastrophes by being more stable throughout those stretch of holes.
Josh and Billy,
Shotgun start at 730 with Billy in contention for his age group title. While on the other hand Josh was striking the ball really good but struggled to find the bottom of the cup. Billy in contention for the age group title which nerves ended up getting the better of him on the first 7 holes being 7 over but came back with a strong finish to end up 7 over and finishing third in the age group.
Lewis,
Lewis started his round with a wonderful up and down save out of the bunker. And then proceeded to hit it to 6 feet on the next hole but unfortunately it horseshoed out. With lots of ups and downs, Lewis played well but with nothing dropping Lewis had to grind out a score with putts not on his side, Lewis ended his round with an 80.
Alice,
Alice being the only one teeing off in the afternoon as played some great golf throughout the week. Alice’s last round of the week was the best out of anyone but had some unlucky breaks costing her a couple shots. But played very consistent golf with 2 bogeys and 2 birdies to finish square on 73.
Saturday (written by Josh)
On Saturday we had to wake up at 4:00 for a 2.5 hour drive back to Sydney airport and our 9 o’clock flight.
The scenic drive went smoothly and we arrived at the airport on time. Our only delay was when we were going through security as Jisung got stopped because of deodorant in his bag again! After a week of healthy eating we all treated ourselves to Maccas before the flight. When we landed Hudson’s parents greeted us at the gate and everyone else’s parents picked up their kids at the baggage claim.
Thank you to the committee for supporting our trip and to all the members that contribute. We all really enjoyed it and it was a great experience. Thanks to Matt, Jane and Michael for coming on the trip with us and mentoring us and hopefully next year we can have another Royal Adelaide winner.
