Nothing could be further from the truth of course, as she prepares for her final round in her first Sandbelt Invitational at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, eating breakfast in the clubhouse with her mum who is on caddie duty this week.

A bashful smile at the revelation from mum that: ‘We have a birthday girl here!’ – Hammett turns 17 today – she quickly put on her game face to ask me some important questions about a club that hosts two of the best golf courses in the world:

“Do you know if they have a chipping green here?” and “Where’s the 1st tee?”

It turns out Hammett has played Royal Melbourne’s West Course on one occasion – obviously without doing any chipping in advance – but like many in the field, has never set foot on the East. This lack of familiarity with the four Sandbelt courses featured this week has certainly not hampered her ability to play some incredible golf, despite ‘leaving plenty out there’ on the greens.

After a round of 76 to open the event at the storm-hit Victoria Golf Club, Hammett moved to the South Course at Peninsula Kingswood having played the first 10 holes in practice earlier in the week. She was mesmerised by the quality of the course but really caught fire on the back nine holes, most of which she was playing for the first time.

Four birdies in five holes and a brilliant short iron in tight at the 17th had her poised to potentially birdie the remaining holes in to the clubhouse, however, the putt slid by and she would settle for a four-under round of 70 despite an errant drive on the 18th.,

At Yarra Yarra, Hammett continued her resolute climb up the leaderboard with a brilliant six-under 66 to set a course record on a hot, windy day that was punctuated on two occasions by lightning delays. One of the caddies for her playing partners said she could have shot ‘anything’ as she had three-putted two of the par-5s for par along the way.

Moving into a T8 for the event and just a shot behind Jazy Roberts (-7) in the concurrent women’s amateur event, the scene is set for a shootout between these two exciting amateur talents and Caitlin Pearce (-5) who is a shot further back, albeit leader Daniel Gale’s lead in the overall tournament would appear to be unassailable for them.   

With any luck, Hammett will indeed findwhere the 1st tee is located for her 12.21 tee time alongside Kazuma Kobori where, if recent history has taught us anything, she will be completely unfazed by the challenge ahead or her unfamiliarity with the venerable East layout.

Playing at Royal Melbourne and in contention at the Sandbelt Invitational – not many get to celebrate their birthday in a style such as this.