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Melbourne’s Caleb Bovalina has cashed a winner’s cheque in his first start on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series, edging out Jak Carter at the first playoff hole at the Murray Bridge Pro-Am.
One back of Carter and PNG Open champion Lachlan Barker at the start of the second round at Murray Bridge Golf Club, Bovalina needed to produce something special to force the tournament to extra holes.
After back-to-back bogeys at 12 and 13, Bovalina got back to within one with a birdie at the par-3 14th but took until the final hole to draw level, draining a lengthy birdie putt on 18 for a round of 1-under 67 to tie Carter at 1-under for 36 holes.
His flatstick again came to the fore at the first extra hole, sealing a maiden pro-am victory with yet another birdie on 18.
Hailing originally from Cobram on the Murray River but now based out of Commonwealth Golf Club, Bovalina was somewhat stunned to have won in his very first attempt.
“I’ve had a pretty cool week. First time here and played some solid golf,” said Bovalina, the first player to win a pro-am on debut since Lawry Flynn at Maroochy River Golf Club in 2021.
“I had my ups and downs – I made a couple of silly bogeys this afternoon – but a nice putt on 18 to get into the playoff and then a nice one to win.
“I only turned pro four months ago at Q School and this is actually the first pro-am that I’ve played.
“This will always sit pretty high up.”
Bovalina turned professional after obtaining status on the PGA Tour of Australasia at Q School at Moonah Links in April.
He teed it up at the recent DP World Tour First Stage of Qualifying School at Rosebud Country Club and felt right at home at Murray Bridge.
“I love playing country tracks. It tends to suit me quite well,” he added.
“I tend to hit it quite straight so I knew that would be at a premium this week.
“The greens were fantastic. I’m used to playing on fast greens so touch was vital around here.”
Bovalina will next head to Western Australia in the first week of October to attempt to pre-qualify for the WA Open and has entered the WA PGA Championship at Kalgoorlie.
Close friends Carter (68) and Barker (69) finished second and third respectively with Peter Cooke (68) and Anthony Choat (68) rounding out the top five.
Victorian Mark Boulton had to endure an afternoon of fingernail nibbling before claiming a fourth PGA Legends Tour win at the Watsons Leisure Centre Legends Classic at Coffs Harbour Golf Club.
Coffs Harbour members and sponsors went all out as they welcomed the Legends Tour to their course for the first time, the warmth of the reception matched by the presentation of the golf course.
A rookie with three wins to his name already, Boulton posted 3-under 67 in the morning wave and then had to wait. And wait. And wait.
In a field boasting greats of Australian golf such as Lonard, Mike Harwood and Terry Price, Boulton held little hope that his round of five birdies and two bogeys would be enough by day’s end.
When Lonard got to 3-under through eight holes, Boulton’s hopes faded even further.
Yet the two-time Australian Open champion was unable to find the go-ahead birdie and when he dropped a shot three holes from home, the door opened for Boulton to snare win No.4 of the season.
“I’m stoked. I played pretty good but wasn’t sure whether that was going to be good enough,” Boulton conceded.
After two weeks in Papua New Guinea playing in vastly different conditions, Boulton revelled in the condition of the Coffs Harbour layout, finding the quick greens very much to his liking.
“Total contrast,” Boulton said of the change from PNG. “We had some wet conditions and then super dry conditions and then coming here, the conditions were just pure.
“It took some adjusting to the greens here but overall, this is how golf courses probably should be. It was impeccable, really enjoyed it.
“I was pretty conscious of how I putted today and it paid off by making five birdies. That was the clincher, I think.”
Lonard’s 2-under 68 was the only other score under par on Friday with Peter Jones (71) taking outright third after dropping three shots on his final two holes.
The PGA Legends Tour moves further north on the New South Wales North Coast to Yamba for the two-day Findex Yamba Legends Pro-Am starting Saturday.
Brad McLellan counts himself lucky for his experience in the PGA of Australia’s Membership Pathway Program.
Completing the program in 2015 has led to representing his country at next week’s Four Nations Cup at Moonah Links on the Mornington Peninsula.
A tournament contested between Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and, this year, an Internationals squad, the Four Nations Cup is for vocational golf professionals without a Tour card. That’s a category the Melbourne-based club fitter fits in perfectly after early aspirations to play the game for a living.
