Jonty Lunson, pictured during the Interstate Teams Matches in South Australia this year.
FOR A young man who, at the age of 19, is considered one of the best amateurs in the country, Tasmania’s Jonty Lunson was a latecomer to golf.
More interested in soccer when he was growing up in Devonport, Lunson’s focus did not turn to golf until he was 14, and it wasn’t until he was 17 that he started to make his mark in the sport.
But, boy, has he made up for lost time!
This year, the long-hitting Lunson has contested seven ranking events in Australia and Asia – and he’s finished no further back than sixth in any of them.
He was fourth at the Australian Amateur Championship in Perth in February, third at the Keperra Bowl in Brisbane and sixth at both the Tasmanian Open at Launceston Golf Club and the Riversdale Cup in Victoria.
And he was Tasmania’s best player in the Australian Interstate Teams Matches at Glenelg in May, leading his team and scoring wins over his South Australian and NSW opponents.
But his best performance came in July when he extended Australia’s recent dominance in the Singapore Open Amateur, shooting rounds of 66, 68, 66 and 67 to hold off fast-finishing Queenslander Harrison Gomez for a one-stroke victory.
It was the second Aussie win in succession and the third in four years following wins by Harry Takis (2025) and Lincoln Morgan (2023).
The victory earned Lunson a return trip to Asia as part of the three-man Australian team in the Nomura Cup, also known as the Asia-Pacific Amateur Golf Team Championship, in China in September.
That biennial amateur event, which began in 1963, has been won 10 times by Australia.
It’s an exciting time for a young man who is not letting his run of success go to his head.
“I’m looking forward to playing is as many tournaments as I can, and just letting it happen,” he said during a rare day off from practicing at Devonport Country Club.
Lunson, who concedes to being a competitive individual, was inspired as an 11-year-old when he watched his cousin Joel Lunson represent Tasmania in an interstate series at Ulverstone.
“I thought, ‘yeah, I want to do that one day’,” said Lunson, who then promptly went back to kicking a soccer ball around the park.
He had an occasional hit with his dad at Devonport before joining the club as a junior. He’s been playing golf seriously for only about four years.
Devonport’s head professional Luke Hickman, who keeps an eye on Lunson’s development, describes the emerging talent as a hard worker. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody hit the ball quite like him,” he said.
Rating his own game, Lunson says he’s confident off the tee, handy with his irons and happy with his short game. “But I need to work a bit on my mid-range putting – the eight to 10 footers,” he said.
Lunson also works with Tasmania’s state coach Richard Coombe and reckons there are both benefits and drawbacks to living and playing in Tasmania.
“You’re away from the action a bit,” he said, “but there’s no real pressure and I get to practice by myself.”
He knows, though, that he will inevitably have to leave his home state, and he’s already preparing for the future, looking forward to playing different courses and experiencing new challenges.
He’s not interested in taking up an offer to attend a United States college, preferring to play his way onto the world stage. He’ll contest amateur events over the next year or two before perhaps contesting Q School in 2028 and turning professional.
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