A Goulburn Valley young gun has gripped it and ripped it to take out Shepparton Golf Club’s men’s open championship.
Arguably the region’s most exciting golf prospect, 18-year-old Bailey Goodall has had a strong start to his life in senior golf after exiting the world of junior competition late last year.
On Sunday, Goodall got off to a rocky start in his quest for the championship when taking on Luke Dixon in the final.
The day’s play was across 36 holes and, at the halfway mark, Goodall found himself in strife with Dixon sitting five up at the lunch break.
“We had a 15-20 minute break between the rounds for lunch, which helped settle me down a bit because I was getting a little bit frustrated and it helped me clear my mind,” Goodall said.
“I practised my putting and got a bit better feel, I guess, and then from then on, I played pretty good.
“I couldn’t really get any momentum at all and then pretty much it just changed after that and I slowly just pegged my way back and won two up in the end.”
In a replay of last year’s open championship final, Goodall overcame Dixon once again to claim his third open club championship.
Looking ahead to future tournaments, Goodall doesn’t believe he has any flaws that need drastic work; instead, he will look to make incremental improvements across the board.
“There’s probably nothing in particular that I need to work on; it’s more about just developing every part of the game,” he said.
“There is no bit that is a lot better than the other.
“As I have gotten older and better, everything has evened out a bit.
“For the next tournament, I’ll just be making small improvements on everything, really, to make sure I am as prepared as I can be.”
In his laidback manner, Goodall admitted that he knew his next tournament was the Portsea Open on July 21-23, but beyond that, he wasn’t too sure what events were on the horizon.
The golfing prospect said he had found himself in a weird period of his career where he is finished with junior competitions (after turning 18), but is in Year 12, so he is unable to travel and consistently play tournaments.
“It is definitely different (not playing juniors); there is a lot less to play,” he said.
“Especially doing Year 12 this year, I am probably not going to travel interstate, whereas when I was in the juniors, it was pretty much every school holidays there was one or two big tournaments, which I would have played for about five years straight, so it is a bit different not playing them.
“For now, I will play the same ones I did last year, the men’s ones in Victoria.
“Next year, once I am out of school, I will probably travel interstate a bit more and maybe overseas if I am lucky.”
However, Goodall doesn’t like to think about the ifs and maybes of the future, with the young prodigy preferring to wait and see what opportunities arise.
“I would like to win a men’s tournament; that is probably one of my goals,” he said.
“Like a big men’s tournament.
“But I haven’t got a specific one in mind, just to play as good as I can and, hopefully, that can take care of the rest.”