It has been an incredible showing for the Australian golf team in the Special Olympics World Games held in Berlin this week highlighted by Natascha Tennent’s gold medal.
All six Australian athletes took home medals, with the team finishing equal fifth in the medal tally overall, this country’s best-ever result.
Sixteen-year-old Tennent, from Brisbane, took out the gold medal in the women’s 18-hole division, an inspirational performance from the young Queenslander competing in her first world games.
Tennent has come a long way in five years from the excited 11-year-old who picked golf as her sport and joined her local MyGolf program.
“I went eenie-meenie-mynee-mo and golf won,” she said. “I hadn’t even heard what golf was! I didn’t even know it was a sport!” Tennent told Golf Australia in 2021, reflecting on her choice.
Tennent [below] is now the No.2-ranked golfer in the ii3 Women’s category of the World Golf Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD), after also taking out the net category in both the South Australian and Queensland 2022 Inclusive Championships.
Queensland’s Amanda Patterson capped off another impressive world games, bettering her bronze medal performance in 2019, taking out silver in the women’s 9-hole division.
Kane Leonard also had an impressive showing in his first world games, taking out the bronze in the men’s 18-hole division 1. Leonard is now ranked 80th in the (WR4GD) and sixth in Australia.
Dylan Price, Anders Kobula and Matt Curley all took home bronze in their respective divisions, in what was an emphatic week for the Australian team.
This week was the first time many of these athletes had played in Europe, and to take home six medals in these unfamiliar conditions is an extraordinary effort.
The World Games saw 35 countries take part, with Australia in the top five in the medal tally overall. In the previous games in 2019, Australia won two bronze medals.
Full results:
Natascha Tennent (QLD) – Gold (Womens 18 Hole Div) Scores of 84, 81, 85, 79 – 329
Amanda Patterson (QLD) – Silver (Womens 9 Hole) Scores of 54, 52, 55, 53 – 214
Dylan Price (QLD) – Bronze (9 Hole Div) Scores of 50, 53, 51, 49 – 203
Kane Leonard (QLD) – Bronze (18 Hole Div 1) Scores of 80, 76, 76, 79 – 311
Anders Kobula (NSW) – Bronze (18 Holes Div 2) Scores of 82, 93, 92, 93 – 360
Matt Curley (QLD) – Bronze (18 Holes Div 3) Scores of 88, 96, 97, 94 – 375
