Want to recieve exclusive news, videos, tournament highlights, golf important tips and more ?
Want to recieve exclusive news, videos, tournament highlights, golf important tips and more ?
With the PGA Legends Tour’s biggest and richest tournaments looming, Peter Lonard is in ominous form.
After sharing top spot at both Shelley Beach and Sapphire Coast earlier this month, the three-time Australian PGA champion fired a 7-under-par 62 to claim today’s Blackheath Centenary Year Legends Pro-Am in the NSW Blue Mountains.
Lonard’s round included eight birdies in a warning shot to his fellow over-50s that he is ready for the $150,000 NSW Senior Open at Thurgoona, starting on November 1.
He finished two clear of Victorian David McKenzie.
HOW THE WINNER’S SCORE UNFOLDED
In the afternoon field, Lonard’s steady three-par start at Blackheath Golf Club was followed by a run of seven birdies in his next nine holes.
Four straight pars ended any chance of posting a 59 to match what the Sydneysider achieved last year at Rich River, but he did manage a closing birdie to finish off a back nine of 30.
His only bogey was thanks to a three-putt from around seven metres at the seventh.
WHAT THE WINNER SAID
“It wasn’t my greatest moment. I think my playing partners nearly fainted. I thought it was the end of my day at that stage but we got going again,” Lonard said of his sole dropped shot.
“It was a good day. The course was in magnificent condition.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
-7: Peter Lonard (NSW)
-5: David McKenzie (Vic)
-4: Anthony Summers (Vic)
-3: Nicholas Robb (NSW); Mike Harwood (Vic); John Wade (Vic), Mark Boulton (Vic)
-2: Chris Taylor (Qld); Adam Henwood (Vic)
-1: Guy Wall (NSW)
NEXT UP
The PGA Legends Tour welcomes two new events – the B&C Plumbing Griffith Legends Pro-Am at Griffith Golf Club on Sunday and Deniliquin Legends Pro-Am presented by Edward River Council at Deniliquin Golf Club on Tuesday.
Photo: Peter Lonard with club professional Darrin Walden
American Richard Gilkey and Queenslander Terry Price produced the only under-par rounds at Springwood Country Club to share top spot at the Fidelity Capital Group Charity Legends Pro-Am.
They finished on 1-under-par 68, giving Gilkey his first win since 2020 and Price his second title for 2024.
With aspirations to play PGA TOUR Champions, Gilkey is a huge fan of the PGA Legends Tour with this result helping to ensure he has playing rights again next year.
“I’d love to keep coming here until I can’t walk and play this Tour. It’s a great Tour,” he said.
The joint winner at Hurstville on Wednesday, Stuart Ford (NSW), was part of a group of four players who finished T3 at 1-over-par.
HOW THE WINNERS’ SCORES UNFOLDED
Playing in the morning wave, Gilkey tackled the back nine first and offset birdies on the 11th and 15th with bogeys on 14 and 18.
Two birdies and a bogey followed on the front nine to have him well placed in the clubhouse watching what would happen with the afternoon field.
Price made a fast start, picking up a shot on his first hole, the short par-3 sixth. However, bogeys at seven, 11 and 13 had him at 2-over-par through his first 10 holes.
The recovery started with a three on the par-4 16th and he added in birdies on the second and fourth to make his way under-par for the day.
WHAT THE WINNERS SAID
Gilkey said: “This feels great. It’s been four years I think since my last win so I was kind of wondering ‘do I still have it’. This course is really tough. There’s no gimme holes out there. You can’t get loose and I played solid.”
Price said: “It was tricky out there today but I’m a bit surprised that score has been good enough considering what Andre Stolz did here last year which was a fantastic score. I had more like 4-under or 5-under in mind.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
-1: Terry Price (Qld); Richard Gilkey (USA)
+1: Mark Gibson (NSW); Mark Boulton (Vic); Guy Wall (NSW); Stuart Ford (NSW)
+2: John Wade (Vic); David McKenzie (Vic); Brad Burns (Qld); Andre Stolz (Qld); Mark Tickle (Qld); Peter Lonard (NSW); Steven Aisbett (NSW)
NEXT UP
The PGA Legends Tour’s Blue Mountains double continues with The Blackheath Centenary Year Legends Pro-Am at Blackheath Golf Club on Friday.