Completing the program at Twin Waters Golf Club on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, McLellan’s boss was current PGA of Australia Board Director Stephen Hutchinson, which led to a diverse on the job education, while his location meant time with Cam Smith’s career-long coach, Grant Field.
“I was really lucky, Steve was a great boss,” McLellan said. “I got a well-rounded education from him.
“He was the General Manager at the golf club at the time.
“He’d played on the tour when he was younger as well. So I got to learn a big array of everything in the golf industry, from running the golf club, to running the pro shop, and we were pretty lucky we had Grant Field teaching there at the time.”
Twin Waters also offering unique opportunities to spend time with, and learn from, two of Australia’s finest exports and major champions.
“I got to spend a bit of time with Finchy (Ian Baker-Finch), and even Adam Scott from time to time and played a few rounds with him when he was back in Queensland over summer,” McLellan said.
Those experiences led to the now 32-year-old initially chasing a career like Scott and Baker-Finch once he finished his training.
However, when things didn’t progress as planned, McLellan had his vocational training to fall back on.
Utilising hose skills prompting a move to Melbourne that has still allowed him to indulge in his own golf regularly.
“I did pursue playing for a few years. It wasn’t working out particularly well and I got the opportunity to start with Cool Clubs, so I’ve been doing club fitting for the last four or five years, and really enjoy that,” he said.
“I think any job you’re doing whether you’re teaching or your club fitting, it is a similar environment in a lot of ways. I think it helps to be able to still be able play at a decent level and enjoy it.
“I am also pretty lucky to be able to play golf with our clients from time to time, get out with them and learn about their games and helping a little bit.”
Playing regular golf, and with the competitive fire still burning, McLellan is looking forward to representing his country for the first time alongside captain Scott Laycock, Jayden Cripps and TJ King at Moonah Links’ Open Course from September 19-21.
The Australian team decided at last year’s PGA Professionals Championship at Yarra Yarra Golf Club via the top-four place getters, a reward McLellan was blissfully unaware of but is hugely thankful for.
“I actually didn’t know that (Four Nations Cup) was a chance, and I didn’t play particularly well in the first round. I came from a fair way back in the second round, I was just trying to hang onto a good round towards the end of it.
“I actually wasn’t aware that this was the carrot at the end, but obviously a big bonus.”
A seven-week mental refresh delivered instant results as Australian Lucas Herbert shot 63 to lead the Fortinet Championship by two in California.
Unsighted since missing the cut at The Open Championship in July, the 27-year-old Victorian holed more than 144 feet of putts in a nine-under par round highlighted by a run of six straight birdies from the 12th to the 17th hole on the back nine of the North Course at Silverado Resort.
Herbert has a two-stroke lead from Korea’s Seong-hyeon Kim as he seeks to make amends for a lacklustre PGA TOUR season with a strong showing in the Fall Series and the benefits that brings.
In an open and honest post-round interview, Herbert admitted that issues off the golf course had not only impacted his performance on the golf course but had begun to put a strain on the relationships of those closest to him.
“I think I’d become probably a bitter and spiteful person,” Herbert conceded.
“Not over the top, but I didn’t like the version of myself when I look back on and see at The Open Championship.
“I think I was wound up pretty tight and kind of lashed out at people around me too quickly, too easily.
“The break was a good chance for me to be able to get away and reset, just get away from this life.
“You’re under the pump so much, so much pressure on you externally and internally to play well.
“To be able to get away from that, you’re sort of able to kind of find yourself a little bit again.
“I felt like if I could just come out here and be a better person to the people around me, my relationships, you know, family, friends, that only benefits.
“That was maybe all I cared about coming here this week.
“It’s really nice to shoot 63, but I’m going to do my best to go out there with the same attitude tomorrow and that is the main focus of the week.”
It may have been a case of good things happening to good people on Thursday.
Committed to play both the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship and ISPS HANDA Australian Open this summer, Herbert made four of five up-and-downs including two-from-two sand saves, the No.1 putter on tour last year picking up close to five strokes on the field on the greens.
Yet despite his score, Herbert was headed straight to the practice range to chip away at seven weeks of rust.
“I’m going to go do a bunch of practice now because I don’t think I really played that well today; I think I got really lucky,” said Herbert, who didn’t touch a club until a week ago.
