COURSE: Previously host of seven Australian Women’s Opens, six Victorian Opens, the Australian PGA Championship and the 2017 Australian Amateur, famed Yarra Yarra Golf Club in Bentleigh East welcomes some of the rising stars of golf in Australia next week.

Originally designed by Alex Russel, Dr. Alister MacKenzie’s design partner in Australia, Tom Doak and his Renaissance Golf Design team recently completed a restoration of the course to reflect its roots and Russel’s original design that opened in 1928.

Greater mown surfaces and a reconfigured routing will test the Adidas Junior 6s players, while the four par-3s are among the standout holes on the well-bunkered layout.

FORMAT: The competitors will play 18 holes of stroke play, with points on the year-long race awarded to a number of players, and the top boys and girls finishers to go head-to-head in a six-hole match for the title and additional points.

RELATED: Yarra Yarra Golf Club course review

PLAYERS TO WATCH …

The current leader of the Boy’s Points Race for the Junior 6s Tour courtesy of his win at Royal Sydney last month, Jeffrey Guan is once again one to keep an eye on at Yarra Yarra.

Runner-up at both the Australian and NSW Amateurs in 2021, and the 2020 winner of the NSW Junior, Guan is already a Adidas Junior 6s ambassador and a player to watch out for as his career continues to progress.

A member at The Australian Golf Club, and one of Gary Barter’s many young charges, Guan is well and truly used to tournament pressure and tough golf courses, and wouldn’t surprise if he adds another victory to his ever growing and already impressive resume.

RIGHT: Guan was the winner of the Tour's opening event of 2021 held at Royal Sydney. PHOTO: Supplied.

Kai Komulainen is at the top of the tree when it comes to male junior golfers in this country per the rankings, and with good reason.

The 15-year-old recently teed it up at the Queensland Open after advancing through qualifying and owns a golf swing garnering plenty of attention from players on Tour and those who keep a close eye on the developing juniors in Australia.

“Mark my words, this kid will be a star. Kai Komulainen, only just turned 15, in action a couple of months ago at Lakelands GC in Queensland on his way to victory shooting 67 (-5),” Junior 6s Tour founder Ewan Porter tweeted about Komulainen in late 2020.

On the girls’ side of the event, Jeneath Wong is another potential superstar in the making.

Wong won back-to-back Riversdale Cup titles in 2020 and this year, having also completed the same feat at the Victorian Junior. Ranked fourth among Australia’s female amateurs, the Victorian was recently the runner-up at the South Australian Amateur Classic and will be looking to continue her outstanding form of 2021 with another high-placed finish at Yarra Yarra.