UPCOMING Malton & Norton Golf Club starlet David Hague is about to start a four-week playing tour of Australia.

Hague is flying down under with fellow England amateur internationals Jake Burnage, of Devon, Matthew Jordan, from Cheshire, and Gian-Marco Petrozzi, from Staffordshire.

The quartet will take in four championships during their trip, starting with next week’s Australian Master of the Amateurs at Royal Melbourne, from January 9 to 12.

They follow up with the Australian Amateur at Lake Karrinyup and Wanneroo golf clubs, from January 16 to 21; the Avondale Amateur at Avondale Golf Club, from January 23-26; and the New South Wales Amateur at Royal Canberra and Gungahlin Lake golf clubs from January 29 to February 2.

The trip all adds to Hague's golfing education, and comes after a wonderful 2017 for the 21-year-old in which he finished fifth overall in the final England Order of Merit table - the highest-placed Yorkshireman - to cement his reputation as one of the country’s brightest amateur prospects.

He capped his season with a stunning success in the North of England Open Amateur Championship, topping a high-quality field of 111 players at Alwoodley GC on the outskirts of Leeds.

In addition to taking this notable title, Hague represented England at home and abroad and won the Lagonda Trophy at Gog Magog GC, when he finished just one shot short of a championship record.

He also lifted the York Rose Bowl at The York GC, and was runner-up in the West of England Strokeplay Championship, the Yorkshire Amateur Matchplay Championship at Hallamshire GC and in the Yorkshire Union of Golf Clubs’ Amateur Championship at the Cleveland GC.

He also finished third in the Berkshire Trophy and reached the last 32 in the English Amateur Championship.

Hague has also recently been named in England Golf's men’s squad for their 2018 training programme, joining a new-look national line-up after almost all the previous members departed for the professional ranks.