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Victorian Joel Mitchell produced the round of the tournament in Round 2 and then bettered it by one to take complete command of the ADH Club Car WA PGA Associate Championship at Chequers Golf Club.
The tight, tree-lined layout 45 minutes north-east of Perth has provided a stern test to Associates from all around the country yet Mitchell mastered it on a 36-hole day two to move out to a six-stroke lead.
Tied with Daniel Hoeve (Lakelands Country Club) after Round 1, Mitchell shot 2-under 69 in Round 2 on Monday morning and then went one better with a 3-under 68 in Round 3 to build a handy buffer heading into Tuesday’s final round.
“I had the driver on a string, which was really good,” said the third-year PGA Associate at Rosanna Golf Club in Melbourne.
“The course is extremely tight and the greens are very small so picking your spots is very important.
“I hit a lot more greens today which helped out the putting a little bit; wasn’t too much stress on those up-and-downs.
“Then you’re just waiting for the putts to drop and a few of them did today.”
Starting from the 10th tee, three birdies in the space of four holes on his back nine gave Mitchell a three-shot lead heading into Round 3.
It was on the front nine again where he excelled, picking up shots at three, six and eight before really separating himself from the field with an eagle at the par-5 10th.
Back-to-back bogeys at 12 and 13 gave the chasing pack a brief respite before he steadied with five straight pars to be 4-under through 54 holes.
“Through 10 everything was going pretty good. Driver was going nice and straight, putts were dropping,” Mitchell added.
“I made one little mistake going into that par 5 due to a poor second shot. The other bogey I didn’t really deserve so it wasn’t like it was getting into my head, more holding on to the round.”
Playing in WA for the first time, Mitchell was full of praise for the playing surfaces on offer at Chequers Golf Club.
“Never played in WA before and I’m very impressed,” he said.
“They’re the best fairways I’ve played on in a while in terms of kikuyu. This is awesome to play on some good fairways.
“The greens are challenging. They’re a very, very strong grass so that is a challenge but other than that it’s been working for the week.”
The final round begins at 7.30am AWST with the final group of Mitchell (-4), Hoeve (+2) and Jeffrey Ahn (+5) to tee off at 8.18am.
