Murray, a reserve for last year’s national titles, will lead a team including Yarrawonga’s Frazer Droop and Australian Open star Ryan Ruffels, along with high profile juniors Brett Coletta, Blake Collyer and David Micheluzzi.

The Wodonga Catholic College student said he hoped to lead by example.

“The competition starts with a four-day stroke event for the Australian boys title and winning that tournament was one of my goals this year,” Murray said.

“Then we go into a round robin, state against state in matchplay.

“To be captain is a huge honour, last year I wasn’t even in the team.

“But I have been able to get there through solid play and strong results and it’s that work ethic that hopefully has been one of the reasons Golf Victoria has seen fit to give me that honour.

“It is an unbelievably strong team and we want to win the title.”

Golf Victoria’s high performance manager John Anderson said Murray was a great choice.

“Clearly Zach has had a stellar year and showed with his win at the Victorian Amateur matchplay that he has the temperament and maturity needed for the challenge that lies ahead,” he said.

“The choice of the captain is obviously partly based on performance, the make-up of the team and strength of character — Zach was the right choice.”

“The Australian boys will be played at the Heritage layout, where Zach also had success in the Aaron Baddeley international.”

Murray said the disappointment of missing the cut at last week’s Victorian Open was simply part of his development.

“They set up courses so differently in the professional tournaments and we copped the worst of the wind both days,” he said.

“It’s never great for the confidence to miss the cut but at just 16 I’ll be playing this tournament for perhaps another four or five years and will only get better.”

The Australian Boys and Girls Amateur Championships and Interstate Matches will be played at the Heritage from April 9 to 17.