A busted-up Justice Bosio hobbled her way to a runner-up finish at last year’s Australian Amateur and her lessons from that week are fuelling her title hopes when the 2023 edition tees off at New South Wales and St Michael’s golf clubs in Sydney on Tuesday.

The Queenslander rolled her ankle on the day she flew down to Melbourne ahead of the 2022 event but as she shuffled around Cranbourne Golf Club on her way to finishing three shots back from wire-to-wire champion Fiona Xu of New Zealand, Bosio uncovered a secret to success.

“I played the whole week with a sprained ankle and from that week on I really learned to go into tournaments without many expectations of myself. That’s helped me play a lot better,” Bosio said.

“Thankfully I had a really good team around for the week. The Golf Australia and QAS support crew were there and that helped a lot with making sure I was looking after the ankle properly. By the end of the week it was okay but the first round (where she shot 73) was pretty rough.”

Finding a way to play with freedom is one of the many lessons Bosio gained from the past year where she secured the Golf Australia Women’s Order of Merit title with victory at the Keperra Bowl in October.

Amongst her proficiency on home soil, the Caboolture member made it to the quarter-finals of the US Girls’ Junior Championship and she was the only Australian to crack the top-20 at the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific in Thailand.

Bosio then showed she could handle the big stage by coming 11th at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open in Melbourne last month and those experiences have her feeling confident of taking it up to the likes of the Japanese world top-25 quartet of Baba Saki (3), Yuna Araki (11), Mizuki Hashimoto (18) and Mamika Shinchi (24) and defending champion Xu this week.

“It’s really exciting seeing all the internationals come over for the Aus Am this year and now I know what their ability is on the golf course,” Bosio said.

“I know what to expect and how to compete against them. Whereas last year I had never really travelled overseas to play anything.”

Commencing her quest for a maiden national championship with a clean bill of health also has Bosio optimistic of her chances of having her name etched on the trophy alongside the likes of Lydia Ko and Minjee Lee. 

“I think my game is looking pretty good out there,” she said. 

“I’ve hit it well the last two days and hopefully it’s not too windy so it’ll play a little easier, but if the wind does pick up, you’ll need to be quite strategic. 

“I was walking down the stairs when I was leaving home the other day and I was like ‘don’t roll my ankle, don’t roll my ankle’.”

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