Dating back to a four-day event worth $60,000 almost a decade ago, this year’s two-day adidas PGA Pro-Am Series event at Mackay Golf Club boasts $51,500 in prize money, an increase of 94 per cent on last year and almost five times the amount played for in 2021.

The increase in prize purse has the potential to make Brazel’s hopes of repeating wins in 2021 and 2023 all that more challenging.

Fellow DP World Tour winner Marcus Fraser joins the likes of Deyen Lawson, Kade McBride and Jake McLeod at the 36-hole event starting Thursday along with Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia players John Lyras and Elvis Smylie.

Also hungry for tournament success is the new crop who have recently turned professional, former amateur stars Jye Pickin and Connor McDade now forging a new path in the pro ranks.

Winner of the 2016 Hong Kong Open and with extensive international experience in Asia and Europe along with a WGC appearance in 2017, Brazel believes his grounding playing pro-ams throughout Australia was invaluable in his early development.

“It’s a great opportunity for the younger crew to get out there and learn their trade on different styles of golf courses,” said Brazel.

“It’s a very, very good learning curve. More players should be subjected to it. I think they’d be better players because of it.

“Greg Norman used to play pro-ams back in his day when he was around.

“There’s a rich history of pro-ams in this country. You look at some of these little mining towns and the honour boards of those pro-ams, there are some pretty impressive names on there.

“It’s great to see the field strengthening and I think it’s a really good way to learn your trade, get a bit more mentally tough whilst actually earning a few bucks.”

Based in Lismore in northern New South Wales but doing much of his practice out of Ballina and Ocean Shores, Brazel estimates that he first played the Mackay Open more than 20 years ago.

With two wins and a top-five finish the past three years he has made the Mackay layout his own, but concedes it wasn’t always that way.

“My early years were a bit lean around there actually,” said Brazel, who was tied for sixth at the Lexus Townsville Classic a fortnight ago.

“There are multiple holes where you’ve got to shape it both ways and positional play off the tee is important.

“There are a multitude of tee shots that require a different shape to them, so it kind of suits my game because I like to think that I can shape it both ways and plot my way around the golf course.”

Praising the event’s organisation by Mackay Golf Club Head Professional Jeff Reid, staff and members, Brazel says the golf course is blessed with a great variety of golf holes and ways in which to play them.

“A couple of reachable par 5s, a couple of short par 4s including one reachable par 4 where you can make three or seven,” he adds.

“It’s that sort of golf course that you really need to think your way around. You can play it probably four or five different ways depending on what the wind’s doing and how your game’s feeling.

“You can navigate a way around it if you’ve got the tools.”

Round 1 draw

One of the most prolific winners of pro-am events through North Queensland, Hart began his second round with a bogey, and would finish it in the same way,

In between were eight birdies on the 16-hole Sarina layout, back-to-back rounds of 6-under 57 enough to post 12-under and yet another victory.

Third at the Lexus Townsville Classic, Mee (58) monitored the leaderboard throughout the second round and thought that even a birdie-birdie finish might not be enough.

“I kind of just said to myself with four holes left that I just wanted to make two birdies, get to 12-under,” said Mee, who did not make a single bogey across the two rounds.

“To be honest, I thought Timmy was going to shoot 14 because he had probably one of the easier par 4s out there.

“But, luckily enough for me, he made bogey and we ended up joint winners.”

Mee and Hart both finished one clear of overnight leader Darcy Boyd (60) and Nathan Page (58) with Dylan Gardner (58) outright fifth at 10-under.

HOW THE WINNING ROUNDS UNFOLDED

Starting the second round one back of Darcy Boyd, Mee made just one birdie in his first seven holes.

Back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11 brought Mee back into the mix but even his late charge with closing birdies at one and two looked unlikely to be enough.

Hart erased his opening bogey on three with a birdie at four and then made four birdies in the space of five holes from seven to vault up the leaderboard.

His hot hand continued with birdies at 14, 15 and 1 to reach 13-under only to bogey his final hole, the par-4 third.

WHAT THE WINNERS SAID

Tim Hart: “It’s good to just shoot back-to-back scores. To be honest, I’ve been struggling a bit lately trying to put some numbers on the board so it’s good just to shoot a nice one yesterday and then back it up today.

