Perse golfer ready to tee off in international competitions
Alexander (Lower Sixth) is right in the swing of things after qualifying for several major international golf tournaments.
He will soon be heading to California to take part in back-to-back competitions after making it through to next month’s Uswing Mojing Junior World Championships and Future Champions of Golf Callaway World Championship.
In November, Alexander, who is a member of Gog Magog Golf Club, will then head to Spain for the Junior European Open after qualifying for the finals for the second year in a row.
To reach the US events, Alexander came through qualifying tournaments at St Ives Golf Club earlier this year, and he is relishing the opportunity to test himself across the Atlantic.
He said: “This will be my first time playing competitions in America, but I know they’re going to be of an extremely high standard. I don’t know the courses, so we’ll have to wait and see, but I just want to be happy with how I play.
“The Callaway event is in a desert type of area. I’ve played on one of those kinds of courses before and it was quite different because you have sand rather than rough on either side of the fairway.
“I’m also excited about the Using Mojing competition as it’s being played at Torrey Pines, which I’ve seen on TV as it has been used for the US Open, although I assume the course won’t be as hard as that one!”
Alexander will be on more familiar terrain when he plays in the Junior European Open, having finished joint-first in a recent qualifying event at East Herts Golf Club.
He said: “I was really pleased to qualify because I played in a competition at East Herts and had my worst round there last year, so it was good to get redemption on that course.”
Last year, Alexander came 35th overall out of around 130 players in the tournament at the Alcaiseda Links Resort in Cadiz and is confident he can build on that performance at the 2025 event.
“I thoroughly enjoyed it last year and I was pleased with how I did because it was a different format to normal,” he said. “Rather than being two rounds with a cut made for the third day, it was four rounds played on two different courses and they took your two best scores to select players to go into the fifth and final round.
“I was only able to have one practice round on one of the courses before the competition last year and that was where I did my two best scores.
“It’s good to get to know the layout beforehand because some holes might have doglegs or corners and you can then plot your way around and see where you might have to play a bit more strategically, but I was good at staying out of the tricky rough areas and putting myself in nice positions, so I feel I adapted quite well.
“I feel I’ve got better as a golfer since last year, so my aim is to improve my score and my finishing position. Hopefully I can just play well and execute what I want to do.”