The SBG Junior Golf Tour drew to a conclusion with the Noosa Junior Classic held on 10 November at Noosa Golf Club. 104 boys and girls competed in the 18 hole event with a further 33 in the 9 hole and 6 hole short course tournament. In 2021 Noosa juniors Cooper Liddell and Amy Coates won the boys and girls overall net titles and four years later with both now playing off single figure handicaps history repeated itself. The pair both payed flawless golf with 3 birdies each to shoot -5 on the day. Amy and Cooper have progressed through the cadet and junior programme at Noosa Golf Club under the guidance of coach Jimmy Douris.
Another Noosa Junior Matthew Riddle joined the party by winning the Division 2 net, also scoring -5 on the day. Declan Hudson and Jackson Holland won the Division 2 and 3 gross titles while Ruby Fisher and Archie Sawford from nearby Peregian won the other net titles to make it a great day for the Noosa region. Cooper Field from Pelican Waters – son of Cam Smith’s coach Grant Field – won the boys gross with a fantastic 2 under par 70.
Last Sunday the 28 winners on the SBG Tour competed for for Frank Schmidt Cup at Noosa Springs. With such a strong field and being played over just 18 holes it was always going to be a tight leaderboard. Janie Carroll from Royal Queensland shot 75 for the second day in a row and was leader in the clubhouse on even. Amy Coates from Noosa Golf Club thought her day was done after a costly 3 putt on 15 and then missed the green left on 16. However she got up and down for a par and then on the dangerous 17th she hit a wedge which danced around the hole and finished 2 inches away for a tap in birdie to get back to even. After 3 solid shots down the par 5 18th Amy was faced with a tricky downhill left to right putt. She struck it at the perfect pace and 6 feet from the hole it broke perfectly and went in dead centre for an amazing birdie-birdie finish to win the cup by the narrowest of margins. It has been an amazing season for Amy who also won the SBG Match Play Division 2 and best girls net score. Her handicap at the start of the season was 14.2 and after last weekend it is sitting at 6.0.
In the boys event big hitting Angus Thomson from Noosa Springs made the most of his local knowledge to win by 3 shots from Archie Lethbridge, Aedan Mayo (Noosa) and Archie Sawford (Peregian). Noosa Golf Club were awarded Best Supported Club at the evening presentation for their excellent junior programme and the amount of youngsters who enter the Noosa Junior Classic and other SBG Tour events each season. It all starts again in January with the Grant Field Junior Classic being held over 3 days at Caloundra and Pelican Waters.