“It felt like every time I missed the fairway or missed a shot, it seemed to finish in a decent position where I could kind of recover.
“Obviously made a stack of putts out there which helped but I still feel super rusty after today.
“It’s funny to say that after shooting 63, but I still feel a long way away from where I’d like to be.”
Cam Davis was six strokes back of Herbert in a tie for 15th late in his round as Sydney’s Harrison Endycott bounced back after an early bogey to shoot 2-under 70 in Round 1.
Making his 500th start on the PGA TOUR, Aaron Baddeley turned in 1-under but dropped shots on the back nine to be 1-over and tied for 105th with two holes to play.
In the second event of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, Brett Drewitt has made a strong start at the Simmons Bank Open in Tennessee.
Sitting 30th in the race for one of the 30 PGA TOUR cards on offer at the end of the four-even finals series, Drewitt played his final eight holes in 5-under to shoot 68 and a tie for seventh.
It is a timely return to form for Drewitt who began the season with four top-five finishes in his first six starts but has made the cut just once in his past 16 events.
Curtis Luck is just one back of Drewitt in a tie for 16th but Rhein Gibson is projected to fall from 27th to 31st in the points list after a 3-over 75 on day one.
Jason Scrivener’s 4-under 68 was the best of the Aussies in Round 1 of the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth while Kristalle Blum is tied for 10th and four strokes off the lead at the LET Access Series Hauts De France Pas De Calais Golf Open.
Photo: Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images
Hervey Bay Associate Lachlan Wood has survived the marathon of 36-holes a day for four days to be crowned the 2023 Coca-Cola Pampling Plate champion.
Facing off against Indooroopilly first year Associate Dylan Knox in Thursday’s 36-hole final at Caboolture Golf Club, Wood stayed true to the game-plan that had served him well all week to triumph 3&2.
The lead changed hands on no less than six occasions throughout the final, Knox unable to get the putts he needed to drop to keep pace with Wood in the latter holes.
A winner of All Abilities tournaments in Australia and New Zealand and a two-time winner on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series this year, Wood was doubtful to play as late as last week.
Forced to endure more than 30 operations after his left leg was shattered in 44 places in a car in which he was a passenger at 16 years of age, Wood cannot sustain the physical toll of 36 holes a day without a cart.
Granted an exemption to use a cart this week, Wood revealed that he would not have teed it up at the start of the week without it.
“I can possibly walk 36 holes, but it would ruin me for days,” said Wood, who was top 10 at the inaugural G4D Open in London earlier this year.
“I would be in so much pain, unable to work, unable to just do day-to-day life things after it. It just wouldn’t be worth it.
“That’s why I put in the exemption to get the cart with my injuries. They’re not getting any better, they’re only getting worse and for me this is the most feared event on the calendar to have to play.
“I was probably not playing this a week ago and now to be standing here with the trophy is a really good feeling.”
A daily routine that began at 4.30am each day put Wood in a position to compete, his strategy on the golf course ideally suited to the vagaries of matchplay.
“Pretty much against everyone I played I was hitting 7-irons when they were hitting wedges,” he said.
“I was hitting 2-irons off tees when they were hitting drivers. Here at Caboolture, that’s just what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to control your ball.
“Didn’t try to play anyone else’s game, just played my own game all day. And if it’s good enough, it’s good enough and if it’s not, it’s not.
“It worked this week.”
Making the trip from his home in Ipswich each day, Knox stayed in the fight for as long as possible before a frustrating day with the flatstick ultimately proved his undoing.
One-down through nine holes, Knox had the match back square after 18 and was 1 up with seven holes to play.
Wood then unleashed a superb finish to take four of the next five holes to secure the title with two holes to play.
“I just couldn’t get the speed today. They felt a little bit slower in some areas so maybe the wind influenced that a little bit,” said Knox.
“Lachy’s a good player so it was a tough one.
“We were going back and forth with a couple of birdies and a couple of par saves but I had a couple of bad lies and the wind started to pick up a bit. A couple of time I thought I’d picked the perfect club but it wasn’t, so that got in my head a little bit.
“I think the mental strain I’ve experienced doing this for the first time was tough.”
