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Min Woo Lee has revealed that he is recovering from a badly-timed broken finger as he prepares to play the Masters this week, but Cam Smith is fit and ready to go after a weekend in bed with food poisoning.
Some of the Australian group of six have had more medical episodes than would be considered ideal ahead of the first men’s major of 2024, but a bunch of them practised together at Augusta National on Tuesday and they pronounced themselves ready to go on Thursday.
Lee is still croaky after a bout of flu and could not practise on Monday, and Smith almost fell into the tributary of Rae’s Creek that runs along the 13th hole on Tuesday, not hurting himself but causing a tad of embarrassment as he tumbled down on slippery rocks.
Lee’s injury – a broken ring finger on the right hand – was the shock of the day and the Perth star admitted that he had been suffering “a lot of anxiety” about the injury.
He did it by dropping a dumb bell on his hand in weight training 10 days ago. “I was just doing like a side bridge glute thing and it was literally my last rep, last set thing, and I like threw the dumb bell down and somehow clipped my right ring finger.
“Yeah, so I went to the doctor. Went to the doctor and I thought it was okay because I could move it. It was just red. I thought it would be fine. Then they came in and said, you’ve broken it.”
But the 25-year-old, who still has the hand bandaged, was surprised how quickly he had recovered.
“You know, I hit my first shot for the last week on Friday, so hit my first full driver,” he said. “Honestly, it’s actually amazing how fast the recovery was. It was bruised, still swollen, but not actually that painful which is really strange.
“Somehow recovering very good, so icing and elevating as much as I can. Yeah, I guess it wasn’t the best prep, and I go the flu two days ago.”
Lee has been back in the gym in recent days, but nowhere near the offending equipment. “Every time I looked at that 20 pound dumb bell, yeah, gave it a death stare.”
As for Smith, who withdrew after a round of the LIV Golf tournament in Miami last weekend, he is back on his feet at least.
“Yeah, a bit of food poisoning at the start of last week and probably just tried to do a little bit too much and body just kind of shut down on me,” he said. “Spent the weekend in the bed, which wasn’t the greatest preparation, but I was just saying that today is probably the first day where I feel like I’ve got a little bit of energy. I’m sure I’ll be pretty cooked tonight. At least I could get around and feel okay.”
The incident at Amen Corner was not ideal either for the 2022 Open champion, who has a good record in the Masters.
“I didn’t try to jump, I just tried to get on a couple of rocks, and I had metals in my right shoe and I slipped,” he said. “A bit of comedy for the crowd there.
“The only thing I was thinking as I was going down was not to get wet, so I managed to actually do all right. I think my glove was — I had to throw my glove out and my shoes were a bit wet, but that’s about it.”
Lee said Augusta remained “my favourite place in the world”, and he had the benefit of pracising with some old hands on Tuesday – Adam Scott, Smith and Jason Day joined him. “These three guys are one of the best guys out here, so, it’s always nice to play with guys that are open to giving me information and if I ask, they would help me,” he said.
“Yeah, obviously they’re great golfers so just looking on the them and watching them play, it’s amazing.”
Day is set to play his first two rounds at Augusta National alongside five-time winner Tiger Woods this week. Amateur Jasper Stubbs is drawn to play with past winner Zach Johnson and Canadian Corey Conners.
PHOTO: Min Woo Lee and Adam Scott get to work at Augusta National on Tuesday. Image: Getty
AUSSIE TEE TIMES FOR ROUND ONE
(Local times followed by AEST)
9am/11pm Thursday Jasper Stubbs (with Zach Johnson, Corey Conners)
10.06am/12.06 am Friday Min Woo Lee (with Rickie Fowler, Patrick Cantlay)
10.54am/12.54am Friday Cameron Smith (with Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland)
11.18am/1.18am Friday Cam Davis (with Camilo Villegas, Denny McCarthy)
1.12pm/3.12am Friday Adam Scott (with Sam Burns, Cameron Young)
1.24pm/3.24am Friday Jason Day (with Tiger Woods, Max Homa)
The PGA Legends Tour will break new ground with events in Cobar and Warren next month in what is hoped to provide a further boost to the growth of golf in western New South Wales.
