Some of Australia’s most promising young golfers head to the Central Coast next week, with Magenta Shores Golf and Country Club hosting the 2026 NSW Junior Championship from Monday.
At stake is more than silverware. Both the boys’ and girls’ champions will earn an exemption into their respective NSW Open, one of the more valuable prizes available to a junior amateur. The championship, played over 36 holes of stroke play, also counts toward the Golf Australia Junior National Order of Merit.
It’s a title steeped in history. First played in 1935, the boys’ championship has produced champions including Steve Elkington, Peter O’Malley, Brett Ogle, Paul Gow and Matt Jones, while the girls’ championship boasts its own list of greats in Jan Stephenson, Sarah Kemp and Ella Scaysbrook, a list of names that speaks to just how many careers have been launched from this event.
This year’s field is headlined by defending champion Ti Fox. The Concord GC golfer was untouchable in 2025, running away with the title at 14-under par, and returns after captaining the 2026 Junior Interstate Team.
Standing in his way is Harry Gourlay of The Australian GC, who owns the lowest handicap in the field at +5.0 who also earned selection to the 2026 NSW Junior Interstate Team.
Keep an eye, too, on Jesse Linden. The Concord GC 15-year-old sits second in the handicap rankings at +4.9 and is no stranger to big stages, a four-time Australian junior age champion with regular starts on the American Junior Golf Association circuit, Linden made headlines last November by making the cut at a professional event, the NSW Open at The Vintage, at just 15 years of age.
Blake Cranston (The Australian GC) and Hamish Robb (Cromer GC, the reigning NSW Junior Champion of Champions) give the field further depth, while Manly GC duo Zac Oyston and Liam Jordan both have the game to go low across two rounds.
The girls’ championship looks similarly stacked. Kiara Connolly-Jackson (Avondale GC) arrives in red-hot form, having just claimed the NSW CHS All Schools Championship, and is joined at the top of the field by Mimi Thomsen (The Australian GC). Both enter off the back of selection to the 2026 NSW Junior Interstate Team, with Connolly-Jackson among the most credentialed junior girls in NSW and Thomsen building form steadily all season. Jordyn Deen (Concord GC) and Savannah Webb (Stonecutters Ridge GC) complete a group capable of contending.
Running alongside the championship is the NSW Junior Inter-District Championship, meaning every player in the field is also playing for the pride of their home region this week.
Round one will tee off from 7:30am on Monday.