Now in its 19th year, Marge Pampling was on hand to present Wood with the Pampling Plate, Wood grateful for everything that Rod and the Pampling family have done to create such a prestigious tournament among PGA Associates.
“Huge thank you to Rod for what he has done for us,” said Wood.
“It’s an experience like no other. You learn more about yourself in this than in any other event because you get more tired, you get more exhausted, it brings the worst out in every single person to a degree.
“Trying to keep your lid on when you’re absolutely, physically exhausted is a whole skill in itself.
“This event has been designed really well and the prizemoney we get to play for is really appreciated.”
In the playoff for third and fourth, defending champion Dylan Gardner (Pelican Waters) edged Haydn Garner (Headland) 3&1.
He will join rare company when he tees it up in an all-Aussie pairing in Round 1 of the Fortinet Championship on Friday morning, but Aaron Baddeley is determined to look ahead.
Paired with Greg Chalmers and Geoff Ogilvy, the 42-year-old this week becomes just the sixth Australian to log 500 starts on the PGA TOUR, a list that Baddeley assumed would be longer.
With 565 appearances, Steve Elkington leads the way for Aussies in the USA, followed by Stuart Appleby (551), Jim Ferrier (528), Robert Allenby (525) and Bruce Crampton (513), Baddeley chalking up No.500 at Silverado Resort 23 years, six months and one week since his first at the 2000 Honda Classic.
It’s an extraordinary accomplishment that secures his place in PGA TOUR history, but a four-time winner who admits he has under-achieved on the golf course wants more.
Much more.
“I feel like a lot of my best years are ahead of me,” said Baddeley, who has been working with American instructor Mike Adams for the past two years.
“I feel like where my game is at, the simplicity of it is only going to get better.
“I’ve definitely got goals that I can still achieve – and this is not like a ‘wishy’ thing; I feel like it’s right there, ready to go.”
When Baddeley joined the PGA TOUR as a 21-year-old rookie ahead of the 2003 season, he was ready to go.
Already a two-time winner of the Australian Open, Baddeley had played 21 PGA TOUR events before obtaining his card via the secondary Korn Ferry Tour in 2002.
In his first start as a full member at the 2003 Sony Open, Baddeley lost in a playoff to reigning Open champion, Ernie Els, who made a 55-foot birdie putt at the second extra hole to deny the young Aussie.
“I felt like I knew a lot of the TOUR already because I’d been playing PGA TOUR events for three years so it didn’t feel like my first event, if that makes sense,” he recalled.
“When I got to Hawaii I was confident and ready to go play.
“I fully expected to beat Ernie on that last day, especially when he hit it left off the tee on 10. I was like, Oh, I’ve got a real chance here.
“And then he made that 50-footer… I still remember that.”
It would be three years before Baddeley became a PGA TOUR winner for the first time at the Verizon Heritage at Hilton Head, his most recent victory coming at the Barbasol Championship in July 2016.
For one who won his national Open as an 18-year-old amateur and turned professional to great fanfare, it is a somewhat underwhelming record until you consider life in its totality.
He and wife Richelle celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary this year and have six children, some of whom are stoking dad’s enthusiasm for the game with their own growing interest.
“I feel like I’ve under-achieved, definitely, with what I expected and the goals that I had set,” said Baddeley, who becomes just the 151st player in history to play 500 PGA TOUR events.
“Life-wise, I feel like I’ve exceeded all my expectations. My family, my kids, my wife – I couldn’t be more at peace and joyful off the golf course.
“Even now at 42, it’s never difficult for me to go out and practise and to grind and to try and get better.
“My boys love the game as well so I spend a lot of my time practising and playing with them at home.
“There are definitely some days where I think I’ll take the day off and then they’re like, ‘Dad, can we play nine holes?’ And I’m like, ‘Sure, let’s go.’
“It’s a lot of fun to be able to play and practise with them. It makes it easy to keep the fires stoked and wanting to get better.”
Baddeley is not the only Australian to chalk up a milestone this week.
After celebrating his 50th birthday last month Queenslander Scott Hend will make his debut in the senior ranks at the WINSTONgolf Senior Open on the Legends Tour, a tournament won last year by fellow Aussie Richard Green.
