WA state golfers Katie Seol and Nate Johnson further highlighted their great potential in winning the Drummond Golf 54-Hole Junior Classic.
The popular annual tournament is a national and World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) event, and attracted its biggest-ever field of 140 boys and girls, who competed at Capel GC, Dunsborough Lakes and Busselton GC over three action-packed days.
Although undoubtedly the pre-event favourites, Seol and Johnson certainly didn’t have it all their own way, with numerous spirited challengers emerging from a field stacked with talent.
Seol, in particular, had to dig deep to snatch a narrow victory from the jaws of defeat, while Johnson was put under pressure from the pack on Day 3 before ultimately easing to a five-stroke win.
Seol bandwagon rolls on
Fresh from an astonishing 12-stroke victory at the Victorian Junior Girls Open the week before, Cottesloe GC’s Katie Seol was always likely to be the player to beat here.
With four WAGR titles to her name this year alone – including the Girls’ Junior Masters of WA in July – the 15-year-old made a serene start to the championship with a level-par 73 at Capel GC to take the first-round lead.
This left her one clear of Nalynn Kim (Gosnells) and two clear of Sienna McCulloch (Joondalup), and it was McCulloch who emerged as Seol’s nearest challenger after a superb one-under-par 71 at Dunsborough Links on Day 2.
With Seol firing a level-par 72 of her own, McCulloch was just a stroke back heading into the final day, with Lilli Andrew (Royal Perth) and Kim a further three and four shots adrift respectively.
Thanks to a steady start on Day 3 at Busselton GC, where she reeled off seven straight pars, McCulloch moved to the head of the field following back-to back bogeys for Seol on holes two and three.
McCulloch held the lead until the 8th, when she dropped her first shot of the day, allowing Seol to jump back into the top spot after a birdie of her own.
However, consecutive birdies on 9 and 10 moved McCulloch back into pole position and she held a two-stroke advantage over Seol with four holes remaining.
Seol, however, can be remorseless coming down the stretch and she kept her cool to take advantage when McCulloch bogeyed both the 15th and 16th holes.
An ice-cold birdie on 16 saw Seol reclaim the lead, while another at the par-five 18th returned her to even par for the championship and sealed a three-stroke victory over McCulloch that had looked unlikely just an hour earlier.
Katie Seol kept her cool to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat
“It’s been a pretty good season,” Seol told GolfWA after securing her fifth world-ranking title of the year.
“I’ve been working hard on my putting, as well as strengthening to get more distance with my driver, and that really helped me this week.”
Seol had also recently attended a Golf Australia Junior Training Camp in Melbourne, which she said had greatly benefitted her mental game.
“We had a session on golf psychology, which I found really useful. I sometimes struggle to stay in the moment and just focus on my own game, but I did that well today,” she added.
Seol’s victory leaves her in pole position to claim the Australian Girls’ Order of Merit for 2026, which concludes at the end of October.
Elsewhere in the girls’ event, defending champion Halia Edwards (Royal Perth) scorched round Busselton in a five-under-par 68 to take out third place, one shot behind McCulloch, at +4.
That score was bettered by Mount Lawley’s Ruby Han, who hit nine birdies in a round of 67 that catapulted her up into 4th position.
Johnson signs off junior career on a high
Joondalup Country Club’s Nate Johnson was playing at his final junior event on WA soil prior to turning 18 in October, and he signed off in style with a five-stroke victory.
In command of the championship from after a superb four-under-par 68 to open proceedings at Capel, Johnson took a three-stroke lead into the final round after a controlled round of 71 at Dunsborough Lakes on Day 2.
His nearest challenger was Jonathan Hong (WAGC) at -1, with Victorian Ben Ellul and Gosnells’ 12-year-old rising star Sopostar Fiu a stroke further back.
Hong immediately closed to within two strokes after a birdie at the first, and the lead was down to just one shot after Johnson bogeyed the next.
That was as good as it got for the chasing pack, though, as Hong made double bogey at three to surrender his momentum.
A calm birdie for Johnson granted him a four-shot lead, which he extended to five by the turn after back-to-back birdies on the 6th and 7th.
With Ellul and Fiu unable to muster up a final-day charge, Johnson was able to play within himself on the back nine and had moved seven strokes clear before a double bogey at the par-three 17th.
Nate Johnson’s approach play was dialled in all week
He steadied the ship with a par at the last however, for a four-under-par winning total ahead of Hong and Ellul – a fine victory Johnson attributed as much to a steely mindset as his superb golf.
“I just stayed patient out there, stuck to my game plan and didn’t ever get too far ahead of myself,” he told GolfWA.
“My approach play is probably the strongest it’s been in a while and when I put myself out of position and made a bogey or two, I just stuck in there and fought back.”
Despite not wanting to put too much pressure on himself, Johnson did admit that he had come into the week hoping to sign off his domestic junior career with another trophy.
“I was thinking about how good it would be to finish with another win, so it worked out really well in the end,” he added. “Now I’m just keen to see what the future holds.”
View image galleries from the boys’ and girls’ championships here.
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