HARRY Takis is arguably the best male junior golfer in Queensland, and if his Bundaberg-based girlfriend Kate McFarlane isn’t the best female junior, she’s certainly one of the best two or three.
The two practice together, play together, support one another and take joy in each other’s successes. But they’re still highly competitive, and like nothing better than outdoing the other.
So it was particularly pleasing for Kate last month that she should shoot rounds of 69-72-69-70 for a 72-hole total of 280 in the Sunshine Coast Junior Masters – a single stroke better than Harry’s score of 69-69-73-70.
They each won the Invincible Tour’s premier event, Harry taking the boys’ honours and Kate winning the girls’ division – just as they have done in so many other junior tournaments this year.
Kate won her first Masters championship when she beat Southport’s Yuuki Takada by one stroke, while Harry, a Virginia member, won his second title in three years, beating Harrison Gomez of Royal Pines by two shots.
Harry missed most of last season through injury, but has performed with outstanding authority this year – winning most of the junior tournaments he’s contested and even beating an outstanding field of older golfers to take the Pacific Harbour Amateur in August.
Both of these talented teenagers are eyeing careers as professional touring players, Harry already making plans to attend a US college after he completes high school next year, while Kate, at this stage, preferring to work her way through the Golf Australia programme.
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