Golf Australia has announced the members of the Golf Australia Rookie Professional Squad for 2013.

The squad members are: Rebecca Artis, Julia Boland, Nick Cullen, Breanna Elliott, Jake Higginbottom, Whitney Hillier, Stacey Keating, Bryden Macpherson, Kieran Pratt, Jason Scrivener, Matt Stieger and Alison Whitaker.

The program comprises 12 players this year.

The Golf Australia Rookie Program offers a way of assisting professional golfers as they enter the most exciting yet challenging time of their professional careers; finding and establishing themselves on an international Tour and understanding the demands of travelling to different parts of the world whilst at the same time trying to compete against the best players in the world.

Successful applicants each receive a rookie scholarship that is offered for a period of one year with a review after six months. The scholarship holder can be part of the program until their fifth year of professional golf.

There are two streams of funding within the scholarship.

The Training and Preparation funding offers support to access to coaching, strength and conditioning, biomechanics, sports psychology, physiotherapy and advice from nutritionists.

The Competition and Travel Funding helps cover a range of player expenses including airfares, accommodation, entry fees and caddy fees.

Golf Australia High Performance Director Brad James said the squad represented a good mix of professionals who have played on various Tours already and those new professionals who have made the transition from the State High Performance programs to Golf Australia’s National Squad program.

“Last year was a fantastic one for our program with some terrific individual successes from the rookies. It is proving to be a key part of our athlete development program. It`s important that athletes continue to track towards top 100 world ranking status in order to be considered for the program in the future,” James said.

“The rookies enjoy their association with the program and realise that this opportunity allows them to focus more closely on their Tour golf without having to spend as much time worrying about the cost of travelling or opportunities to meet with service providers that they may not otherwise be able to consider.”