Two-time Australian Open winner Peter Lonard will headline the field when the Legends Tour dips its toes into sand scrapes at Warren Golf Club on May 9, the course boasting 12 grass greens and six sand greens.
Two days later, the Legends Tour will converge on the 18 sand greens at Cobar Bowls and Golf Club for the $25,000 Cobar Legends Pro-Am.
It is new territory for PGA-sanctioned pro-ams that had not previously been further west than Dubbo, Warren a further hour west from the regional hub and Cobar two hours beyond Warren.
The events are part of a push by PGA Professional and Regional Manager for Golf NSW and Jack Newton Junior Golf, Gary Begg, to grow the game in remote communities.
Now in his third year covering an area of some 560,000 square kilometres, Begg has been the driving force behind surges in player numbers of both juniors and women.
The number of engaged juniors has skyrocketed from just one to now 160 and the number of women playing has grown from five to 80.
Begg believes that the next step to feed a growing passion for the game is a showcase of top-class professional golf on their home courses.
“The new general manager at Cobar asked how to promote the golf and bowling club and I suggested holding a professional event,” said Begg, a PGA Member since 1982.
“It’s a great way to promote the facility and a great experience for the members.
“People will often come in from all throughout the region for it so it’s a great economic boost to the town as well.”
In addition to assisting clubs with grant applications and accounts, Begg travels the countryside conducting ‘Come and Try’ days for juniors and adults.
The impact on juniors and women in particularly has been significant, providing an influx to regional clubs that they have never previously possessed.
“There was one junior golfer at Warren when I started going out there three years ago to conduct free ‘Come and Try’ days,” Begg added.
“The club didn’t expect much of a reaction but my attitude was that if we got one person to show up, they’ll be one further ahead.
“They advertised it and 35 kids turned up to that first one and it’s been like that ever since.
“I travel around holding clinics for women and what we have seen is that at the end of the program, a lot of them have joined golf clubs.
“They’ve started off with the clinics, they like it, so they keep going.
“As a result, we’re seeing an increase in membership, which is great.”
With golf now taking a stronger foothold in these remote communities, Begg has no doubt that a showcase of professional golf will see those numbers continue to build in the years to come.
“I think it’ll have a huge impact. I think it’s going to bring the next generations through of watching players, watching professionals play and create a big buzz around the town,” said Begg.
“It’ll be great for accommodation for the town, for the economies that have really struggled over the years. They’d had some pretty ordinary years out in the far west and something like this will really, really boost their economy.
“It will also promote golf to the next generation about what they can do if they work hard or just want to be involved in the game in future.”
The Warren Golf Club Legends Pro-Am will be held on Thursday, May 9 with the Cobar Legends Pro-Am to be held at the Cobar Golf and Bowls Club on the weekend of May 11-12.
There are limited amateur spots still available in both fields. To book a spot call the respective club.
Still in the early months of his professional career, former Victorian amateur star Max Charles has taken a share of the lead after day one of the Final Stage of the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia’s Qualifying School.
Charles, who turned pro after a top-five finish at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Royal Melbourne last October, shot a 6-under-par 66 on the Moonah Links Open Course to sit atop the leaderboard with West Australian Ryan Peake.
Kiwi Denzel Ieremia is next in line at 5-under, one ahead of NSW duo Nathan Barbieri and Josh Clarke.
Peake, who finished 79th on last season’s Order of Merit, was first to post 6-under with his round highlighted by a back nine of 30, while Charles birdied four of his last eight holes on a bogey-free day.
Charles’ Asia-Pacific teammate, Jye Pickin (NSW), is the leading amateur, in equal eighth at 2-under.
