Kalgoorlie teen battling nerves ahead of Australian Open golf debut
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Up-and-coming Western Australian golfer Connor Fewkes is your typical teenager — he recently got his driver's licence and still lives at home with his parents.
But tomorrow he will be playing alongside some of the best golfers in the world when he tees off for the Australian Open.
It is a long way from Fewkes's hometown and the red dirt of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, 600 kilometres east of Perth, to the plush greens of The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney.
The 18-year-old, who idolises Tiger Woods, will be the youngest player in this year's 144-strong field for the national championship.
Sydney's Cameron Davis, 23, is returning to defend his Open title, while other contenders include Americans Brandt Snedeker and Matt Kuchar, Australian PGA winner Cameron Smith, and 2011 US PGA championship winner Keegan Bradley.
Peter Senior (2012), Greg Chalmers (2011), Craig Parry (2007), Peter Lonard (2003-04) and Robert Allenby (1994, 2005) are among the former champions playing for this year's Stonehaven Cup.
Teen hopes to settle nerves on first tee
By comparison, Fewkes, who plays off a plus-3 handicap, is a youthful underdog who has worked as a labourer and apprentice greenkeeper at his local course.
He earned his spot at the Open by winning the Australian Boys' Amateur Championship in April, and dreams of eventually turning professional.
"The level I want to get to is a long way from where I am now, so I've still got a lot of work to do," Fewkes told the ABC.
The left-hander has had mixed results playing the WA and Queensland Opens in the past month, and admits he is battling to keep his nerves under control on the bigger stage.
"There's a few big names in the field. It is intimidating looking at those names," he said.
"The bigger the occasion … if you're not nervous I suppose it doesn't mean enough to you, so nerves are probably a good thing, but you can't let them get in the way, otherwise it starts affecting the whole round.
"In Queensland I'm not sure why but I had the shakes, so if it's anything like that at the Australian Open I'd say it's going to be a tough tee shot to hit.
"There's a lot of water around The Lakes so I'm going to try and keep it out of the water, and if I can get the first tee shot on the fairway I think that will bring me a lot of comfort."
Family heading interstate to support teen
Since his father let him caddy for him as a five-year-old, Fewkes has basically had a golf club in his hand ever since.
His parents will be travelling to Sydney to watch his Open debut.
Fewkes's uncle, who caddies on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour, will carry his clubs.
"I think it's going to be quite surreal the experience. It's going to be a lot bigger than any event I've played so far," Fewkes said.
"I was talking to a few players and they said it's a completely different experience to what you're used to.
"There's just people everywhere but you can't get caught up in that.
"It is televised, but I don't think that's going to really matter because I don't think I'll have many shots on camera because I'm not one of the big dogs."
Rich history at Open championship
The so-called big dogs from past Opens include golfing greats Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Tiger Woods and Greg Norman.
Norman, nicknamed the Great White Shark, won the Stonehaven Cup five times.
More recently the tournament has attracted Rory McIlroy and Jordan Speith, who both won it while ranked number one in the world.
Goldfields Golf Club chairman Kyle Robinson, who is also travelling from Kalgoorlie-Boulder to watch Fewkes's Open debut, encouraged him to soak up the experience.
"Regardless of what his results are, just making it there is a huge achievement in itself," Mr Robinson said.
"He's going to be playing with some of the best golfers in the world and if nothing else he'll get plenty of experience from that.
"If he could make the cut that would be an enormous result and really positive for his golf going forward."
New course could develop more junior golfers
Until an $18.5 million grass golf course was built in his hometown a few years ago, Fewkes was playing on a course in bushland with black tar greens.
The Kalgoorlie course, which was designed by former professional Graham Marsh on the site of an old rubbish tip, is now home to the annual WA PGA Championship.
Mr Robinson said the course — one of the longest in Australia with a total playing distance of 6,741 metres — had attracted younger players to the sport.
"There's no denying Connor's talent and his work ethic, but I think Connor would be the first to tell you if we didn't have this facility, then golf probably wouldn't even be his favourite pastime," he said.
"He was a cricketer before he was ever a golfer and I think he'd probably tell you he'd prefer to run around on Saturday afternoons, rather than picking prickles out of his shoes on one of the dirt fairways on the old Kalgoorlie courses.
"This facility will certainly give us an opportunity to produce more junior golfers."
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