“I managed to hole a few putts that I haven’t been holing the last few weeks. I’m a very big confidence player so once I sort of started seeing them go in and seeing the red numbers there, then I try and keep going.”

James Mee: “I absolutely nuked the drive on the last and thought it was going to be on the green. All the boys on the team were like, ‘That’s mint’. And then it was just off the green and then I thought, You need to make birdie. I tried chipping in actually and hit a good chip and then raced on a little bit further than what I’d like. But then I holed the putt, which was nice.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
T1        James Mee                   56-58—114
T1        Tim Hart                       57-57—114
T3        Darcy Boyd                  55-60—115
T3        Nathan Page                57-58—115
5          Dylan Gardner              58-58—116
T6        Samuel Slater               58-59—117
T6        Jay Mackenzie              60-57—117
T6        Jake McLeod                60-57—117
T6        John Lyras                    61-56—117

NEXT UP

The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series continues the North Queensland Series on Thursday with the two-day PIMS Group Mackay Pro-Am at Mackay Golf Club.

An adidas PGA Pro-Am Series winner with wife Danni Vasquez on the bag at Portsea in January, Boyd had to conjure something special of his own to match Lyras’s score of 6-under 64.

Playing in the group behind Lyras in the afternoon wave, Boyd trailed by one as Lyras played the par-3 16th.

Last week’s winner at the Lexus Townsville Classic, Lyras hit his tee shot long of the green, took a free drop from the pump house and then chipped down to the front edge.

From there he chipped in for par which provided the momentum he needed for a final birdie at the par-5 17th.

Measuring 160 metres, Boyd gave himself a birdie look from 15 feet and converted from range for the first time in his round.

“I never looked like making a bogey all day, but I didn’t really hole any putts until I saw John Lyras in front of me on 16,” said Boyd.

“He chipped in for par and I hit it to about 10 or 15 feet and was able to roll that one in.

“That was a nice little momentum shift when I thought it had gone against me, to roll that one in.

“That felt really nice.”

Lyas and Boyd finished two shots clear of reigning Order of Merit winner Andrew Campbell, James Mee and Dylan Gardner while Danni’s tie for sixth at 3-under 67 made it a profitable day for the Boyd-Vasquez household.

HOW THE WINNING ROUNDS UNFOLDED

On the back of his brilliant breakthrough at Townsville a week earlier, Lyras was forced to keep pace with playing partner Andrew Campbell early in the round.

At 4-under through eight holes, Campbell held a one-stroke advantage, a buffer that doubled when Lyras dropped a shot at the par-3 ninth.

Campbell made bogey himself at the par-4 10th before Lyras put the foot down, making four birdies and a bogey in his next five holes.

As Lyras and Campbell engaged in a shootout in the group ahead, Boyd patiently waited to take his opportunities.

He made birdie at each of the four par-5s along with one at the par-4 10th and, finally, the birdie on 16 that would match Lyras’s 64.

WHAT THE WINNERS SAID

John Lyras: “I missed the ball in predominantly the right spots and made a few putts. Played the par 5s pretty well and you really need to do that here. And there’s a few other good opportunities and with some short par 3s as well that you need to really hit the middle of the green. I felt like I did a really good job missing the ball on the right side, not missing the fairway on the wrong side as well. And when you can do that, you generally open up the hole pretty well.”

Darcy Boyd: “I was sort of watching the leaderboard all day and knew I had some work to do coming in. I couldn’t really get anything going and I needed to hole about a seven-footer for par on about my fifth-last hole. I was able to do that and then kicked on from there. Made that nice 15-footer on the third-last hole when I watched Johnny chip in for par when I thought I was going to get one back on him there.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
T1        John Lyras                    64
T1        Darcy Boyd                  64
T3        Andrew Campbell        66
T3        James Mee                   66
T3        Dylan Gardner              66
T6        Samuel Slater               67
T6        Connor McDade          67
T6        Danni Vasquez             67

NEXT UP

The North Queensland Series begins on Saturday with the two-day CMR Recycling Sarina Golf Club Pro-Am at Sarina Golf Club where Andrew Campbell is the defending champion.