It was a rocky start to Final Stage for the winners of First Stage, also played at Moonah Links, last week.
Jordan Doull, from Mt Lawley Golf Club in Perth, was the best of the trio, in a share of 29th after a 2-over 74, while Queensland professional Zachary Maxwell shot a 76 to be T46 and Ryan Swann, from Pacific Golf Club in Brisbanem battled to a 79 to be in 65th position.
The top 30 finishers after 72 holes will earn Full Tournament Membership of the PGA of Australia and be placed in a Tournament Exemption Category.
Those players finishing beyond 30th place and ties, who complete 72 holes at Final Stage, will be eligible for Full Tournament Membership of the PGA of Australia, however, they will not hold an exemption category for the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.
All players who play 72 holes of the Final Stage will earn a pro-am exemption category and be eligible to enter adidas PGA Pro-Am series events.
Photo: Victorian professional Max Charles
Rising Australian amateur Jasper Stubbs is experiencing Masters week for the first time, and nothing has disappointed him yet.
Victorian Stubbs, 22, is in the field this week as the Asia-Pacific champion from 2023, and he is soaking up the atmosphere at what will be his first professional major.
“I think, coming to Augusta, it’s obviously always spoken highly about how perfect it is, and I think it definitely lives up to that expectation,” he told media today in a pre-tournament press conference.
“Magnolia Lane with the flowers out is an amazing sight. I think the crowds is the thing that’s going to be the biggest eye opener for me that’s going to be different to any other week that I’ve ever experience.’’
Stubbs visited Augusta National in February, playing three days in a row to scope out the course.
But he knows this week is a different beast, with the crowds, with family in tow, and the nerves and expectations.
Since learning last December that he would play the 2024 Masters he has done his best to find places to practise which mimic the amazing slopes of Augusta, “basically finding the biggest slope as you can find on any golf course you go to because it comes close, but it doesn’t compare to here”.
Part of that was at the Australian Golf Centre in Melbourne. “At the Australian Golf Centre, which is the home of the Golf Australia High Performance Program down in Melbourne — we have a driving range, and it’s got lots of slopes that you can just hit range balls off, which was awesome for this week, obviously being one of the slopiest weeks of the year.
“I was practising all kind of different slopes, as big as I could find them. Then, yeah, just trying to hit different shots off that, which was a pretty cool experience to be able to do that at home.”
Augusta National will present a challenge for him but there is a familiarity in it as well, with the hard, fast greens and the Alister MacKenzie stamp being comparable to Royal Melbourne and other Melbourne sandbelt courses.
“Once you’re on the greens, Royal Melbourne and Augusta are pretty close in how fast you can get a downhill putt and how much they break,” said Stubbs.
“So it’s pretty good to have played a lot of golf there, and I’ve got a bit of knowledge, I guess, from playing there.”
Stubbs practised with Cam Davis on Monday and hopes to join Cameron Smith for a round before Thursday’s opening round.
It is quite the experience for a young man who grew up in Gippsland in Victoria’s west, moving to Melbourne and joining Peninsula Kingswood Country Club, breaking into Golf Australia’s HP programs.
Today he was asked by the media about the arrival of his invitation from Augusta National, and it is a story worth retelling.
“It was a very special moment,” he said. “I opened it — I waited for my parents to get home from work, and we opened it all together as a family. There were five of us in the room at the time. We were FaceTiming my brother, who was out of the house at the time.
“We all shared that family moment together, and it was a lot of screaming and cheering that it was finally here. And that’s when it sunk in. And, yeah, we didn’t do too much of a celebration that night, but obviously the next couple of weeks was the holidays, so, yeah, we celebrated pretty heavily.”
This week his first task is to make the cut. Beyond that, it’s about competing.
“I wouldn’t say it’s an expectation, but it’s definitely something that I’m striving towards to do,” he said. “I’m not here to make up the numbers. I think Dad’s been telling me, everyone in the field this week’s got a chance to win, so I’m keeping that in the back of my mind at all times.”
