The 17-year-old will fly the flag for the local contingent at the 2014 Jack Newton International Junior Classic that starts at Maitland Golf Club today.

A capacity field of almost 300 players will take part in the junior section at Maitland and sub-junior category at Kurri Kurri Golf Club.

Teams from New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Thailand and the United States will join Australia’s best junior golfers for the annual four-day tournament.

Gulliver, as well as Maitland’s Trent Park and Will Fraser and Kurri Kurri’s Josh Stig, will represent the area in the junior division, while Nick Neild, Camran Walton and Lachlan Vassella from Kurri Kurri, Maitland brothers Clayton and Bowen Small and Branxton’s Corey Lamb will tackle the sub-junior competition. 

For Maitland High School student Gulliver, who has previously won the event in the under 12s and 13s, the tournament will be the start of a hectic month. 

Gulliver will play in the Maitland club ­championships starting on October 11, with his HSC exams to begin two days later. 

The final round of the club championships also falls on his 18th birthday. 

“Hopefully I’ll have a bit to celebrate,” he said.

“This will be pretty much my last junior ­tournament as well.”

Gulliver believes local knowledge will give him an advantage over his rivals in the under-17 division.

“Now that I’m bigger and stronger I know where to lay up and exactly what club to use,” he said.

“It’s my home course, so I’d like to play around even par for the four days.”

The talented right-hander earned a scholarship with Moore Park Golf Club in Sydney where he will again line up for pennants early next year.

Two-time defending girls champion Shelly Shin from Concord Golf Club will try to make it three in a row, while Thailand’s Suradit Yongcharoenchai is the lowest marker in the field playing off +5.

The first groups tee off at 6.52am this ­morning, with the last group off at 12.58pm.

Entry is free.

Shin blows field away with record round on day one of Jack Newton Classic: PHOTOS