He might have missed the cut but Bexley teenager Harrison Crowe is taking plenty of positives from his performance at the NSW Open.
The 16-year-old qualified for last week’s event after overcoming a five-way play-off in his qualifier at Liverpool Golf Club.
Five players finished at one under, with the quintet vying off for two places in the NSW Open. Another eight holes were required to separate them, with Crowe winning through to secure the last qualifying spot for the event at Twin Creeks Golf and Country Club last week.
With coach John Serhan on his bag, Crowe finished day one last Thursday with a one over 73 before starting the second round with three straight birdies to look in the hunt to make the cut.
But going five over in his last five holes saw Crowe finish with a four over 76 to narrowly miss the weekend. It was still an impressive display from the Bardwell Valley and St Michael’s member, who beat professionals including Peter O’Malley and Matthew Goggin.
“It’s a completely different game to amateur golf,” he said.
“It’s a big step up. I felt like I played good golf. I had a couple of bad holes here and there. You’re not allowed to use lasers, so it gets you thinking a lot more about shots you have to hit and there’s a lot more room for errors.
“Playing with the pros it’s great golf to watch. They don’t do much wrong at all really. The players I played with weren’t up the leaderboard but it goes to show how the pros up there play really great golf.”
Crowe attempted to qualify for the Australian Open through a qualifying event at Ryde-Parramatta Golf Club on Monday, with the national open to start at The Australian Golf Club on Thursday. The youngster gave another good account of himself shooting two over in what was his first round at the course to leave himself five shots off the eventual winner.
“It’s a really nice layout. I hit the ball pretty well. I hit 16 greens in regulation but I putted pretty badly. I feel like I left five or six shots out there,” he said.
“To make it next year would be a great goal to set. It only takes one good round.”
It has been a big year for Crowe, who finished the Golf Australia calendar in sixth place in the under-18s boys.
He was also seeded in the final group at the Jack Newton International Junior Classic at Cypress Lakes in the Hunter Valley last month only for a final round three over to see him fall to seventh, having started the final round at two over.
Crowe is fourth in the Australian boys rankings and first for NSW. He will captain the NSW All Schools teams at the Pacific Games in Adelaide next month.