Photo: Richard Gilkey, sponsor Chris Crawley and Terry Price
Coolangatta-Tweed Heads Golf Club Associate Jack Wright has a date with Cameron Smith after his two-stroke win at the Queensland PGA Associate Championship at Windaroo Lakes Golf Club.
Nursing a one-shot advantage heading into Thursday’s final round, Wright held the likes of Adam Migur (69), Damon Stephenson (73) and Joel Mitchell (71) at bay with a near faultless 3-under 70 and 12-under total.
As champion, Wright is now exempt into next week’s Queensland PGA Championship at Nudgee Golf Club where Smith will play the first of four events this summer on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.
Although focused intently on closing out the win at Windaroo Lakes, Wright conceded that pre-round his thoughts turned momentarily to the possibility of sharing the stage with the 2022 Open champion.
“At the start it definitely was,” Wright admitted.
“I just was very grateful to get the job done over the good players that were chasing me today.”
Seeking to add to his win at the 2023 NSW/ACT PGA Associate Championship, Wright surged to the lead with a superb 7-under 66 in Round 3.
With his nose in front, the second year Associate knew that minimising bogeys would be just as important as plundering more birdies.
Birdies at two of his opening three holes was the ideal start, staying ahead of the field with eight straight pars.
Back-to-back birdies at 12 and 13 further extended his advantage, enough so that his bogey on 14 would be just a minor inconvenience.
The son of long-time Queensland PGA Professional John Wright, Jack said a home state title is the highlight of his time in the Membership Pathway Program to date.
“Winning your home state championship is definitely sweeter,” said Wright.
“Obviously winning New South as your first win and getting that off the board was one of the best feelings ever. But to win your home state is probably one of my biggest goals in the program.”
Recent work on their golf games paid off for Martin Peterson and Scott Ford with the NSW duo sharing top spot in the GRC Wayne Riley Legends Pro-Am at Hurstville Golf Club today
A front nine of 29 helped Ford recover from an early setback to shoot a 4-under-par 66 which was matched by Peterson, a previous winner at Hurstville in 2018 and runner-up in 2017.
They are hitting form at the right time, both sitting just inside the top 10 on the Order of Merit with some big events to come.
Part of the PGA Legends Tour since 2013, Ford now has three wins on his record for 2024, while for Peterson, who has been a member of the over-50s circuit since 2017, it was his second title of the year following on from a win in New Zealand in February.
Victorian David McKenzie repeated his third-place finish from yesterday’s NSW Senior PGA Championship at Cromer, carding a 67 alongside Richard Gilkey (USA) and David Van Raalte (Vic)
HOW THE WINNERS’ SCORES UNFOLDED
Peterson started his round on the 17th hole and was 3-under through his first nine holes thanks to four birdies offset by just the one bogey. A final birdie for the day came at the short par-4 14th.
Meanwhile, Ford got underway with a birdie on his opener, the par-5 16th only to double-bogey the par-4 18th. Five birdies followed on the front nine and then another on his final hole to match Peterson at 4-under.
WHAT THE WINNERS SAID
Ford said: “I was coming off a couple of rough days at Cromer but today was really enjoyable. Had a hole-in-one the other day, but a 66 is miles better than a hole-in-one. I’ve had a lot of help from Terry Price and done a little bit of short game work with Euan Walters and it’s all starting to come together at the right time of the year.”
Peterson said:“I’ve been working on a few things in my game and it finally started to click today. It’s always been a happy hunting ground here for me at Hurstville. The course was great today and I actually played quite well. It was just a good solid round.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
-4: Martin Peterson (NSW), Scott Ford (NSW)
-3: Richard Gilkey (USA), David van Raalte (Vic), David McKenzie (Vic)
-2: Anthony Summers (Vic), Lucien Tinkler (NSW), Guy Wall (NSW), Grahame Stinson (NSW), Michael Harwood (Vic)
NEXT UP
The PGA Legends Tour heads to the Blue Mountains for the Fidelity Capital Group Charity Legends Pro-Am at Springwood Country Club on Thursday and The Blackheath Centenary Year Legends Pro-Am at Blackheath Golf Club on Friday.
