TEENAGE golfing prodigy Roderick Staunton will be aiming for another slice of Royal Hong Kong Golf Club (RHKGC) history today. The 13-year-old Island School pupil takes on Peter Reed this morning in the most intriguing clash in the last 16 of the RHKGC's 1996 Club Championship.
Regardless of how he fares in the 18-hole match-play contest, Staunton has already assured himself a place in the RHKGC's record books by becoming the youngest player ever to qualify for the knockout stages of the championship.
To do so, seven-handicapper Staunton recorded rounds of 80 over Fanling's Eden Course and 76 on the New Course last Sunday to finish 12th in the 36-hole stroke-play qualifying round.
It was an especially commendable effort from Staunton given that he ran up a potentially soul-destroying triple-bogey eight at the sixth hole of the Eden in the morning.
Refusing to be disconcerted by that setback, he held his game together admirably and matched his best-ever round on the New in the afternoon to secure his place among the leading 16 qualifiers.
Despite his lack of match-play experience, Staunton is undaunted by the prospect of taking on Scotsman Reed.