Local Cooper Gentle has performed admirably at the Play Today NSW Open in front of family and friends at Rich River Golf Club, shooting scores of 74 and 72 across the first two days of the tournament.
Gentle, who is currently completing his professional traineeship at Rich River, won a spot in the NSW Open after defeating fellow professional Ben Patten during a round in February.
Despite missing the cut at five-over par, the support shown by members and spectators was amazing, said Gentle, who learnt to play at Kyabram Parklands.
"It was good, I had a lot of support through the week. There was a lot of members that came out before and after my round and sort of said congratulations, which was good to see,” he said.
“Obviously a little bit of nerves with people standing behind me, but sort of just wasn't my week, didn't play too well. The nerves were always there, but that's a good thing, I suppose."
There were plenty of family and friends at the course watching on too, with one of Gentle’s long-time mates on the bag.
"Yeah, had a good mate caddying for the week, he's done a good job. And then my old man came around and watched, so that was good as well,” Gentle said.
For Gentle, the highlight of the tournament was playing with amateur Ethan Harvey and tour professional Jordan Garner.
“The blokes that I played with, they were both really good,” he said.
“I played with one of the amateurs that had 11-under (Harvey) in the pre-q round. He was a really good fella and a really good golfer. And then I played with another tour player (Garner) and he was really good to play with."
Playing alongside golfers who had experience in big tournaments was beneficial to Gentle, who gleaned a lot from the players around him throughout the week.
"Probably preparation before the event, it's got to start a lot earlier,” Gentle said when recounting what he could take away from the tournament.
“I know those guys have a schedule of what events they are actually playing, and sort of with me, my traineeship, I'm sort of working in the shop and playing whenever I can.”
“So, to actually prepare for a tournament, that would probably be the biggest thing to take out of it."
Going forward, Gentle has a year left of his traineeship, but he aims to increase the amount of time he spends on course playing rather than working.
"Well, I've got the rest of this year to finish with my traineeship and then I'll sort of hopefully work a bit less and play a bit more, try and take playing a bit more seriously," he said.