Min Woo Lee took some time out as a spectator at Mandurah last weekend but his rest time was short; the rising Australian star is back in the cauldron on Thursday as he tees it up in the PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship in Japan.
Lee has another stint at home in Australia coming up, defending his BMW Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland and playing the ISPS HANDA Australian Open in Melbourne, but he has some jobs to do first.
The Fall Series of the US Tour has three tournaments remaining from this week, and Lee is trying to improve his status for the 2025 season, having already secured his playing card.
Currently he is ranked 63rd on the points list and he needs to vault into the bracket between 50th and 60th to earn a spot in two signature events, worth $US 20 million, on the tour in 2025 – at Pebble Beach and the Genesis in January-February.
There’s also the matter of the Masters tournament in April and the other majors. Currently he would get into the field for Augusta and the others with his official world ranking of 42nd, but he needs to be inside the top 50 at year’s end. It is tighter than he would have liked.
Which is why the 26-year-old from Perth is in Japan this week, playing an event in which he finished tied-sixth last year with a closing 65. It was largely on the back of that performance that he earned his PGA Tour card and headed to America.
In a limited field (78 players) and on a course where he has played well before, it is a big opportunity to set himself up and return to Australia for the marquee events and the Christmas break with some security for 2025.
Meanwhile Hannah Green, another Ritchie Smith disciple, has risen back to an equal career-high No. 5 in the women’s world rankings after her third win of the LPGA Tour season, and Green is now after the No. 1 spot as she tees it up in Kuala Lumpur from Thursday.
The LPGA has four more tournaments for 2024 culminating with the tour championship in November and while Green is secure at No. 5 on the points list along with Gabriela Ruffels (25), the likes of Grace Kim (45), Minjee Lee (49) and Steph Kyriacou (52) have work to do to make sure they are playing in that $US 11 million season-ender.
Also in Asia, the DP World Tour has its final event in South Korea before the playoffs begin, while 21 Australasians are in the field for the Asian Tour’s International Series Thailand.
PHOTO: Min Woo Lee still has to secure his place in the majors for 2025. Image: Getty
Tee times
PGA TOUR
Zozo Championship
Accordia Golf, Narashino Country Club, Japan
11.40am Ryan Fox (NZ)
12.24pm Min Woo Lee
Defending champion: Collin Morikawa
Past Aussie winners: nil
Prize money: $US8.5 million
TV times: Live 2pm-6pm Thursday-Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
LPGA Tour
Maybank Championship
Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club
10.48am Gabriela Ruffels*
11.43am Grace Kim*
12.27pm Hannah Green
Defending champion: Celine Boutier
Past Aussie winners: nil
Prize money: $US 3 million
TV times: Live 12.30pm-5.30pm Thursday-Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
DP World Tour
Genesis Championship
Jack Nicklaus Golf Club, Incheon, South Korea
9.10 am Sam Jones (NZ)
9.50 am Daniel Hillier (NZ)*
10.40 am Jason 2crivener*
1.30 pm Haydn Barron*
2 pm Tom Power Horan*
2.20 pm David Micheluzzi
Defending champion: Sang-Hyun Park
Past Aussie winners: nil
Prize money: $US 4 million
TV times: Live 2pm-7pm Thursday-Sunday on Fox Sports 507 and Kayo.
Asian Tour
International Series Thailand
Thai Country Club, Bangkok
10.30 am Harrison Crowe
10.30 am Aaron Wilkin*
10.40 am Andrew Dodt
11 am Sam Brazel
11.10 am Danny Lee (NZ)
11.10 am Wade Ormsby*
11.20 am Kevin Yuan
11.30 am Marcus Fraser
11.50 am Deyen Lawson
12.00 Justin Warren**
12.10 pm Douglas Klein
1.10 pm Todd Sinnott*
3.30 pm Scott Hend
3.40 pm Kazuma Kobori (NZ)*, Zach Murray*
3.50 pm Ben Campbell (NZ)*
4.10 pm Travis Smyth
4.10 Jack Thompson*
4.20 pm Nick Voke (NZ)
4.30 pm Jed Morgan
4.40 pm Maverick Antcliff*
5 pm Lachlan Barker*
Defending champion: Sang-Hyun Park
Past Aussie winners: nil
Prize money: $US 4 million
TV times: Live 6pm-9pm Thursday-Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR
Hero Women’s Open
DLF Golf and Country Club, New Delhi
Australasian entries: Momoka Kobori (NZ), Kirsten Rudgeley.
