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2023 Golfer of the Year- Cooper Moore

On April 6th I flew out to Perth with the New Zealand Junior Squad to play in the Australian Junior Amateur. This tournament is for the top 75 players in Australia 18 years old and under along with 4 players from NZ.

This is the first time I have been to Perth and I really enjoyed the experience, the tournament was held at Gosnells Golf Club which was about 30 minutes from the city, the course was very tight with all fairways tree lined and undulating with large bunkers and water around the greens.

Over the four days of the tournament I played ok, but just struggled a little with my irons, I shot rounds 70, 74, 67, 73 to finish 12th overall and runner up in the U16 division.

I flew home from Perth and then two days later I left for Japan to play in the Royal Japan Junior Open, this tournament is for players in the Asia Pacific region and I received an invite based on my World Amateur Ranking.

The course was 90 minutes east of Tokyo in a place called Hokota City, all of the players in the tournament were taken by bus to our accomodation where we received an official welcome. 

The golf course was world class and an absolute beast playing at 8007yds which is the longest course in Japan.

Given the length of the course I didn't have high expectations as hitting the ball long off the tee is not one of my strengths however I surprised myself and in the second round I shot a 3 under par 69 and was the only player in the field over the first two days to shoot under par.

I went into the third and final round in a tie for the lead and I was confident that a consistent round would give me a good chance of claiming victory, however golf can throw you lots of challenges at times and I struggled with my putter all day and probably found myself trying too hard and not sticking to my process. I finished 10th overall which I was a little disappointed with as I put myself in a position to win, however on reflection against some world class players who are mostly a couple of years older than me 10th place was a solid result.

This trip also tested my fitness and recovery processes as we would leave for the golf course everyday at 5:30am and return at 6pm at night. 

A highlight off the course was the free buffett we had everyday at the golf club where I really enjoyed the steak on rice. I also got to meet and chat with All Blacks Captain Sam Cane who was on my flight over to Japan.

I now have a few weeks off and then I will start preparing for the Queensland Junior Amatuer at the end of June and then I have received an invite based on my world amateur ranking to play in the  Royal and Ancient Junior Open in Scotland in the middle of July which I'm really excited about as I also get to attend the 152nd Open Championship and get to watch many of my idols such as Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and hopefully Tiger Woods.