TWO former Catalina Country Club junior golfers will return to the Eurobodalla for a two-day tournament at Moruya next week.
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Mitch Donlan and Jimmy Pincott will tee off on Monday, along with 62 other professional trainees, in the Moruya Golf Club Trainee Pro-Am.
Donlan, 22, played the last pro-am in 2012 and finished fourth with rounds of 70 and 73.
Currently serving his traineeship at the NSW Golf Club in Sydney, Donlan said he had not played many serious tournaments and that his current form was “a bit scratchy”.
“I’ve been playing with my fellow trainees in Sydney for fun and I’m happy I get to briefly return to the Eurobodalla,” he said.
He said he believed his familiarity with the course would put him in good stead for the tournament.
“My knowledge of the course should help build my confidence,” he said.
“I’m feeling pretty good about playing at Moruya again.”
Despite recent rain, Donlan said the course should be in good condition if the rain eased.
“They do a really good job with the course down there and I feel it will be in the best possible condition,” he said.
Pincott, 19, said he had been
building up his form over the past year after a “couple of rough events”.
He has been playing golf for seven years and is in his first year of a traineeship at Royal Canberra Golf Club.
Pincott said the move to Canberra was going well and that the traineeship was “really great.”
Like Donlan, he believed that playing at Moruya in the past would give him an advantage.
“I’m optimistic about the tournament as I know the course pretty well,” Pincott said.
“I hope I can have a solid result.”
Pincott said the field would be strong because the players would be trying to improve their form for the premier tournaments in the coming months.
“It’s good to play with some of the best young golfers in Australia and it’s great for the area,” he said.
Moruya Golf Club’s head professional golfer, Rob Green, said the depth of the field was a reason why the club wanted to host the tournament again.
“It did not run last year due to various reasons but the support of the trainees led us to reintroduce it,” Green said.
He said the trainees would play alongside the sponsors on the first day and club members would join the trainees on day two.
“We have had plenty of interest and there will be 128 people playing on the second day, which is great for the club,” he said.
Green said the course could use a few days of “nice drying weather” to firm up the fairways.
“The course is soft and a little bit boggy in some spots,” he said.
Green praised sponsors for also throwing their support behind the reintroduced tournament.
“The support of sponsors and the golfing public also influenced us in getting this tournament running this year,” he said.
The action begins at 8.30am on Monday and members and trainees will tee off with a shotgun start at 9am on Tuesday.