Green is in South Dakota for the Champions Tour’s Sanford International while Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee and Jason Scrivener are in London for the DP World Tour’s showpiece event, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
Round 1 tee times AEST
PGA TOUR
Fortinet Championship
Silverado Resort (North Cse), Napa, California
12.06am* Ricky Barnes, Kevin Yu, Harrison Endycott
12.50am Lucas Herbert, Martin Laird, Andrew Landry
5.27am Aaron Baddeley, Greg Chalmers, Geoff Ogilvy
5.49am Nick Hardy, Mackenzie Hughes, Cam Davis
6.33am Cameron Percy, Robby Shelton, Vince Whaley
Defending champion: Max Homa
Past Aussie winners: Nil
TV times: Live 12am-11am Friday on Fox Sports 505; Live 7am-11am Friday on Fox Sports 503; Live 1.15am-8am Saturday on Fox Sports 505; Live 8am-11am Saturday, Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503.
DP World Tour
BMW PGA Championship
Wentworth Club, Virginia Water, Surrey, England
5.50pm Adam Scott, Tom Kim, Billy Horschel
6.40pm Daniel Hillier (NZ), Oliver Wilson, Grant Forrest
7pm Marc Warren, Victor Dubuisson, Jason Scrivener
10pm Ryan Fox (NZ), Min Woo Lee, Pablo Larrazabal
Defending champion: Shane Lowry
Past Aussie winners: Rodger Davis (1986), Mike Harwood (1990)
TV times: Live 5.30pm-3am Thursday, Friday; Live 5pm-3am Saturday; Live 5pm-2.30am Sunday on Fox Sports 503.
Japan Golf Tour
ANA Open
Sapporo Golf Club (Wanatsu Cse), Hokkaido
8.15am* Yoshiri Ishizuka, Tomofumi Ouchi, Dylan Perry
12.40pm Yasumasa Nagano, Mikumu Horikawa, Brendan Jones
1.20pm Taichi Kimura, Akio Sadakata, Adam Bland
1.30pm Atomu Shigenaga, Jigan Serizawa, Andrew Evans
Defending champion: Tomoharu Otsuki
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1979), Kurt Barnes (2011), Brendan Jones (2016)
Ladies European Tour
VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open
Golfpark Holzhäusern, Switzerland
5.17pm* Momoka Kobori (NZ), Amandeep Drall, Linda Osala
8.25pm* Louise Duncan, Kirsten Rudgeley, Marianne Skarpnord
9.09pm Hanee Song (NZ), Charlotte Liautier, Natalie Armbruester
Defending champion: Liz Young
Past Aussie winners: Nil
TV times: 1pm-3pm Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 11pm-2am Saturday on Fox Sports 505; 11am-1pm Monday.
Korn Ferry Tour
Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation
The Grove, College Grove, Tennessee
10.06pm* Brett Drewitt, Wilson Furr, Cody Blick
10.27pm* Jeremy Paul, Joe Highsmith, Dimi Papadatos
10.38pm Grayson Murray, Curtis Luck, Quade Cummins
3.11am* Rhein Gibson, Kris Ventura, Xinjun Zhang
Defending champion: Brent Grant
Past Aussie winners: Cam Davis (2018)
TV times: Live 3am-7am Friday on Fox Sports 503; Live 3.30am-6am Saturday, Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503.
Challenge Tour
Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos
Royal Óbidos Spa & Golf Resort, Vau Óbidos, Portugal
5.50pm* James Allan, Habebul Islam, Blake Windred
Defending champion: Pierre Pineau
Past Aussie winners: Dimi Papadatos (2018)
Epson Tour
Guardian Championship
Capitol Hill Golf Club, Prattville, Alabama
10.55pm Min A Yoon, Amelia Garvey (NZ), Pinyada Kuvanun
3.13am* Robyn Choi, Gigi Stoll, Savannah Vilaubi
3.24am* Clariss Guce, Cassie Porter, Yue Ren
3.35am* Hira Naveed, Kaitlyn Papp Budde, Alena Sharp
Defending champion: Maria Torres
Past Aussie winners: Nil
LET Access Series
Hauts De France Pas De Calais Golf Open
Golf Saint Omer, France
5.15pm Erika De Martini, Sara Berselli, Munchin Keh (NZ)
4.30pm* Tina Mazarino, Thalia Martin, Kristalle Blum
5.10pm* Wenyung Keh (NZ), Luisa Gudert, Martina Flori
5.30pm* Tia Teiniketo, Teresa Diez Moliner, Amy Walsh
Defending champion: Momoka Kobori
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Champions Tour
Sanford International
Minnehaha Country Club, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
1.54am Rod Pampling, Kirk Triplett, Scott McCarron
2.05am Paul Goydos, Stuart Appleby, David Duval
3.08am* David Branshaw, Dan Forsman, John Senden
3.39am* Richard Green, David McKenzie, Hank Kim
Defending champion: Steve Stricker
Past Aussie winners: Nil
TV times: Live 6am-8am Saturday, Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503.
