A boom Border teenager is eyeing the prospect of playing 360 holes in 18 days in four of Australia’s biggest junior and amateur events.
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Daniel Gill faces the equivalent of 20 holes per day, although the weather forecast is largely favourable, with the exception of a blistering 39 degrees at Melbourne’s Spring Valley on Friday.
“It just takes a lot of training and practice getting used to it,” he said.
“I’ve done it lots of times before so it’s good to have that experience going into these tournaments.”
Gill was then quizzed if he would ever venture out on extremely hot days to acclimatise for the traditional packed January schedule.
“Yeah, I can always do that, I’m a bit mad to do that, it’s what you’ve got to do that to get good I suppose,” he said candidly.
The 17-year-old starts his gruelling stint in the Victorian Junior Masters, starting Wednesday at Spring Valley.
I can always do that, I’m a bit mad to do that, it’s what you’ve got to do that to get good I suppose.
- Daniel Gill
He then tackles the 54-hole South Australian Junior Amateur Championship over two days, followed by 72 holes in the South Australian Junior Masters at Royal Adelaide on January 10-11.
The Year 12 student wraps it up with the Australian Amateur Championship back in Melbourne.
Victoria’s number one ranked under 18 player, Gill showed his ability to deal with brutal conditions when he won Golf Victoria’s junior tournament at Sandhurst in August.
“You’ve got to be really patient and let everyone make mistakes around you,” he said.
Gill’s mature attitude is a positive as he targets his short game this year.
“Getting the distance right from 100m in, that’s where all the scoring’s going to be made,” he said.
“You’ve just got to keep improving and getting it to that next level.”
A plus three handicapper, Gill is targeting top five finishes in the four events.
“(To do well) will get you exemptions into other big tournaments.”
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