Nine of the State’s brightest prospects have been included in the Golf Australia High Performance Squad for 2022.
Joining the four NSW rookie professionals already named in the tier one squad (Stephanie Kyriacou, Grace Kim, Blake Windred and Travis Smyth) are Kelsey Bennett, Harrison Crowe, Jeffrey Guan and Belinda Ji (Tier Two), while Chris Fan, Josh Fuller, Jye Halls, Jye Pickin, and June Song have been named as Tier Three athletes.
The nine individuals will receive assistance with funding for trips overseas in 2022, including tours of the United Kingdom, the United States and Asia for elite amateur competitions, and continuing tuition in a high performance training environment through the Golf NSW State High Performance program.
Tier two golfers are elite amateur athletes who have demonstrated the ability to compete successfully at national and international levels and are showing the potential, desire and commitment on and off the golf course to be a future tier one athlete. This program is designed to add value to the athlete’s current training environment while providing both professional and amateur tournament access nationally and internationally.
Tier three golfers are developing amateurs who show the potential ability to compete successfully at national and international level and the desire and commitment on and off the golf course to be a future Tier 2 athlete.
Golf Australia’s Director of High Performance Brad James said he was delighted with the standard of players selected in the squad.
“This is the next generation,” said James. “That’s how we look at it. We’ve effectively had two years without full training and competition because of the pandemic. At this point, we just need to expose these athletes at international level because that’s going to be possible now. They’ve been lacking international competition and it is a focus for us to get them travelling overseas and playing at the top level.
Sydney’s Harrison Crowe, winner of the Golf Challenge NSW Open at Concord earlier this month has also been named in the tier two squad. “Harrison’s already had an excellent amateur career, and the next step for him is to have the kind of results he’s had here in Australia at an international level,” said James.
“A guy like (NSW player) Jeffrey Guan played well in the US recently; that’s the kind of thing we want to see. We need to see where their games are at, and use that information and data when they come back home to train in the environment that their State high performance programs provides them.