GOLF: Not much fazes Morpeth

ANENDRA SINGH
Losing two balls in one hole to finish with a quadruple bogey would be enough for many to spit the dummy and head home in disgust.
But Brook Morpeth is not many people and chucking the trundler in the back of the ute is not his way of dealing with pressure.
Remarkably after a double bogey on the par 4 No.5 at Hastings Golf Club yesterday morning and then the quadruple howler on another par four two holes later, Morpeth, 15, went on to card a 74 to win the gross aggregate under-17 36-hole title and the gross under-18 Judith Gimblett Salver in the boys' age-group competition. He carded 78 in the first round of the par 74 Bridge Pa course.
The Hastings Boys' High School pupil's motivation comes from one of the world's most inspirational sportsman, Australian Scott Draper (pictured right).
As a 12-year-old Morpeth, who lived in the Gold Coast with parents Bruce and Therese since he was a toddler, trained with twentysomething Draper at the Pro-One Academy as a tennis player.
"I was among the top five junior tennis players in Australia. Scott Draper was a very talented tennis and I had a few hit-ups with him.
"He's a good all-round guy who has good work ethics and he really motivates me. I wanted to be like him.
"When I heard he was going to become a professional golfer I knew he was going to do well," Morpeth told SportToday. Draper's life story transcends sport and is the subject of a Hollywood movie. The tennis whiz from Oz won the junior Wimbledon doubles title at the age of 18 but obsessive compulsive disorder threatened to cut short his career.
However, he overcame the condition, married his childhood sweetheart, Kellie, but while he rose in the ATP singles into the top 50 she lost her battle with cystic fibrosis. A grieving Draper in 2005 gave up tennis and, now 32 years old, is paving a path to becoming a professional golfer in the lucrative PGA Tour in the United States.
So why did Morpeth give up tennis for golf? "When I was 12 years old I was playing a round with my dad who said I had the natural ability to play golf. I guess there was a lot of excitement because I was about to start with a new sport.
"I was training with tennis every day but golf is more about playing against yourself whereas in tennis you're playing against someone else," said Morpeth, who arrived in the Bay with his family in June last year to live close to his uncle, Ross, the golf professional at the Hastings club.
Brook Morpeth, a scratchie and member of the Bay under-23 and under-19 teams, hopes to secure a scholarship at an American college in a bid to play on the Nationwide Tour there.
Bay senior representative Nick Gillespie won the under-19 gross aggregate title over 36 holes, carding 137 to beat Napier Golf Club's Thomas Downey.
Taikura Rudolf Steiner pupil Merlin Schloemer claimed the nett title with 136 over Hastings club mate Josh Downey. Sam Penrice was runner-up to Brook in both the under-17 and under-18 grades.
In the under-15 grade, Carlos Tawera (158) beat Jonathon Chau while in the nett section Rowan Shepherd (148) pipped Hamish Ellingham by lot.
Sam Chadwick (nett) and Jason Kim (gross) were the under-13 stand-outs while in the girls grade Lauree Southerden (gross) and Angela Jones (nett) prevailed.