JAKE RILEY hopes to finish his junior career with selection in the NSW team for the Interstate series.
The 17-year-old also aims to help steer Toronto to a Newcastle District A-Grade pennants title.
Which would be the more satisfying is up for debate.
Riley finished equal third in the Medal (72-hole stroke) before being knocked out in the round of 32 in the matchplay section of the NSW Amateur last week.
He opened with a five-under 65 at Pennants Hills and added a one-under 71 at Parramatta Ryde to be at six under, two strokes behind Lincoln Morgan and Christopher Fan.
"The first day at Pennant Hills it felt really good to post a good number. The next day was a tougher course, but I hung in there."
However, he couldn't get the putter to fire in the first round of the matchplay, going down 3 and 2 to Queenslander Sam Slater.
Charlestown's Jye Pickin (68,72) was seeded 12th and Maitland's Clayton Small (68,75) was ranked 20th for the matchplay but were also bundled out early. Pickin went down 1-up to eventual winner Abel Eduard and Small lost 1-up to Declan O'Donovan.
Newcastle's Ella Scaysbrook (76,70) finished eighth in the women's stroke before going down to Finland visitor Katri Bakker 2 and 1 in the round of 16.
It was the first time that Riley had progressed to the matchplay.
"In the matchplay, I didn't play awful, but I didn't play great," he said. "I had my chances but didn't hole enough putts to put enough pressure on him.
"I let him slip through on a couple of holes and it was tough to claw my way back. You have to make a lot of birdies and if you are not holing putts, you are not going to make many birdies."
Next is the NSW Cup, a 54-hole vardon event, starting Thursday. The Concord Cup (February 16-18) and Riversdale Cup (March 9-12) and Australian Junior (April 11-14) are the other major events before Interstate Series at St Michael's from April 18.
"It's my last year as a junior and NSW selection would be a good way to finish it off," said Riley, who turns 18 in August. "I was selected in the team in 2021 but with COVID we didn't play."
First is the the district pennants.
A rebuilt Toronto drew 4-all with three-time defending champions Newcastle on Sunday. Riley accounted for Luke Ferrier 3 and 2. Former professional Cal O'Reilly, Dave Alexander and Justin Martin also won their matches.
Tom De Wit, Mat Saad, Scott Telfer and Jason McBeath were victors for Newcastle.
Charlestown beat Merewether in a play-off in the other contest on Sunday.
After two rounds, under the new format, Newcastle and Toronto are on 1.5 games, but the former is ahead on matches 11.5 to 10.
They meet again at Newcastle on Sunday.
"With Cal O'Reilly and Jake Dundas coming back, we have a good side and hope to give it a real crack," Riley said.
"It has been pretty cool to be able to play with Cal the past two weeks. It is one of those things I didn't think I would do.
'Under the new format, it is first past the post. That is why this week is a massive week. Us and Newcastle look to be the stronger sides.
"There are a lot of good things to look forward to. I just have to keep playing good golf and let that stuff take care of itself."
