By Peter Owen
SARAH Hammett is such a very good participant that when she has a triple-bogey eight – as she did within the first spherical of the Australian Junior Novice Championship in April – it tends to ship shock waves across the course.
Sarah, nonetheless, takes it in her stride.
“I strive to not be too laborious on myself,” she mentioned. “There are all the time positives you possibly can take from any efficiency. There could also be disappointments however you study from it.”
The response is typical of a 17-year-old who has found a maturity manner past her years. And he or she clearly learns quick.
Solely every week later she led the Queensland women to a memorable victory within the Australian Junior Interstate Groups Matches at Royal Fremantle, Sarah notching three wins and a draw from her 5 round-robin matches.
So spectacular was her efficiency that she was one of many first chosen within the Queensland staff for the all-age Australian Interstate Groups sequence, held at Southport, not removed from Sarah’s Gold Coast residence.
Proficient Queenslander Sarah Hammett.
Sarah’s performances on the golf course have been superb. She’s gained three Katherine Kirk Classics at Maroochy River, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, taking pictures 12-under-par 60 within the first spherical of her 2022 victory, 18 holes she describes as “the spherical of my life.”
As a result of she doesn’t flip 18 till late this yr, she’ll be eligible to contest her fourth Katherine Kirk Traditional in August – and no person’s suggesting she gained’t declare it once more and set a document that can by no means be matched.
Whereas nonetheless solely 15, she gained the NSW Junior Championship, the NSW Novice Championship, the South Australian Junior Masters, the Harvey Norman ACT Week of Golf and the Greg Norman Junior Masters.
She’s represented Australia in a few Girls’s Novice Asia-Pacific Championships, and final yr gained the South Pacific Girls’s Open Traditional on the Gold Coast.
Nevertheless it was her efficiency within the Australian Girls’s Traditional in 2022 – a Women European Tour-sanctioned occasion at Bonville, contested by seasoned worldwide golfers – that gave discover Sarah may simply be essentially the most thrilling Australian feminine prospect since Karrie Webb.
After taking pictures 71 and 70 within the first two rounds of her first skilled match, Sarah discovered herself within the second-last group on the ultimate day, within the firm of Argentina’s Magdalena Simmermacher and Sweden’s Maja Stark, and with an actual probability of pulling off a rare victory.
When she stood on the fifteenth tee, 5 below par for her spherical, the galleries instantly grew, tv cameras adopted her each transfer, and the nerves inevitably set in. Her dad Matt – part-time caddie and full-time cheer chief – whispered in his daughter’s ear: “Simply preserve taking part in.”
A fairy-tale end was to not be. Sarah sadly bogeyed her closing two holes and settled for a closing spherical 69 and a tie for sixth place together with her good pal Justice Bosio, one other Queensland newbie with the brightest of futures.
“I don’t suppose I’ve ever been so nervous than throughout these previous couple of holes,” Sarah mentioned. “Nevertheless it was an incredible expertise and I stunned myself with how nicely I performed.
“When it was throughout I assumed ‘Wow! That was fairly cool’,” she mentioned.
And to show it was no fluke, Sarah got here out the next week within the NSW Open, one other LET-sanctioned occasion, shot rounds of 70, 73, 72 and 67 and completed tied for eighth.
Born in England and raised in Singapore, Sarah moved to Australia together with her household when she was 9. She’d hit a couple of balls on driving ranges in Singapore, however her primary pursuits on the time have been tennis, ballet and jazz.
That each one modified when she went together with her brothers Justin and David to golf classes at Emerald Lakes, and found she not solely favored the sport, however she was fairly good at it, too.
So have been her brothers. Justin’s now a pupil at St Mary’s Faculty in Texas, the place he’s a member of the faculty’s golf squad, and David, 16, is a scratch marker who was runner-up in a latest TeeMates 36-hole match at Brisbane’s Wynnum Golf Membership. She additionally has a youthful sister, Katie, who has simply began taking part in golf.
A Yr 12 pupil at Mudgeeraba’s Somerset Faculty, Sarah works laborious to stability examine with a golf profession, which is as demanding as that of {many professional} gamers.
She says academics perceive her scenario and do all the things they’ll to make sure she retains up with schoolwork. She, in flip, typically spends nights catching up on homework throughout tournaments.
Sarah will transfer to the US subsequent yr to review on the College of Southern California, a call endorsed by Gaby Ruffels, who additionally attended USC and raved about its golf programme.
She’ll examine psychology or enterprise, however it’s unlikely she’ll pursue a profession in both of these disciplines. She’ll be too busy taking part in on the LPGA Tour and carving out her personal future on the worldwide stage.
South Pacific Traditional to tee off in July
SARAH Hammett gained’t be defending the title she gained on the South Pacific Girls’s Open Traditional final yr. As an alternative, she’ll be competing in newbie occasions in the US.
Nevertheless, the 52nd staging of the Traditional, an Order of Advantage occasion, will happen at Surfers Paradise from July 7 to 10, with Sarah describing it as one among her favorite tournaments.
“It’s been operating for therefore a few years and provides girls from throughout Australia the chance to play the sport and embrace this chance.
“I want the match nothing however the most effective and shall be searching for the brand new champion.”
The occasion will embody different classes and features a combined foursomes occasion (shotgun begin) on Sunday, July 7, and main trophies for 54-hole stroke (gross and nett scores) in 4 divisions – Open Traditional, Girls’s (18 years and over), Seniors and Tremendous Seniors.
Gamers can solely enter to play in a single division, whereas these with Golf Australia handicaps as much as 9.3 can enter the Open Traditional Division, the handicap restrict for the Open Girls’s Division is as much as 25, the Seniors Division (55-64 years) and the Tremendous Senior Division (65 years plus) is as much as a 25 handicap.
Entries shut on Sunday, June 28 except the sector reaches the capability of 120 gamers previous to the date.
The draw shall be obtainable on July 4. No refunds after this date.
Gamers can register on-line at www.surfersparadisegolfclub.com.au or e-mail surfersparadiseassociates@gmail.com for additional data.
