Mossman golfing star Couper Smith will represent the State at national tournament
SPORT
Mossman golf sensation, Couper Smith, is one of just eight junior Queensland golfers travelling to Sydney today to represent the state at the U15 Australian School Championships.
At just 13-years-old Couper was selected by Junior Golf Queensland to compete in the national tournament and said it will be one of the biggest competitions he has competed at to date.
“I am very excited, I’ve been practising as much as I can and at different golf courses similar to the ones down south,” he said.
Proud dad, Matty Smith, said being amongst the select few to compete at this event is pretty special.
“Junior Golf Queensland contacted us to invite Couper to play and he is only 13-years-old and it is an U15 division event so that is a big honour,” he said.
Couper said he started playing golf when he was three-years-old wanting to follow in the footsteps of older brother Wade Duncan, a champion golfer at Mossman Golf Club.
“I followed him around when I was younger and he always inspired me and I wanted to do what my big brother did,” he said.
Couper was quickly hooked and showed great potential from an early age and is now the Mossman U18 champion, Men’s A Grade match play champion and recently won the club pairs championship event with older brother Wade.
While in Sydney, Couper will have the opportunity to meet some of his idols and the biggest golfers in the world such as Jason Day, Adam Scott, and Cameron Smith who will be competing in the Australian Open Pro-Am.
For Couper, it will be the first time he will get to see a professional golfer of that level play live and said getting to see the players who have inspired him is very exciting.
“I don’t really have a favourite player, I love them all but if I had to pick I think I would probably pick Cameron Smith, he's really good,” he said.
After wrapping up in Sydney, Couper is immediately onto the next tournament which is the
Greg Norman Junior Masters on the Gold Coast.
This will be the fourth consecutive year Couper has competed at the Greg Norman event, last year making the cut for the final round, finishing 13th overall and was the Nett Champion in his division.
Over the years Couper has competed in many tournaments making a name for himself amongst the junior golfing community.
In 2016 he went to America for the Junior Olympic Championships where he came third in the U10 division in California.
Earlier this year he placed third in the Asia Pacific Junior Masters U14 boys on the Sunshine Coast, gained selection in the Peninsula U19 team to contest State Championships, qualified and contested the New Zealand U19 Men’s Championships in Cromwell and was selected in the FNQ Junior Golf team to compete at the Gary Player Junior Classic in Brisbane.
Couper has already got his eyes on his next trip, set to play at the Australia Boys’ Amateurs in Canberra early next year.
“I'm hoping if I keep practising as much as I can I'll be able to make it to the professional level, I just need to keep practising and hopefully I can get there,” Couper said.
Matty said he tries to get Couper on as many different golf courses and to as many tournaments as he can to give him the experience he needs to make it in the golfing world.
“Playing on different courses matters and we thank Marano’s Fuel Mossman for sponsoring Couper this year to make that possible.
“Whatever happens he was definitely shown that he's got what it takes to make it, he just needs to practice and have the right brakes,” he said.
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