• Newcastle teen steps up for shot at Players Series history

Defending her 2022 Junior Players Series title was an option but 17-year-old Ella Scaysbrook will instead join the main draw and take a shot at history at this week’s TPS Hunter Valley at Oaks Cypress Lakes Resort.

The fourth and final event of this year’s Webex Players Series has drawn a strong men’s field hoping to square the ledger at two apiece following David Micheluzzi’s TPS Sydney win last Sunday.

Stephanie Bunque and Kelsey Bennett headline a women’s field chasing a third Players Series win in 2023, Scaysbrook excited to test her game in open company.

While Jazy Roberts played TPS Murray River two weeks after finishing runner-up at TPS Junior Players Series Victoria, Scaysbrook is the first winner of a Junior Players Series event to graduate to the main draw.

“I was straight in for playing the pro. It’s just another step up I guess,” said Scaysbrook, who lives in Newcastle but is a member at The Australian Golf Club.

“I actually thought I was playing the junior but then I ended up getting an e-mail inviting me to play in the pro, which is really good.”

Since her win 12 months ago, Scaysbrook has taken her game to a new level with coach Jason Laws at Newcastle Golf Club where she practises.

She made the cut at the Women’s NSW Open, won the 2022 Bonville Champions Trophy last December and estimates that she is hitting the ball 30 metres further off the tee than this time last year.

Dedicating herself to strength training at the gym three times a week in conjunction with her work with Laws has given her coach confidence in how she will acquit herself this week.

“She was really tiny when she first came to me but she’s very strong now and hitting the ball beautifully,” said Laws, who has been coaching Scaysbrook for the past six years.

“I played with her last Monday at New South Wales Golf Club and there was one tee shot that went 230 metres. On one par 5 the lady she was playing with hit hybrid and Ella hit 8-iron.

“She gives it a hit.

“She’s a better player this year because she believes even more in what she’s doing.”

A large part of that belief stems from her playoff win at Cypress Lakes.

With Dad Nick on the bag, Scaysbrook absorbed the large galleries and the TV cameras capturing her every move to record the biggest win of her amateur career.

“It was definitely different to all of the junior tournaments,” recalls Scaysbrook, who in a practice round on Tuesday had just 74 metres into the par-4 second that will play 320 metres for the women this week.

“There were so many people, there were cameras everywhere and that was my first playoff. That gave me a lot of confidence.”

“This is one of the primary functions of the Webex Players Series, to expose talented juniors to tournament pressure and see their progression,” added WPGA Tour of Australasia CEO, Karen Lunn.

“Ella played fantastically well at Cypress Lakes last year and it is exciting to see her join the main field for this year’s event.

“I really don’t think we will have to wait too long to see a Junior Players Series winner go on to win a Players Series event.”

Making the cut is Scaysbrook’s primary goal this week but she does have big aspirations.

After completing Year 12 this year she will set her sights on further amateur success, happy to bide her time before turning professional and chasing her dream of playing on the LPGA Tour.

“I’m going to eventually turn pro and hopefully LPGA,” she added.

“I’m in my last year of school this year so I’m going to try and go through the Golf Australia and Golf NSW High Performance programs.

“I’m patient. I want to be turning pro when I’m at my best, and that comes in the early 20s.

“I’m going to play a lot of amateur golf first and then when I’m ready I’ll turn pro.”

There are 24 women professionals in the main draw, Scaysbrook one of five female amateurs to have accepted invitations to play along with Belinda Ji, Kate McFarlane, June Song and Annika Rathbone.

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