Motivation is rarely an issue for aspiring golf champions.

A whopping percentage of teens on elite talent pathways are only away from hitting balls on a range long enough to find their coach’s Trackman monitors for another after-hours dose.

It’s just the way golf is at that level – an addictive, all-consuming love affair.

But it can go to another level again when one of your great mates is on that same ride.

Take Jye Halls and Blake Phillips – if golf were a drug of dependence, they’d be at severe risk of being vagabond junkies.

They push each other daily to get better, that dream vocation as a globally touring pro inching closer to reality with every gym and practice session.

They’ve each enjoyed elite amateur success in the past year, including combining as part of the winning NSW Interstate Series team.

Halls was low amateur in last year’s Ford NSW Open, won the 2025 Australian Amateur crown, his second NSW country championship and was a member of the Aussie team at the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship.

Phillips, who broke out domestically in 2024 with a handful of wins, took his talents to North America this year with great success, with three top-10s in his winter trip, including a win in the prestigious Porter Cup in New York.

Even more recently, he fired a new course record 62 at Willunga in the Australian PGA’s Webex Series event in South Australia.

Which is, more or less, the point of this tale.

Related Links:
2025 Ford NSW Open Scores
Moments Always Matter

These guys are really good and, as is the modern trend, well and truly “pro-ready” as – presumably – last-year amateurs.

And your evidence?

The Ford New South Wales Open leaderboard at The Vintage.

Phillips ripped out a spectacular bogey-free six-under-par 65 as an early starter in round two.

Halls poured in three birdies of his own to briefly lead overall early in round two before fading on his second nine to finish square for his round and at the same two-under total as his mate.

“It’s good when you see your mates going well… sort of that you’re doing something right,” Phillips said.

“And `Hallsy’ and I have trained together twice a week, almost every week this year. We travelled together in the US, so we’re pretty close.

“We feed off each other when we get the chance to play together. So yeah, it’s always good – hopefully we get that chance this weekend.”

And if that does eventuate when the Saturday draw is finalised, book your tickets now.

Perhaps occasionally to the detriment of their scores – but to the joy of galleries who witness their natural flair – neither has yet found a brake button in their bag.

They don’t hit balls, they fire pin-seeking missiles – and Halls, in particular, plays at a rate of knots.

It’s spectacular to watch – and they both clearly love it.

“Yeah, I’ll just keep attacking the flag, getting after it,” Halls said.

“It’s how I like to play. Keep moving and taking it all on. If I drive well around here, it’s a course you can get after a little bit, so hopefully the crowd will see a bit of that.

“I mean, if it came to Sunday and I’m leading, it might change a little bit, maybe a little safer, but for now, I’ll just keep attacking.”

Phillips is clearly cut from the same cloth.

“Just crank it at the flag,” was his summation of how he built his tournament-low score today.

“I’m not scared to go at a flagstick; I mean, I need to know when to back myself… but I definitely took advantage of the ones I needed to out there today, and that’s the way I’ve learnt to play.

“(To be successful on tour), you kind of have to get used to going low.

“It’s a weird feeling your first time going low, but once you’re there, you kind of get used to it and keep building, and it happens easier each time.”

Both are aware of the low amateur prize on offer in their home Open, but it’s a fair indicator of their drive and preparedness for the next phase of their careers that it’s not high on their trophy bucket list this weekend.

“Yeah, I think I can win,” Halls said.

“Obviously, my back nine wasn’t what I was after today, but if I keep playing the way I did on the front nine, I definitely give myself a chance. Yeah, I think so.”

And Phillips?

“I’m pretty grateful to be out here (playing against the PGA pros)… to be given an opportunity to play with guys of this calibre.

“So I’m just trying to do the best I can and learn about where my game is, but… I’m not here to be low amateur.”

And if those words don’t inspire you to get out and watch these guys “get after it” this weekend, we’re probably talking a different language.