Golf Australia’s 2016 national squad has been released, with a handful of athletes on the verge of inclusion to the six-strong group.

Cameron Davis and Ryan Ruffels both reached high performance benchmarks in becoming rare inclusions at the Tier 1 level.

The Sydneysider and Melburnian join a short list of just five other players – Minjee Lee, Oliver Goss, Cam Smith, Su Oh and Lucas Herbert – to have achieved that level since the program began in 2010.

Hannah Green, Brett Coletta and Zach Murray have each attained Tier 2 status after quality results in the past year.

And Gold Coast youngster Becky Kay has been named a junior member of the national squad.

Golf Australia has also identified several other athletes who are close to inclusion.

GA high performance director Brad James said they will all be notified and monitored over the summer tournament season with possible additions to be made after these events.

“Our state high performance programs continue to do an exceptional job delivering their under-pinning programs to provide the right structures and resources necessary as the athletes move along the pathway towards the Golf Australia national squad level,” James said.

“The national coaches and all of the key stakeholders of Australian golf continue to provide a culture of integration that is vital to the success of a national system.

“And our national camps that we conduct both domestically and overseas continue to provide us with not only talent identification, but also developmental opportunities for all athletes involved.

For full list of GA national squad selection benchmarks, click http://www.golf.org.au/selectionpolicies