PHOTO: Jasper Stubbs samples the Augusta National bunkering in Monday’s practice round. Image: The Masters
A par save on the final hole has secured Andre Stolz the South Australian PGA Senior championship double at Mount Gambier Golf Club south of Adelaide.
After teaming up with David Crawford to claim the Senior Foursomes title on Saturday, Stolz held off a fast-finishing David McKenzie to win the two-day MG Plasterers and Steeline SA PGA Seniors Championship.
Trailing Tony Collier by one after an opening round of 5-under 67, Stolz prevailed despite driving rain throughout the back nine of the final round.
A birdie at the par-4 17th would prove crucial as he left himself a nervy putt for par on the final hole to round out a 3-under 69 and 8-under total.
“I hit a great second shot into 18. All those uphill shots – it’s uphill, into the wind and into the rain,” said Stolz.
“They were playing crazy long all day, so I thought I needed to take the extra club.
“I hit a perfect shot – I was actually surprised that the crowd wasn’t clapping – but then I realised that meant it was up the back of the green.
“The downhill putts this week have been so much slower than last year. It nearly went in on the way past so I was surprised how far it went past but it all worked out good.”
McKenzie began his final round with three straight birdies on his way to a 5-under 67 – the best of the day by two strokes – in conditions he described as less than ideal.
“It was like playing a British Open at Royal Porthcawl last year, except the wind was probably 40km/h lower,” said McKenzie.
“I made a lot of putts today that I didn’t yesterday and the conditions were much harder, so it jumped me a few spots up the board.”
Adam Henwood snared spot with rounds of 69-70, Peter Senior a further stroke back in fourth with matching rounds of 2-under 70.
HOW THE WINNING ROUND UNFOLDED
Starting the day one back, Stolz dropped a shot at the par-4 second in his second round.
It would be his only dropped shot for the 36 holes, bouncing back immediately with a birdie at the par-4 third.
He added a second at the par-4 fifth but a less than cooperative putter restricted Stolz to a string of eight straight pars.
A birdie putt finally dropped at the par-4 13th, his closing birdie on 17 ultimately proving the difference.
WHAT THE WINNER SAID
“It was a frustrating couple of days with the putter, to be honest.
“I missed quite a lot of opportunities with the putter but I had good control with my irons and driving it in the fairway was key.
“I love this golf course. Made a special trip to come down here – like a lot of us have – but I absolutely loved this golf course last year so I was keen to come back.
“I had a lot of good practice in the weeks leading up to it so I was confident coming down that I would play well.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1 Andre Stolz 67-69—136
2 David McKenzie 70-67—137
3 Adam Henwood 69-70—139
4 Peter Senior 70-70—140
5 John Onions 70-71—141
T6 David Diaz 71-71—142
T6 Guy Wall 71-71—142
T6 Simon Pope 69-73—142
NEXT UP
There is a month-long break in the PGA Legends Tour schedule now before it resumes with two brand new events, the Warren Golf Club Legends Pro-Am (May 9) at Warren Golf Club followed by the Cobar Legends Pro-Am at Cobar Golf and Bowls Club (May 11-12) in western New South Wales.
Almost 25 years to the day after he took the keys to the pro shop as the new PGA of Australia professional at Bermagui Country Club, Chris Hearn has left a job that has given him so much, but not nearly as much as he gave the club and its golfers.
Hailing from Sydney and starting his PGA training in the 1970s at New Brighton Golf Club (Brighton Lakes), Hearn travelled Australia playing the game professionally before settling in the South Coast of New South Wales.
Hearn took over the contract at Bermagui on April 1, 1999, and raised his children with wife Joan.
Following a run of professionals who were in the role for short periods, Hearn took the job with the full intention of staying on at Bermagui, and went straight to work, including personally being on site for 63 straight days.