Defending champion: Aline Krauter
Past Aussie winners: nil
Prize money: $US 400,000
One of the new young stars of world golf, South African Aldrich Potgieter, and American crowd favourite Harry Higgs are locked in as two of the first overseas entrants for next month’s BMW Australian PGA Championship,
Potgieter (pictured) will play his first professional tournament in the country where he developed his game while Higgs comes to Australia for the first time on the back of two Korn Ferry Tour wins this year to regain his PGA Tour status.
They will be joined by another KFT winner this year, Chilean Cristobal Del Solar, who has been inspired to play in Australia by countryman and reigning Australian Open champion Joaquin Niemann.
Just 20-years-old, Potgieter is headed for the PGA Tour in 2025 after a huge year on the Korn Ferry Tour (KFT) in 2024, including becoming the youngest winner in the Tour’s history, beating the record held by Jason Day, when he won The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic in January.
Although he was born in Mossel Bay on South Africa’s Southern Cape, Potgieter moved to Perth with his family when he was a child, eventually becoming a member of Golf WA’s High Performance Program.
A member at the Joondalup course, he won the South Australian Junior Masters by nine shots in 2020, the 2021 WA Amateur and was second in the 2021 Australian Boys’ Amateur before, at just 17, becoming the second youngest winner in the history of the British Amateur Championship.
The two-shot win in The Bahamas, thanks to a closing 65, was followed by two other top-10 finishes to see Potgieter finish 29th in the end-of-season standings.
“Growing up in WA, I always enjoyed watching the big tournaments each summer every year in Australia,” Potgieter said.
“I can’t wait to get to Royal Queensland and experience everything about the BMW Australian PGA Championship. There’s plenty of the guys I came through the amateurs with who are now professional who I’m looking forward to catching up with.
“And then there’s the challenge of going up against players like Jason Day, Cam Smith, Min Woo Lee and Cam Davis.”
The affable Higgs, who has won twice on the KFT in 2024, has been a popular figure on the PGA Tour where his best results have included two runner-up finishes and T4 at the 2021 US PGA Championship.
“Australia has always been on the destination list for Kailee and I,” Higgs said.
“We love travelling and seeing new parts of the world.
“It’s all worked out for me to come down to play both of the Aussie majors this year which I’m sure is going to be a great experience.
“It will be a real honour to play in both the Australian Open and Australian PGA in front of the Aussie fans.”
Del Solar’s 2024 highlight was a four-shot victory in The Ascendent, his fifth worldwide success.
“Seeing my great mate Joaquin (Niemann) play so well in Australia last year and hearing from him how much he enjoyed the country, the golf courses and the atmosphere of the events, made it an easy decision to come down and experience it for myself,” he said.
For BMW Australian PGA Championship tickets, go to ticketek.com.au
The Australian PGA Championship is supported by the Queensland Government, through Tourism and Events Queensland’s Major Events Program and Brisbane City Council, through Brisbane Economic Development Agency.
The golf industry in South Australia celebrated the achievements of the sport at the SA Golf Awards night at the Hilton.
The awards were jointly hosted by Golf Australia, the PGA of Australia, Golf Management Australia and Turf Management SA, and represented an opportunity for golf community to come together and celebrate.
Sandy Creek Golf Club from just south of the Barossa Valley won Club of the Year.
It was a great night for the Warren family with Tim Warren collecting an award for turf management and his daughter Sophie Warren from Glenelg Golf Club picking up the graduate of the year award.
Japan Golf head coach Gareth Jones won coach of the year while Steve Capon of South Lakes Golf Club was club professional of the year.
PHOTO: PGA of Australia CEO Gavin Kirkman addresses the night.
