Manning golf prodigy Quedesha Golledge has made the perfect start to the new year on the course.
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By winning the ACT Week of Golf girls championship by four shots, the 16-year-old gained a world amateur golf ranking.
Quedesha is the Manning River Times-Iguana Sportstar of the Week, earning a $50 open order at Iguana.
The Week of Golf, played in early January, was played at three Canberra courses and one across the border at Queanbeyan.
Quedesha had a three shot lead at the end of the first round at the Federal Golf Course but gave up the lead at the end of the second round at Yowani.
"It was a tight course... I'm not accurate enough to consistently play on tight courses and I had a bit of a rough round so I was behind by one," she said.
She returned to form in round three at Gold Creek to take a one shot lead.
The final round at Queanbeyan was regarded as a nail-biting affair but Quedesha fought back to take the win over a local competitor.
She has two new trophies in her cabinet (girls champion and 16 years and over champion) and is now ranked 3072 in the world amateur golf rankings.
Quedesha was proud to earn the ranking and see her name listed next to the Australian flag.
This weekend, Quedesha will contest the Wagga Wagga Junior Masters.
"I'm going to try and win my age division but I've been a bit sick lately so I haven't been able to practise a lot," Quedesha said.
"If I have a good practise round I should be fine."
On the way to Wagga Wagga, the Golledge family called into Pymble Golf Club (Sydney) to discuss a scholarship.
Quedesha accepted the scholarship last week and will play major pennants for the club, some amateur events as part of a team.
"It will last until I'm 18 and then I can keep it if I want," she said. "I will also play at the club once a month."
She was excited to get started at the club. "It's a bit posh," she laughed.
A major goal for 2021 is to work on her handicap.
"I'm playing off 2 at the moment but my goal is to get down to +1 by the end of the year," Quedesha said.
"I got to 1 but I went up a bit because I didn't play that good."
Quedesha focused on practise and local events during the pandemic impacted 2020 season.
She won the Kew women's championship by an incredible 18 shots over three rounds.
"I started off with a bad round and then got better as the rounds went on," Quedesha said.
"I think I was the youngest person to ever win it."
Quedesha's ultimate goal is to turn professional.