Reflecting on his time as a highly respected teaching professional and friendly face to the members and visitors to the spectacular South Coast, Hearn remembered asking a player from the ‘Chook Run’ to mind the shop after those 63 days to go to the bank.
However, mostly his memories are of the people during his time that ended on March 31, 2024.
“I like talking to people and stuff like that. If someone came into the shop, I’d say, ‘How you going? Where are you from?’,” Hearn said.
“I’m just always interested in where people played. Basically, just the social side of it with the people and all the members.
“It’s been so good for us here. It’s just amazing. We are not going anywhere. I’ll see if I can play a couple of tournaments and teach a bit down here and just keep myself occupied.”
Speaking on the changing nature of Bermagui, where Hearn claims you couldn’t buy milk after 5pm when he arrived before the turn of the century – and where membership was $69 a year at the time – the 66-year-old will continue to teach at local clubs. But perhaps with a little more time spent at home.
Noted around the country for his teaching, with Gary Barter a regular sharer of swing thoughts, Hearn’s ability as a player has likely been missed by the thousands he has served with a smile on his face behind the counter, or on the teaching tee at Bermagui.
Playing four Australian Opens, including teeing it up with the likes of Ian Woosnam, Rodger Davis, Ian Stanley and Graham Marsh, Hearn remembers once driving a young Vijay Singh from a Pro-Am at Tullamarine to Flinders Street.
But while he has mixed it with big names from both here and abroad, many of Hearn’s favourite memories often include two fellow PGA of Australia members.
Travelling with the late AIS coach Ross Herbert led to Hearn meeting Joan on a blind date, while his great mate Larry Canning is a regular in tales.
Canning was one of those to speak at the Chris Hearn Golf Day held on March 23, when 144 players teed it up, that number swelling for the dinner that evening to honour his time at Bermagui. Brett Officer, Peter Lonard and PGA of Australia Chair, Rodger Davis, were among those to send messages of congratulations.
“It was fantastic,” Hearn said of the day and night.
“A lot of the guys sent messages. Brett Officer spoke and wished me all the best. I can remember playing with him in my first tournament, the 1978 New South Wales Open at Manly Golf Club.”
Beyond the countless stories with some of the biggest names in golf, and his love of the South Coast and Bermagui Country Club that will forever be linked with his name, Hearn also speaks proudly of his 45 years as a member of the PGA of Australia.
“I’ve always been proud to be a PGA member,” he said.
“It’s the camaraderie and stuff like that. I went to all the trade shows and all the seminars where they had all the guys that come out, Hank Haney, Jim Ballard, Gary Edwin and all those guys.
“It’s been so good, beautiful to us.”
Players from six separate nations will take on Australians hoping to shore up their status on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia when the Final Stage of Qualifying School begins at Moonah Links on Tuesday.
A total of 36 players advanced from two sections of First Stage played across the Open and Legends courses at Moonah Links last week and are now joined by 24 players who finished between 51st and 100th on the 2023/2024 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.
West Australian Joseph Owen was exempt into Final Stage due to his finish on the Future Tour Order of Merit last season while Singapore’s Ryan Ang and Argentinian Segundo Oliva Pinto have been issued amateur exemptions for a total field of 66 players.
Ang (pictured) was 11th at the Australian Men’s Amateur Championship in January while Oliva Pinto has spent five years playing college golf in the US, firstly for the University of North Carolina Wilmington and most recently the University of Arkansas.
Justin Quiban of the Philippines already boasts top-10 finishes on the Asian Tour while Canadian amateur Dustin Franko is another recent college graduate from The University of Hawai‘i at Hilo.
Congratulations to the 36 players advancing to the 2024-25 Final Stage Qualifying School at Moonah Links next week!
— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) April 5, 2024
Final scores: https://t.co/x31wjbjXFB pic.twitter.com/kmboLdeGm9
Along with four Kiwis, American Matt Siporin completes the league of nations, the mini tour veteran in the US successfully navigating First Stage of Q School to pursue full status for the 2024/2025 season.
