Some of Australia’s elite amateurs are congregating in Alice Springs this week for the Northern Territory Amateur.

The NT Amateur is a Golf Australia National Order of Merit (open age) and NT State Order of Merit (open age and junior) event.

The 72 holes of stroke play begin on Thursday at Alice Springs Golf Club, one of the best desert courses in the world, set in the foothills of the MacDonnell Ranges.

Competitors from all over Australia are in the field of 62 players.

Leading competitors include Ethan Harvey, 19, from New South Wales, a plus 5.5 handicapper from The Lakes who has lowest mark in the field, having recently finished top-10 at the Concord Cup and winning a Vardon event, the Batemans Bay Open.

The teenager originally hails from Kiama and is a cousin of the touring professional Dimitrios Papadatos.

NSW Amateur quarter-finalist Kade Webber, 18, also could be in the mix as well as Ben Henkel, 22, who won the Victorian Country Championship last weekend, and South Australian state team member Kyle Hayter, 22, who was runner-up at the Riversdale Cup.

The national indigenous champion Skye Lampton, from Darwin, is also testing herself against an open-age field in the women's amateur.

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