Cordeaux Heights' Tahnia Ravnjak is fulfilling a career goal by competing in her first national championship, at this week's Australian Open in South Australia.
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Ravnjak got the call from officials that she had been elevated from the first reserve into the championship proper just before last week's Victorian Open.
"I was the first reserve and got the call up just before the Vic Open last week," she said.
"I'm really looking forward to it. Teeing it up and getting to represent Australia in our national Open has been a goal of mine since I began playing."
Ravnjak had her first taste of the impressive Royal Adelaide layout in championship condition yesterday alongside good friend and South Australian talent Stephanie Na.
"I played here about a month ago, but conditions were way different. The course is so pure. The fairways are in the best condition, they are like carpet.
Ravnjak won't be alone in celebrating her appearance in her first Australian Open, her boyfriend Jordy Stalker, and parents Vicki and John are dashing from Wollongong to support her.
This week's Aussie Open is the middle of a four-week run of tournaments for the 26-year-old. Next week she tackles the Australian Ladies Classic at Bonville, followed by the women's NSW Open at Dubbo, both co- sanctioned events with the Ladies European Tour.
"The next few weeks are pretty important. The China Tour isn't really on my radar with the virus, and I need to play somewhere. I played a few tournaments on invites last year in Europe and I really liked it, so I would love to focus on playing there this year."
Asbury takes out Senior Open
A field of 59 contested the Wollongong Senior Open last week.
With players coming from Sydney, Central Coast, Far South Coast, ACT and Queensland it was Shoalhaven Heads Ian Asbury who took out the event.
Asbury's round of one under 69 saw him prevail by one from Kogarah's Terry Small, with Cromer's Shane Floyd one shot further back.
Neil Bartley from Port Kembla was the Illawarra's best, finishing in a tie for 6th with a round of 74.
Small took some consolation as he won the over 65 section.
Vale Ron Hall
The Illawarra golf fraternity lost one of its finest over the weekend with Port Kembla's Ron Hall passing away after a short battle with cancer.
Hall represented Illawarra on countless occasions and was selected to play for NSW twice during his prime in the early 1970s.
On the local scene, Hall managed to pick up pretty well every club's major Open Championship.
At his home club alone, his name appears on the honour boards almost 50 times.
Active until just recently, Hall took out the over 75 division of the NSW Senior Amateur Championship last year.
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