Legends Tour
WINSTONgolf Senior Open
WINSTONgolf, Vorbeck
5pm Simon Khan, Peter Fowler
5.21pm Patrik Sjoland, Scott Hend
5.21pm* Elisabeth Esterl, Jason Norris
7.27pm* Michael Long (NZ), Joakim Haeggman
Defending champion: Richard Green
Past Aussie winners: Terry Price (2012), Richard Green (2022)
Lachlan Wood and Dylan Knox both staged impressive fightbacks to secure their spots in the 36-hole Coca-Cola Pampling Plate final at Caboolture Golf Club on Thursday.
An Associate based at Indooroopilly Golf Club in Brisbane, Knox had to hole a 20-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to get past in-form first year Associate Jack Wright in the quarter-finals to set up a clash with Haydn Garner in the afternoon semi-finals.
Know found himself staring at defeat when he trailed 3 down through 14 holes but won the 15th, 16th and 18th holes to take Garner to extra holes.
Perhaps shell-shocked by the switch in momentum, Garner three-putted the 19th hole to allow Knox to advance to the final.
“I played and putted very well this morning against Jack but this afternoon the putts didn’t drop,” said Knox.
“Haydn just kept hitting fairways and greens which made it hard to make any inroads.
“Can’t wait until tomorrow, even though the body is aching after three days of 36 holes.”
A dominant force in the All Abilities events in Australia this year, Wood also boasts two wins on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series this season.
The first year Associate at Hervey Bay Golf and Country Club, Wood has been permitted to use a motorised cart and says that it has made it possible for him to compete.
“Stoked to be playing in the final,” said Wood, who has competed in international All Abilities tournaments this year.
“I must admit, having being permitted to use a motorised cart for this event has allowed me to play. Without it I could not have played.”
A 5&4 winner over Jordan Hampson in the quarter-finals, Wood also had to fight back late to force extra holes against defending champion Dylan Gardner.
Two-down for much of the match after Gardner began with four birdies in his first seven holes, Wood drew level on the 18th hole before prevailing at the second extra hole.
“Dylan hits the ball so far so I was always playing first,” Wood said.
“I just stuck to my game-plan and in the end it paid off.”
Gardner advanced to the semi-finals with a 3&2 win over Riley Taylor in the quarter-finals, Ben School’s giant-killing run coming to an end at the hands of Garner 2&1.
Thursday’s 36-hole final begins at 7.20am with the 18-hole match between Garner and Gardner to determine third and fourth will begin at 11.30am.
Two-time Australian Open champion Aaron Baddeley has declared his intention to return home and compete in this year’s ISPS HANDA Australian Open in Sydney.
Speaking on a media call this morning to mark his 500th PGA TOUR appearance at this week’s Fortinet Championship in California, Baddeley said he was looking forward to playing in the Open for the first time since 2016 when he finished in a tie for fourth behind the winner, American Jordan Speith.
This year’s event, from November 30 to December 3, will be played at The Australian and The Lakes golf clubs, just down the road from where an 18-year-old Baddeley burst onto the golf scene with his memorable win as an amateur in the 1999 Australian Open at Royal Sydney.
He backed up a year later, now as a professional, to successfully defend his title at Kingston Heath.
“I’m planning to come down and play the Australian Open,” Baddeley said today.
“I’m excited to get back, and it’s nice that it’s in December, so it’s past some of the fall events here.
“I’m excited to be coming back and playing.”
Baddeley enjoyed a career resurgence on the PGA TOUR in the 2022/23 season and will undoubtedly be a threat back home in Sydney.
