The top eight from Monday’s 36-hole strokeplay qualifier received a bye in the Round 1 morning matches but by day’s end the top four seeds had all fallen to make the 21st edition of the Pampling Plate the most open yet.

Taken to two extra holes by Jack Jones in the morning matches, Justin Morley (Southport Golf Club) was 2 down early to Wunderlich and 3 down when they made the turn.

It was there that he turned the tournament on its head by winning the next four holes to transform a large deficit into a small advantage.

The match was all square when Wunderlich won the 15th hole but after the pair halved both 16 and 17, it was Morley who came to the fore, winning the 18th hole for a 1 up upset win.

“Reilly holed a really great birdie putt from the front of the green on 15 to get it back to square and then we both had pars on 16,” said Morley.

“Reilly made an awesome par after hitting his ball in the water on 17 and then clutched up on 18. Hit a really close one in there and thankfully made it to win 1 up on the last.

“It’s funny, when you sort of don’t have an option and you have to make the putt to continue on or to win the hole, your focus just somehow goes into that tunnel vision.

“It just happened to be.”

It was a surprisingly early end also to Conor Whitelock’s 2025 Pampling Plate hopes.

The strokeplay medallist last year and eventual runner-up, Whitelock entered the match play as the No.2 seed yet fell to Yevin Samararatne 2&1 in the afternoon matches.

An Associate at Mount Warren Park, Samararatne accounted for Adam Teale 2&1 in the morning matches and after winning the first hole against Whitelock was never headed, halving the 16th and 17th holes to advance to the quarter-finals with one hole to spare.

“I just came into the second round thinking, Just hit it as hard as I can. That was the goal,” said Samararatne.

“I was hitting it kind of wide in the first round so I was like, If we’re going to hit it wide, we might as well hit it hard.

“Honestly, Conor’s a really great player and it’s just a privilege to play with him. He played well, I just played a little bit better.”

The other two of the top four seeds, Queensland Order of Merit leader Jack Wright and Anthony Trimboli, also failed to advance past the Round of 16.

Wright fell to Noosa Golf Club Associate Bronson White 4&3 while Trimboli went down 7&5 to Caerwyn Ross from Pacific Harbour Golf Club.

It was the second big scalp of the day for White who also knocked off Campbell Jones 1 up in the morning, Jones currently No.4 in the Queensland Order of Merit standings.

“Pretty stoked,” said White.

“The first two days in the qualifying, couldn’t get much to the hole and struggled with the putter.

“Put some work in yesterday and this morning and yeah, got hot today and didn’t make many mistakes.”

The other players to advance were Jordan Rooke (6&5 over Kane Whitelock), Jordy McGarry (3&2 over Drew Herbert), Garry Kissick (3&2 over Jesse Fittler) and City Golf Club’s Minami Inoue (pictured), who went a marathon 26 holes before defeating James Bonnor at the eighth extra hole.

On the back of a 2&1 win in the morning, Bonnor played a total of 79 holes in two days, only to fall agonisingly short of advancing to the quarter-finals.

“Even though he played more holes than I did this morning and I only played 26 holes, but still a lot of holes and my mind’s bamboozled at the moment,” said Inoue.

Inoue was 2 up after two holes but Bonnor fought back to have the match square through nine holes.

The pair halved the next four holes before Bonnor won the 14th hole to take a 1 up lead, a lead that would only last two holes.

The final two holes of regulation were also halved and then the first seven holes of the playoff, Inoue finally breaking the stalemate at the 26th hole.

“I was putting from the fringe a lot and it’s actually paying off,” Inoue added.

“I’ve been having a bit of the yips with chipping and putting around the greens. I haven’t done it from 20 metres ever and I did today and it paid off, so that’s good.”

Quarter-finals draw