ROSE HALL, St James — Last week when a number of the top professional female golfers on the Ladies Professional Golf Association’s (LPGA) Tour assembled at the Cinnamon Hill course in Rose Hall for the inaugural Mojo6 Speedway tournament, a teenager Mariah Stackhouse was among them.

An invitee by the organisers, the Georgia-based high school student was not expected to challenge some of the world’s best professionals and while she did not make it past the first day, she was not outclassed either, amassing 7.5 points from the first three rounds, 2.5 in each match to tie Morgan Pressell for 14th place, beating Sweden’s Sofie Gustavson, who finished with six points.

The format of the competition which was being used for the first time saw each player earning a point for each of the six holes won during the shortened round with the winner getting a bonus point for a total of seven points.

It meant that Stackhouse, who just turned 16 years old in March, won two holes and tied another against the aggressive Suzann Pettersen, who as the highest ranked player, chose her at the draw party held at the IberoStar Grand Rose Hall on Tuesday; against eventual finalist Amanda Blumenherst in the second round and third-placed finisher Cristie Kerr in the third round all on Thursday’s first day.

Stackhouse, who was accompanied to the tournament by her mother and father Ken, who caddied for her, told the Observer she had a great time and learnt a lot from the experience of playing against the top players.

In an interview last Friday as she watched the latter rounds, Stackhouse said: “The experience was very good for me. I was able to play with some of the top players on the LPGA tour. Suzann is very good, Amanda is known for her match play abilities and Cristie is the most experienced golfer out here this week and that experience is a blessing for me because playing against the top players I know exactly what I need to do.”

The teenager, who appears poised beyond her age, said that getting a first hand view of what the professionals did was a big lesson for her. “I got to see what they do, how they play and the methods they use and it really is an enlightening experience, so when it comes to the point where I want to try to play professionally I know exactly what I need to do.”

Seeing it also made her realise she was on the right path. “There is not such a huge difference from the junior golf I play now, the only difference is that they are more methodical and they have way more experience, their game is at a higher level, but as far as practice is concerned, they are no different from the junior golfers and I think that is an experience for me as I know that the tournaments I am playing as a junior golfer are preparing me for coming out here later on in the future.”

On her comparisons with the number one player in the world, Tiger Woods, Mariah said while she welcomed the “compliments”, she was more focused on being the best she could be. “It (the comparison) has never really bothered me and it is a compliment to be called the next Tiger Woods,” she said, but hastened to add: “But for me, I have never tried to really make myself be like anyone else, I have always wanted to be the best that Mariah can be and to try to make yourself be like some one else is to limit yourself to be where they are and I just want to be the best and go as far as I can.”

Stackhouse has earned the right to be compared with the top player in the world over the past decade or so, racking up an enviable list of accomplishments since she started playing tournaments at age six after learning the game at age two.

According to her personal website, Stackhouse has a Grade Point Average of 3.6 (out of 4.0) and has a handicap of 4.6 and has a Polo Junior golf ranking of 21.

Stackhouse had played in 173 tournaments leading up the Mojo6 last week, won 94 of them and finished in the top 10 in 154.

The North Carolina born Stackhouse created history when she became the first person last year to win the Georgia State Golf Association’s Girls’ Player of the Year title, “thanks to victories in two statewide Championships and a runner-up finish in another. She becomes the first golfer to capture the honour three times since the Girls’ Player of the Year award was established in 1994,” according to her website.

Among the lists of tournament wins in the last two years are USGA Women’s State Team Champion, 2009; PGA Georgia Women’s Open Champion, 2009; Georgia 4A High School Individual Champion, 2009; AJGA Ringgold Telephone Junior Champion, 2009; Georgia Women’s Amateur Championship, 2008, 2009; GSGA Women’s Match Play Championship, 2007, 2008.

Last week she said the time spent with the top LPGA players allowed her to see them as persons and not just players and she said while all the professionals were “nice”, she said Christina Kim was “the most outgoing; I always like Suzann as a player now I like her as a person because you get the know the people here, Amanda is very sweet, Cristie is also nice, but these are the only ones I got to really know very well, particularly because I got to play with them”.

Attending college is the next stop for Mariah and Ken, who is an Atlanta-based businessman, said while they had received a lot of scholarship offers, they had “not made any decisions yet but there are a few that we have narrowed down”.

For Ken, whether or not Mariah becomes a professional golfer, the immediate future for this daughter is certain. “College is a definite, without a question and we are looking for her to graduate in four years.”