Full list of award winners:
• Girl’s Vardon – Katie Seol of Royal Adelaide GC
• Boy’s Vardon – Malachy Marshall of Kooyonga GC
• Women’s Vardon – Raegan Denton of Royal Adelaide GC
• Men’s Vardon – Billy Cawthorne of Royal Adelaide GC
• Women’s Senior Order of Merit – Christine Trimmer of Glenelg Golf Club
• Men’s Senior Order of Merit – Paul Gregory of The Vines GC of Reynella
• Schweppes GMA Excellence in Golf Club Management – Chris Coulter of Flagstaff Hill GC
• Nuturf TMSA Graduate of the Year – Sophie Warren* of Glenelg GC
• John Deere & Metropolitan Machinery TMSA Excellence in Turf Management – Tim Warren* of Glenelg GC
• PGA SA Coach of the Year High Performance – Gareth Jones of Glenelg GC
• BGC Industrial Cleaning Supplies PGA SA Coach of the Year Game Development – Anne Marie Knight of West Beach Parks Golf Academy
• Coca-Cola Amatil PGA SA Management Professional of the Year – Damian Wrigley of Mount Osmond GC
• PGA SA Club Professional of the Year – Steve Capon of South Lakes GC
• Risk Profilers Health and Safety Award – The Vines GC of Reynella
• Golf Car Solutions MyGolf Deliverer of the Year Award – Steven Capon of South Lakes GC
• SA Volunteer of the Year – Bill Driver of Saddleworth GC
• SA Service to the Industry Award – Barry Linke, recently retired General Manager of The Grange GC
• miclub SA Club of the Year – Sandy Creek GC
Quinn Croker knows he left some money on the table last season.
As he shored up the final phases of his amateur career, Croker made nine starts on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, making the cut in each one and finishing inside the top 10 four times, his best result a runner-up finish at the Heritage Classic.
“I don’t know the exact figure, but I know that I did miss out on a little bit of money last year,” Croker reflected.
“Hopefully it just banked up and maybe I’ll be able to get it this year.”
The exact figure was $48,042.76 of prize money not received.
But as Croker prepares to make his professional debut at Webex Players Series South Australia at Willunga Golf Course this week, the 22-year-old views it as an investment he needed to make.
“I finished maybe ninth at the NT PGA and obviously I played solid, but I didn’t feel like I played out of my skin,” Croker said.
“The last finish that really stuck at home for me was The Heritage playing with Matty Griffin and Jak Carter in the final round.
“‘Griffo’ went on to have 23-under that week and I finished second so that made me think that if I play good, there’s definitely an option to winning some of these events.
“That kicked home and that was very confidence boosting.”
A week later Croker won the Australian Amateur Championship at Yarra Yarra Golf Club before embarking on a final international amateur expedition to America that yielded two top-three finishes, including runner-up at the prestigious Southern Amateur.
He advanced through First Stage of Korn Ferry Tour Q School last week and has now set his sights on maximising the Future Tour membership that provides direct entry to the PGA Tour of Australasia this season.
“I definitely feel like I’m ready to be out here,” said the Toowoomba-born Croker.
“It’s just now I’m actually a professional now. I’m not an amateur doing it.
“Even if you’ve proved yourself as an amateur, which I did out here last year, it just feels different now. Now I feel like every shot matters more.
“I know it’s still the same golf shot, it’s still executing what you can, but it feels like it matters more because there’s just that little bit more pressure.”
Crediting his parents for their early guidance, Croker says the move into Brisbane to start working with Chris Gibson at Royal Queensland Golf Club was critical in turning potential into professionalism.
“He really started to push me in the right direction to make sure I was doing things how I should be,” he added.
“Then I was in QAS (Queensland Academy of Sport) and they’ve helped me over the last four years along with Golf Australia. They really dial in what it is to be a professional.
“They’ve been instrumental to where I am now. Hopefully in the next couple of years I’m able to show that it was worth it.”
Webex Players Series South Australia is live on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo on Saturday (3pm-6pm AEDT) and Sunday (1pm-6pm AEDT).
