[Photo: Golf Australia]
Three-time major winner Minjee Lee was 14 when she won the women’s club championship at Royal Fremantle Golf Club for the first time.
Her younger brother, Min Woo Lee, is also the youngest winner of the men’s club championship at Royal Fremantle, 15 years of age when he won in 2013.
Narsha Solomon is 10-years-old, and the 2026 women’s A Grade club champion at Pacific Harbour Golf and Country Club on Bribie Island.
Is she the youngest ever winner of an open club championship in Australian golf?
Potentially.
Her idols were in their teens when they won.
A Google search tells you that Jeffrey Guan won the men’s club championship at The Australian Golf Club at 14 years of age. Two years ago, 13-year-old Elyse Kozlovic won the women’s club championship at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide, and last month, 16-year-old Olive Spitty won her fifth straight women’s club championship at Murray Downs Golf and Country Club, having also earned the mantle of club champion at Commonwealth Golf Club in Melbourne at age 12.
But a nine-stroke winner at age 10 at a golf course with a Slope rating of 138, perennially exposed to strong winds?
“It doesn’t make sense, does it?” says Maroochy River Golf Club PGA Professional John Wright, who has coached Narsha for the past two years.
“What blew me away was that she was able to play the three rounds and not fall away.
“Even though she’s got such good ball-striking talent, we would half expect for her to shoot a 95 and a 97 the last two rounds and probably fall out and not win.
“But no, she didn’t do that. She went and shot 46-40 in wet and windy conditions to win by nine.
“That shows to me that this kid has a mindset that’s so strong.”
It is a mindset her father, Mick Solomon, sees on a daily basis.
A handy golfer himself who played off a handicap of three at Gailes Golf Club in Brisbane before the family moved to Bribie Island during COVID, Mick is now no match for Narsha when the pair venture out their back door for a chipping comp on the 12th green at Pacific Harbour.
And 24 hours after her club championship triumph, he struggled to drag Narsha away from her putting practice.
“She wasn’t satisfied with her putting after the final round so she wanted to go work on it the night after,” Mick shares.
“She was happy that she won, but she knew the round could have been better.
“She wanted to get that nice roll back, but it was getting dark. There were midges everywhere and I was telling her that it was time to go inside. She just said, ‘No, I’m not going until I get it.’
“Then when she figured it out, she hit about 20 putts in a row with a nice roll and she goes, ‘I’m good now.’”
As part of her development, Narsha has participated in the Australian Golf Foundation’s Junior Girls Scholarship Program with Bribie Island Golf Club and Maroochy River Golf Club.
As part of the program, Narsha attended the Australian WPGA Championship at Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club in March where she caddied for Stephanie Bunque and Maddison Hinson-Tolchard in the pro-am and got to meet eventual champion, Hannah Green.
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Her father says that experience was an invaluable lesson in how to conduct yourself on the golf course and how to respond when a shot doesn’t quite go to plan.
“She just embraced watching them, how they conduct themselves,” said Mick, Narsha’s handicap now 6.8 following her club championship win.
“She learned that they don’t hit perfect shots every shot. Narsha has a very high expectation on herself and, in the past, I would have to help control her emotions when she’d hit a bad shot.
“She didn’t see them getting upset when they hit a bad shot. They just accepted it and moved on.
“Six-to-12 months ago, a double-bogey would affect her. She would make another and it might derail her round.
“It’s very rare that happens now. She’ll make the odd double now and then, but then you’ll see a bunch of pars come after it.”
As her coach, Wright is focused purely on providing scaffolding around a swing that is preternaturally gifted.
“The first day she came in, she started hitting shots, and I was blown away,” Wright said of his introduction to a then-eight-year-old Narsha.
“I’d push the club into a position and say, ‘Do you think you can move into that position?’ And she’d say, ‘Yeah, no problem.’ And bang, she’d get it.
“I’ve never seen anybody change a position so quickly. Within six shots, she’s now in the position that you want her to be in.
“I turned around and was just shaking my head to her dad going, ‘I’ve never seen that before.’
“As an eight, nine, 10-year-old, she’s already got this idea of what she wants to do with her golf.
“She’s exceptional. It’s exciting for Australian golf to know that we’ve got this very humble girl from a great family coming through.”