Golf's brightest stars follow in footsteps of Australia's world No. 8 Jason Day at the Federal Amateur Open Australia's world No. 8 Jason Day is one of the current stars who has previously played at the Federal Amateur Open. The tournament starts on Friday. Photo: Jared Wickerham It's the Canberra golf tournament that launched the career of Australia's world No. 8 Jason Day, leading Frenchman Victor Dubuisson and Mark Leishman. The Federal Amateur Open will feature the best non-professional golfers in the country along with an impressive international contingent when it gets under way at the Federal Golf Club from Friday. The junior field is especially strong with 25 of the 133 players under the age of 17, headlined by Canberra product and world junior champion Ryan Ruffels. Gold Creek member Luka Brucic is the youngest in the tournament at just 13. The tournament is a world amateur golf ranking event for the second straight year and has a history of producing future stars. One of them is Day, who finished second behind Andrew Martin in 2005. Dubuisson - who is ranked 20th in the world and was a part of the European Ryder Cup team - was also a runner-up to Matt Jager in 2008. Federal Golf Club general manager Scott Elias said the tournament was going from strength to strength as its reputation for being a breeding ground for talent continued to grow. "We're pretty proud of the history over the last decade where we've got players to the point where they've gone on to be bigger and better in the world of golf," Elias said. The likes of Victor Dubuisson, who is ranked 20 in the world, played here five years ago, and we've also had Jason Day and Mark Leishman as well. It's the stars of the future before they've made it. Players must reach the minimum handicap standard of +4.7 to qualify for the tournament, although that is relaxed slightly for juniors. Ruffels will be the one of the favourites in the junior division after taking out the Callaway World Junior Championship's 15-17 boys' crown at Torrey Pines, California, in July. The 16-year-old former Royal Canberra member is the son of Australian tennis great Ray Ruffels and finished fourth at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Royal Melbourne in October. Four players from Japan will tee-off, while there will also be a contingent from Britain. The course will be set up in a similar way to a club championship, with the pins in reasonably tough positions. "Day three will be the tough one, but we've got to be wary because we've got some undulating greens where we don't want to put the pins in too tough a spot and have the greens rolling beyond 12 feet," Elias said. No one carves this course up. I'd say a score of about 12 under will probably win.