Three Otago youngsters are taking on the best the Australians can throw at them over the next week.
Kairangi and Anahera Koni, of Dunedin and Noah Novacek, of Queenstown, have shown that age is no barrier and the opportunities are endless as they leave this morning to compete against the top two Australian golfers in their respective age-groups as part of the US Kids Tour event.
Kairangi (7) and Anahera (6) qualified by competing in the US Kids Tour event in Auckland from October last year to February this year.
The pair will compete on the Moore course in Sydney on Friday and Saturday hoping to beat their Australian counterparts.
Kairangi finished second in the under-8 section while Anahera won the girls under-7 section which also gives her entry into the US Kids World Championships in North Carolina next year.
Both were playing golf on their third birthdays and they now compete in the Otago Junior Order of Merit events.
They play at Chisholm Links and Island Park and have received financial help of $1,000 from Chisholm as well as $1,000 from the metropolitan sub-association.
"Playing in the Auckland events and going to Sydney is expensive but we have received generous support with funds also coming from my two Northland tribes,'' father Dan said.
"The kids also raise their own money which is being matched by a generous benefactor.''
Dan and his wife, Liz, are kept busy with the youngsters travelling to various events but Dan gets some reward as he will travel with the pair and will be taking his own clubs.
He said these events are snowballing with a US Kids Tour event planed for Wellington soon.
There will be no respite for Dan and his wife as the three younger siblings are now starting to play and are keen to emulate the feats of their older brother and sister.
Noah (8) was introduced to golf when he was about 4 and is mad keen on the sport.
His father, Shane Wairua, said his son trained two hours a day and if they did not drop him at school he would head for the golfcourse.
He had a handicap of 28 and played on club days at Kelvin Heights most weekends.
Noah and Kairangi will team up to take on the Australians.
