Want to recieve exclusive news, videos, tournament highlights, golf important tips and more ?
Want to recieve exclusive news, videos, tournament highlights, golf important tips and more ?
Dating a major champion would provide its own motivation but it is Hannah Green’s growing influence on the game of golf in Australia that has inspired Jarryd Felton to also start giving back.
On Friday Green and Felton will face off against each other in the WA Golf Guns Charity Shootout Challenge at Gosnells Golf Club in Perth, Green partnering with 2019 IMG Academy Junior World Championship runner-up Maddison Hinson-Tolchard against Felton and WA Boys’ State team member Josiah Gilbert.
It’s the first of two charity events that Green and Felton have put their names to in addition to the time they are spending with juniors at their respective home clubs of Mount Lawley and Gosnells.
Friday’s nine-hole match that will be broadcast on Instagram Live from 4pm AEST will raise money for Challenge and the Wright family and on 5 July Green and Felton will be joined by Braden Becker, Hayden Hopewell, Haydn Barron and Kathryn Norris in a ‘Birdies for Breast Cancer’ initiative at The Cut Golf Club.
Felton acknowledges that he is playing second fiddle to the reigning Women’s PGA champion and Greg Norman Medal winner but has been inspired to do what he can to support worthy causes and promote golf in a positive manner.
“Hannah’s doing a lot of stuff for Mount Lawley playing with the juniors which has been great and I thought I could do something similar,” said the 2017 NZ PGA champion.
“I was never really too big on it but what she has been doing made me want to get involved as well.
“I’m obviously not in as good a position as Hannah is in, I’m really just following on behalf of her.
“She’s in a position where she can really grow the game and perhaps one day take over from what Karrie Webb has done.
“She knows herself that she’s got some shoes to fill in that department. Once Karrie finishes up I think she and Minjee (Lee) will be the ones to grow the game at a junior level in particular.
“It’s been a tough road the past three or four months sitting around and doing nothing so if we can do our best to help out these families and raise some money – and stay competitive – then that’s something positive.”
Both the causes that Green and Felton are supporting in the next few weeks are close to their heart.
In addition to raising funds for Challenge, Friday’s match will benefit the Wright family who lost their son Luan in tragic circumstances less than four years ago.
“I knew Luan on a personal level. He was a junior member at the golf club for quite some years before he passed away so I knew him quite well,” Felton revealed.
“It was pretty crazy because it all happened so fast. He was fine one day – he was doing his Year 12 exams – and then all of a sudden he had a brain tumour and no one knew what was going on.
“It was only three or four months later that he passed away so it was quite sudden.
“It just happened way too fast and just shows you how short life is that’s for sure.”
Captain of the WA Womens State team, Kathryn Norris’s mother Lynda is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer and is the inspiration for the 5 July fundraiser where the six golfers will attempt to play 18 holes in 27-under par playing a twoball ambrose format and try to raise $20,000.
“We grew up with Kathryn in the state team,” Felton adds.
“Hannah and I are both a little bit older than Kathryn but she grew up playing golf around the same time as us so we know the family quite well.
“She asked if Hannah and I could come on board to help out and we jumped at it.”
While both days are first and foremost in aid of charity, Felton concedes that it is an opportunity to get the competitive juices flowing again before both he and Green return to the European and LPGA tours in the near future.
“We play nine holes every now and again and it’s pretty competitive sometimes,” said Felton.
“We don’t play as much golf together as what people would think. Coming into tournament time we play a fair bit together but at the moment Hannah’s going to Mount Lawley and I come to Gosnells so we go in two separate directions.
“Hopefully it’s not over too quickly on Friday and Josiah and I don’t get fleeced too much.”
The WA Golf Guns Charity Shootout Challenge will be broadcast live on Friday at 4pm AEST through the Gosnells Golf Club Instagram page (@gosnellsgolfclub).
If you would like to support the ‘Birdies for Breast Cancer Challenge’ on July 5 visit the GoFundMe page at www.gofundme.com/f/birdies-for-breast-cancer-challenge.
