FIFTY-EIGHT of the region’s best young golfers went head-to-head at Wentworth Golf Club in the Western Secondary Schools Golf Championships on Monday, vying for the chance to don red and green, and represent their region.
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Four boys, and four girls will be selected to represent Western at the New South Wales Combined High Schools Team Championships in Dubbo at the beginning of June.
Monday’s round at Wentworth was the first of three selection rounds, with two more to come in the Blue Mountains.
At the end of the three rounds, the players with the lowest accumulated scratch scores will be selected.
Western School Sports Association golf convener Mark Skein said the quality of golfers at the trials on Monday bodes well for Western, before nominating Kandos’ Jaydon Taylor as an almost certain starter for Western, after shooting 76 yesterday.
He also said Bathurst’s Scott Matheson would push hard for selection, despite shooting a nine-over 79 in round one.
“Something would need to go very wrong for him to miss out,” Skein said.
“He’s been in the team for the past three years, and Jaydon Taylor has been in it for two years already, so you would expect them to be selected again if they play well. But there is room for golfers to push for selection.”
Orange’s Tyler Mendham is one such golfer.
Mendham has represented Wentworth in division one pennants this year, and shot an eight-over 78 yesterday, putting him in good stead.
“Mendham should figure, he’s a low marker and playing at his home course [yesterday] gave him an advantage,”Skein said.
“Unfortunately we probably won’t be able to field a full girls’ team. We haven’t been that competitive recently as a Western team. We always have low marking teams, but those Sydney-based teams just have a much bigger pool of kids to select from but hopefully this year we go well.”
On the day, Taylor won the A grade scratch event, with Mendham and Matheson second and third respectively. Orange’s Hudson Smith won the handicap with a net score of 65 from Dan Lane, of Dunedoo ( 70).
In B grade, Kandos’ Jack Nassis (88) won the scratch from Sam Clarke (93) of Forbes. In the handicap event, Bathurst’s Ben Mackay (73) won, with Cowra’s Ben Cook just one stroke behind.
Cowra gun Laura Cummings took home the girls scratch prize, shooting 78.
