THE strength of junior golf in Australia was obvious when a seven-strong team of boys and girls took the Maple Leaf Junior Tour’s National Team Challenge in Ontario, Canada, in mid-September.
It was the second time the Aussies had won the highly regarded 54-hole tournament, contested by teams from Canada and the United States. They also won in 2019 – the last time international teams competed.
The top four individual scores from the 11 competing teams each day counted towards the team score.
Australia led after the opening round, with 289 strokes, followed by scores of 296 and 295 to run out easy 29-stroke winners.
The star of the tournament was 18-year-old Western Australian Alex Maxwell, who shot rounds of 71-68-72 to finish five-under-par and take individual boys’ honours.
Maxwell, who is studying at the University of Nevada, was born in the United Kingdom but now calls Fremantle home. Earlier this year he was third in the Western Australian Amateur Championship and runner-up in the English Under-18 Amateur Strokeplay Championship.
Fellow Western Australian Amanda Gan, 16, was runner-up in the girls’ division with rounds of 74-74-74 – two strokes behind Zoe Parker of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Other members of the Australian team were Joshua Todd, captain of the NSW squad in this year’s Junior Interstate Team Matches, Yeppoon’s Isaak Jensen, who would later win the 15-18 year category of the US Kids’ Australian Open in Rockhampton, Sydney’s Daley Loumanis and Shyla Singh, of the Gold Coast.
The Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour, run by PGA of Canada professionals, is Canada’s premier junior golf tour, hosting more than 100 events each year across the country.
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