In addition to the international contingent, there are a host of familiar Aussie names also eager to secure playing opportunities for the coming season.
Amateurs Jordan Doull (WA), Jye Pickin (NSW), Connor McDade (VIC), Ben Henkel (VIC), Tyler Duncan (QLD), Ryan Swann (QLD), Siddharth Nadimpalli (VIC), Blaike Perkins (QLD), Harry Goakes (VIC) and Dominic Brettkelly (NZ) can all kick-start their journey into the professional ranks while others, such as Lincoln Tighe, Nathan Barbieri and Denzel Ieremia are out to enhance their category positions.
Twelve months ago, New Zealand amateur Kazuma Kobori was Q-School medallist, going on to win three times in his rookie season to claim the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.
All four rounds of Final Stage will be played at the Moonah Links Open Course with Round 1 to tee off at 8am Tuesday morning.
The top 30 finishers will earn Full Tournament Membership of the PGA of Australia and be placed in a Tournament Exemption Category.
Those players finishing beyond 30th place and ties, who complete 72 holes at Final Stage, will be eligible for Full Tournament Membership of the PGA of Australia, however, they will not hold an exemption category for the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.
All players who play 72 holes of the Final Stage will earn a pro-am exemption category and be eligible to enter adidas PGA Pro-Am series events.
Adam Scott completed a tidy warm-up for the Masters tournament with a top-15 finish in Texas today, but all eyes will be on an ill Cameron Smith as the players head for Augusta.
Scott closed with a 70 in the Valero Texas Open which left him tied-14th overall in his first appearance in that event in six years.
The 43-year-old will attend the champions’ dinner hosted by Jon Rahm this week at Augusta National with eyes on another green jacket.
He is the first and only Australian winner of the Masters, having beaten Angel Cabrera in a playoff in 2013.
This week will mark his 23th appearance at Augusta National, a streak that began in 2002.
Meanwhile Smith’s withdrawal from the LIV Golf event in Miami after one round with an unspecified illness has put a scare into his camp so close to the first major of 2024.
The Queenslander has been top-10 in four of his seven starts in the Masters, including a runner-up finish in 2020, and he would be one of the favourites this week assuming he is fit and well.
He played just one round in Miami, shooting a 3-over 75 and then withdrawing, and LIV management did not make any comment about his illness.
Australia has six competitors at the Masters – Scott, Smith, Jason Day, Min Woo Lee, Cam Davis and amateur Jasper Stubbs.
Elsewhere none of the Australians competing in the LPGA Tour’s matchplay championship in Las Vegas reached the top 8 with Minjee Lee faring best in a tie for 15th.
Marc Leishman enjoyed a good week at LIV Golf Miami finishing tied-fourth.
PHOTO: Adam Scott driving on his way to a top-15 finish in Houston today. Image: Getty
RESULTS
PGA TOUR
Valero Texas Open
TPC San Antonio (Oaks Cse), San Antonio, Texas
LPGA Tour
T-Mobile Match Play
Shadow Creek, Las Vegas, Nevada
LIV Golf
LIV Golf Miami
Trump National Doral, Miami, Florida
*Smith withdrew with illness after round 1 and Campbell substituted in for rounds two and three
Korn Ferry Tour
Club Car Championship
The Landings Golf & Athletic Club (Deer Creek), Savannah, Georgia
David Crawford’s invitation to Andre Stolz to play the SA PGA Senior Foursomes Championship paid off handsomely with a two-stroke victory at Mount Gambier Golf Club.
Serving as a prelude to the MG Plasterers & Steeline SA PGA Seniors Championship to be played at Mount Gambier over the next two days, Stolz and Crawford teamed up for a 3-under par round of 69, two strokes clear of Michael Holden and John Onions (71) and Terry Pilkadaris and Mark Boulton (71).
Part of a five-way tie for the win last start at the Metro Homes Glenn Joyner Memorial Legends Pro-Am at Thaxted Park, Crawford reached out to Stolz for a tilt at the Senior Foursomes title.
