16 Dec 2022 | Amateur golf |
Egea, Nakatani win Greg Norman Junior Masters
by Dane Heverin
Queenslanders Taj Egea and Haruhi Nakatani are the 2022 Greg Norman Junior Masters champions after triumphing in style at Palmer Gold Coast Golf Club on Thursday.
Brookwater's Egea stormed home with a five-under par final round of 66 to win by two shots at six-under, while Surfers Paradise's Nakatani was ultra consistent across the four rounds to also win the 17 and under championship by two shots.
Nakatani finished five-under overall with rounds of 69, 71, 70 and 69 and her performance caps off an impressive year.
She won the Queensland Girls Amateur and the Tasmanian Junior Masters earlier in the year, and she has come runner-up in junior World Amateur Golf Ranking events on six occasions in 2022.
Egea meanwhile carded rounds of 72, 69 and 71 prior to his final round blitz that included seven birdies.
He won the boys 15 and under category in this event last year, represented his state in the Australian Junior Interstate Teams Matches in April and came third at the Keperra Bowl.
His state teammate Billy Dowling finished runner-up with four successive rounds of 70 and Dowling's Surfers Paradise club mate Liam Cafferkey rounded out the podium a further shot back.
Southport's Shyla Singh produced a bogey free final round of 67 to come second in the girls, while Concord's Michelle Bang was third at six-over par.
One of the highlights of the week went to Noosa's Bronson White who made a hole-in-one at the 17th.
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