Having been as high as 16 on the world rankings, and as low as 836 as recently as 2022, the 42-year-old, playing on a past winner’s exemption, picked up three top-10 finishes this year to earn a place in the FEDEX Cup Playoffs.
He is now ranked 224th in the world and will join an Australian Open field that already includes Cam Smith, Min Woo Lee and Lucas Herbert.
Baddeley will become only the sixth Australian to play 500 PGA TOUR events, joining Steve Elkington, Stuart Appleby, Jim Ferrier, Robert Allenby and Bruce Crampton.
Toowoomba Golf Club’s Ben Scholl played his way into the final eight as No.1 seed Jordan Rooke suffered a shock defeat on day one of the matchplay section of the 2023 Coca-Cola Pampling Plate.
With the top eight qualifiers exempt into Round 2, 16 players took to Caboolture Golf Club early on Tuesday where Sanctuary Cove Associate Jordan Hampson delivered a dominant 6&4 win over 2022 runner-up Ben Hollis (Bribie Island).
Runner-up in 2021 and the 2022 Queensland PGA Associate champion, Caloundara’s Bailey Arnott was the first to fall victim to Scholl’s giant-killing run, going down 2&1.
Other winners in Round 1 were Haydn Garner, Aaron Jakimczuk, James Bonner, Ryan Paul, Leon Trenerry and Robert Spence.
Qualifying 23rd out of 24, Scholl earned his place in the final eight with a 1 up win over No.7-seed Chris Park, crediting his putter and his matchplay mindset for advancing to the quarter-finals.
“I like matchplay as I see myself as player that doesn’t really let any situation fluster me and that has helped with two matches today,” said Scholl.
“I am putting well which has been the key to both my wins.”
The other major upset of the afternoon was Hampson’s 1 up defeat of Rooke, who topped qualifying by five strokes on Monday.
It wasn’t easy, though, Hampson making a brilliant up-and-down on the final hole.
“The win this morning gave me confidence to take on Jordan in the afternoon, which I knew was going to be tough as he is playing really well,” said Hampson.
“I’m carrying a back injury which has affected me all year but if I can control that I know I have the game to match it with these guys.”
Riley Taylor took 21 holes to defeat James Bonner, who missed a golden opportunity on the first extra hole by missing a two-foot putt to win the match.
Event favourite Jack Wright came from 4 down through 11 holes to storm home and win 2&1 over Aaron Jakimczuk while defending champion Dylan Gardner needed to two-putt from 20 feet on the final hole to win 1 up over Ryan Paul having been 4 up with five to play.
The other quarter-finalists are Dylan Knox, Haydn Garner, Josh Holbrook and Lachlan Wood.
Quarter-finals tee off from 6.40am on Wednesday morning to be followed by the semi-finals in the afternoon. All matches will feature live scoring.
Quarter-finals
6.40am Dylan Gardner v Riley Taylor
6.47am Jack Wright v Dylan Knox
6.54am Haydn Garner v Ben Scholl
7.01am Jordan Hampson v Lachlan Wood
Keperra Country Golf Club Associate Jordan Rooke will take top seed into the matchplay section of the 2023 Coca-Cola Pampling Plate after taking out the 36-hole qualifier on Monday.
A record field of 66 Associates teed it up at Caboolture Golf Club vying for one of 24 spots in the match play section, the top eight qualifiers receiving a bye in Round 1 to be played Tuesday morning.
With a superb two-round total of 5-under 137, Rooke finished five strokes clear in qualifying to establish himself as the player to beat this week.
In the first year of the Membership Pathway Program at Keperra in Brisbane, Rooke has been a consistent performer in Associate matches to date without notching a win.
That all changed on Monday, however, as he sets his focus on one of the most prestigious titles on the Associates calendar.
“I have been playing well all year but today things just clicked for me.” said Rooke.
“I stayed patient and treated today like a marathon given the 36-hole format.
“Staying calm and in the moment all day was really important and very satisfying to finally get a win.”
Rooke will face the winner of the Round 1 match between Jordan Hampson and Ben Hollis at 11.39am this morning with Josh Holbrook, Jack Wright, Lachlan Wood, Riley Taylor, Chris Park, Dylan Knox and defending champion Dylan Gardner the others to advance directly to Round 2.
There are two rounds of match play each day until the winner is decided in the 36-hole final on Thursday.