Stolz obliged, the pair combining superbly thanks to some careful calculations prior to teeing off.
“We had a few decisions to make before we hit off actually, trying to work out who would be hitting off which tees,” said Stolz.
“There were a few par 3s on the even holes so we went through the course and thought that I’d take those and back myself with the irons, and they weren’t too bad for the most part.”
WHAT THE WINNERS SAID
Andre Stolz: “Overall we had a pretty cruisy day. We had a couple of stressful moments which foursomes always brings on but for the most part we kept it in play and didn’t have too many dramas.
“We had one little hiccup towards the end. Just tried to spur on ‘Craw’ to make two birdies to finish and we made one which was good.”
David Crawford: “I’m enjoying this year more so than last year. There were a few hiccups last year but this year, fully focused.
“It was such a pleasure to play with Andre early this year to try and get that confidence of how these guys play the game.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1 Andre Stolz/David Crawford 69
T2 Michael Holden/John Onions 71
T2 Terry Pilkadaris/Mark Boulton 71
4 Brendan Chant/Michael Long 72
T5 Paul Powell/Ben Jackson 73
T5 David McKenzie/Wayne Rogers 73
NEXT UP
The strongest field of the PGA Legends Tour season to date has gathered at Mount Gambier for the MG Plasterers & Steeline SA PGA Seniors Championship. The 59-man field boasts legends such as Peter Senior, Peter Lonard, Andre Stolz, David McKenzie, Michael Long, Peter Fowler, Terry Price and Terry Pilkadaris. Day one on Sunday is a pro-am format followed by a seeded draw for the second and final round on Monday.
Amateurs from Queensland and Western Australia have had section wins in the First Stage of the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia’s Qualifying School at Moonah Links.
Ryan Swann, from the Pacific Golf Club in Brisbane, topped Section A, played on the Legends Course, by two shots after a closing with a 5-under-par 67 to be 9-under for the 54 holes, two clear of fellow amateur Harry Goakes (Victoria), West Australian professional Adam Brady and Victorian pro Caleb Bovalina.
Brady surged home with the day’s low round, a 6-under 66.
In Section B on the Open Course, amateur Jordan Doull, from the Mt Lawley Golf Club in Perth, posted a 4-under-par 68 to catch the overnight leader, Queensland professional Zac Maxwell (72). The duo finished on 8-under, three ahead of Victoria’s Lachlan Aylen, who had the section’s low round of Friday – a 5-under 67.
With his place in next week’s Final Stage in jeopardy, Victorian amateur Connor McDade produced a bogey-free 4-under 68 on the Open Course to move on despite starting with a 77 which left him in a share of 35th on Wednesday.
He finished a tie for eighth at 1-under and was one of three members of the Australian team at last year’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Royal Melbourne to be among the 18 players from their section to qualify for final stage.
Jye Pickin (NSW) shared fifth at 3-under, while Victoria’s Max Charles, who turned pro after a T4 finish at the Asia-Pacific, claimed a share of 15th at +1.
In Section A, the 18 qualifiers included the first-round leader Konrad Ciupek (T9 at 2-under) and recent Riversdale Cup champion Blaike Perkins who birdied his final hole to finish one shot inside the cut line in a tie for 16th at even-par.
The 72-hole Final Stage of Qualifying School, which has a confirmed field of 66 starters, gets underway on Tuesday with the top 30 finishers to earn Full Tournament Membership of the PGA of Australia and be placed in a Tournament Exemption Category.
Those players finishing beyond 30th place and ties, who complete 72 holes at Final Stage, will be eligible for Full Tournament Membership of the PGA of Australia, however, they will not hold an exemption category for the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.
All players who play 72 holes of the Final Stage will earn a pro-am exemption category and be eligible to enter adidas PGA Pro-Am series events.
Photo: WA amateur Jordan Doull
