Professionals Darren Burger and Harrison Russell will be joined by teenage amateur Nathan Mann.

All three qualified this week in Sydney when Burger  shot a par 72 around St Michaels, Russell had a three over par 74 at Long Reef and Mann carded a two under par 70 at Glenmore Heritage.

Mann, who plays off a plus one handicap at Tamworth Golf Club, is excited and delighted to have his two good golfing mates teeing it up as well.

“It’s great to have the three of us,” he said.

“We can also have a little competition between ourselves. 

“I’m following Harrison off the 10th tee and Darren is a tee time later but off the first.”

Mann tees  up at 12.45pm around a course similar in style to Tamworth’s Longyard course.

“It’s very close,” Mann said of the links style course.

“It’s very open .”

He has had two practice rounds at Stonecutters Ridge as well and said it has a “good feel”.

While the trio of Tamworth golfers are hopeful of good starts to the NSW Open, Tamworth Golf Club is recovering from the annual Chris Halpin Memorial Golf Day.

Played last Saturday within the regular stableford competition, it had six groups made specifically from friends and family of the former Tamworth sportsman.

His brother, Matt Halpin, had a pretty big week.

Matt arrived home from a Melbourne Cup cruise in time on Friday to see his Halpin’s Plumbing T20 side tumble to a big opening round defeat in the Tamworth Premier League T20.

On Saturday, he teed off in the memorial golf day for his departed brother, who passed away in 2010.

“I won the Nearest the Halpo,” Matt  advised of the fun golf day.

A plaque remembering Chris’s exploits is affixed to a tree on the right hand side of the par five first hole.

It’s close to the spot where the big slicing Chris Halpin always used to finish, Matt Halpin said.

“I’m just as big as a hacker as he was,” Chris said.

“But I won the Nearest The Halpo. Finished about 18m from it. I

“I slice it big-time too but don’t have the power slice Chris had.

“He could aim  over, through and around trees on the left- hand side and finish up in the middle to right-hand side of the fairway.

“But we did have a great day and had a heap of people back for the presentations.

“That Greery and Dillo won the whole day was outstanding too.

“Chris worked with Dillo (Gary Dillon) a lot and he and Greery (Neil Greer) were great mates. 

“Chris would be around at Greery’s all the time playing pool.

“They’d play 50 frames before they could find a winner some times.”