Exciting Gold Coast amateur Becky Kay is powering into 2017 as she fully commits to golf after completing Year 12 at the end of 2016 .
Kay , who turned 18 in January , aims to add to her already imposing record when she contests three of Australia ’ s most prestigious amateur events in March .
“ It is pretty exciting because I ’ m no longer a junior , have completed my schooling and decided to commit to golf in Australia for the next one or two years ,’’ she said .
Kay and her family also made the decision to decline opportunities in the US college system , preferring to focus on further developing her game at home .
“ I definitely will not be turning pro this year , maybe in two years time ,’’ she said . “ I want to show myself that I am confident competing consistently at the highest level whilst still an amateur .’’
Kay opens her campaign at the Riversdale Cup in Victoria ( March 9-12 ) before moving to Royal Adelaide for the Rene Erichsen Salver ( 21-24 March ) and then to Lake Karrinyup for the Bowra and O ’ Dea Womens Classic ( 26-29 March ).
“ I feel I ’ m getting stronger with my game , technically and physically .
“ Now I have graduated from school I can devote even more time to practice .
“ It was a struggle combining school with my golf and although I put as much into my golf as I could , studying was my first priority .’’
Kay has secured a part-time job in the hospitality industry which allows much time as she requires working on her game .
“ I can balance work with the time I need to be practising .’’
She intends heading overseas mid-year to contest major amateur tournaments in either the United Kingdom or America .
“ At this stage I am leaning toward the UK because their scheduling is much tighter and is geared around the British Amateur ,’’ she said .
“ But I ’ m also still eligible for the US Junior Amateur and would really like to play there as well .’’
Fellow Queenslanders Kirsty Hodgkins and Karis Davidson tasted success at last year ’ s Riversdale Cup and at Lake Karrinyup respectively .
Kay , a member of the QAS squad and Golf Australia ’ s national squad , has every reason to be satisfied with her game over the past six months . She finished 2016 with a victory in the Queensland strokeplay championship and was runner-up at the Victorian strokeplay and match play titles .
Kay started 2017 impressively by winning the South Australian Junior ( her last tournament as a junior in Australia ) and was runner-up at the NSW Amateur before finishing leading amateur at the RACV Gold Coast Challenge .
After shooting an opening four-under par round at the Victorian Women ’ s Open , Kay took a costly quadruple nine on her 36th hole to miss the cut by one stroke .
“ It was just one of those things that can happen . I hit it in the water too many times ,’’ she laughed .
“ But I played well that week and I didn ’ t lose any confidence . I missed pre-qualifying for the Australian Open in Adelaide but again I played pretty well .
12 Q Golf Autumn 2017 www . golfqueensland . org . au