Five playoff holes couldn’t split Brad Burns and Andre Stolz before darkness set in and joint winners were declared at the Kent Relocation Group NSW Senior PGA Championship at Cromer Golf Club.
The two prolific winners on the PGA Legends Tour tied at 1-under-par after 36 holes and then had matching pars across the sudden-death playoff, staged on the 351 par-4 eighth hole, before it was agreed they would share the title.
In the quickly fading light, a resolute Burns had forced a sixth hole by draining a five-metre putt.
It was the third PGA Legends Tour win in a row for Order of Merit leader Stolz, who was coming off wins in the ACT Senior PGA Championship and the Cowra Lamb Legends Pro-Am.
Burns made it six victories for 2024, but his first since June.
The duo both posted rounds of 71-68 at Cromer to finish one shot ahead of David Mackenzie (70-70). The Victorian would have made it a three-way playoff had he not bogeyed his second last hole, the par-4 18th.
Lucas Bates had led after an opening round of 68 but dropped to T7 with a 75 on day two.
Meanwhile, Peter Lonard produced the low round of the event in the second round, a 5-under 65, but a 77 on the opening day left him too much ground to make up.
HOW THE WINNERS’ SCORES UNFOLDED
After finishing round one tied for sixth, Stolz began his second round on the ninth hole and Burns on the 18th.
It was Stolz who looked like taking the title outright when he picked up his fourth birdie of the day, at the par-4 sixth, but he dropped back to -1 with a bogey on his last hole, the par-4 eighth.
Burns hit stride with back-to-back birdies at the second and third but put himself into a difficult position with consecutive bogeys at 13 and 14.
However he birdied the par-3 15th, made an up-and-down for par after finding the water on 16, and birdied and his final hole, the par-4 17th, to secure his playoff spot.
WHAT THE WINNER SAID
“That wasn’t bad, was it. First putt I holed all day,” Burns joked after denying Stolz the outright win on the 41st hole.
Stolz said: “We probably shouldn’t have really played that last hole, to be honest. We couldn’t really see. Everyone in the clubhouse was all excited so we thought we’d keep going. It’s a great big boy golf course this one and I was happy to have a chance to try and win.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
-1: Andre Stolz (Qld) 71-68; Brad Burns (Qld) 71-68
Even: David Mackenzie (Vic) 70-70
+1: Anthony Summers (NSW) 72-69
+2: Peter Lonard (NSW) 77-65; Mark Gibson (Qld) 69-73
NEXT UP
The PGA Legends Tour heads to the Blue Mountains for the Fidelity Capital Group Charity Legends Pro-Am at Springwood Country Club on Thursday and The Blackheath Centenary Year Legends Pro-Am at Blackheath Golf Club on Friday.
The wind that whipped up on the Bellarine only served to inspire Brock Gillard as the Victorian claimed a two-stroke win at the Anglesea Golf Club Pro-Am.
After nursing a soft tissue injury through the winter months, Gillard upped his practice intensity in recent weeks.
While the ball-striking reflected that over the first eight holes, the scores didn’t.
It took until the par-4 14th to snare his first birdie, and then they came in a rush, adding three more at 18, one and two in some of the more difficult conditions.
“The first nine holes, I hit it really, really good and made no birdies,” said Gillard.
“Then the wind got up in my last six holes and I made all my birdies.
“The golf guards… go figure.”
Gillard’s round of 3-under 70 was two better than Legends Tour regular Tim Elliott (72) with Ashley Hall (74) and Ryan Lynch (75) third and fourth respectively.
WHAT THE WINNER SAID
“I felt pretty good the last few days with practise,” said Gillard.
“Been hitting it good. The scores haven’t been relating and today just sort of managed to hold it together and holed some good putts.
“I will definitely be playing the Gippsland swing coming up and then got my eyes on trying to qualify for the New South Wales Open.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1 Brock Gillard 70
2 Tim Elliott 72
3 Ashley Hall 74
4 Ryan Lynch 75
T5 Steven Jones 76
T5 Nick Dastey 76
T5 Michael Choi 76
T5 James Briggs 76
NEXT UP
The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series has a short break before resuming with the Gorilla Ladders Box Hill Pro-Am at Box Hill Golf Club on November 1.
