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As Jamie Arnold and Tim Stewart paced the 2,500 square metre space in east Atlanta scribbling a potential floor plan on the back of a napkin, the concept of an indoor golf facility wasn’t the key. It was the idea.
Any idea.
The latest idea.
The craziest idea.
Most importantly, whatever got them to the best idea.
There would be what Arnold references as the “light bulb moment” but it was only possible because they disregarded convention and asked the simple question: ‘What would we want from an indoor golf centre?’
“Everybody that walks in asks, ‘Where did you design this from?’ And Tim and I say, nowhere, because we’ve never seen this before,” says Arnold, a PGA of Australia Tournament Member since 2007.
“We’ve travelled the world playing golf and there’s nothing like this.
“The only way we could make it work was being creative.”
Through his father Colin – a PGA Professional of 50 years who spent more than 30 years at Cronulla Golf Club, Arnold has had a connection to the PGA from the day he was born.
Winner of the Australian Amateur in 2006, Stewart became a Tour Professional in 2008 before completing the Tour Professional Articulation and becoming a full Vocational Member in 2016.
He says that Arnold’s career playing in the US and his own international playing experience was critical in shaping their vision.
“Initially, our goal was to bring golf to the forefront for parents with kids and try to get golf to be more accessible for people over here, like it is for us in Australia,” Stewart explains.
“We tried to build our facility in a way that we could maximise its impact for people looking to learn golf without any of the typical barriers for entry.
“Our opportunity to travel around the world playing golf at so many amazing facilities really helped us in our concept and with that, avoid mistakes we had seen and build what we thought a golf facility should look like from our perspective.”
The genius in the space that is now Golf House Academy is its versatility.
Arnold describes it as a football field that can be split into four quadrants.
When completely opened up – with glass walls that encase the High Performance Swing Lab – people who walk in can see the entire space from front to back, including the 18-hole, 111-foot-long putting green.
But the space can be split in half for group lessons, cordoned off for individual lessons or separated in such a way that a group of friends can come in and hit balls beside each other as they would on a range.
It was that flexibility that made Arnold, Stewart and their business partners reframe who they thought it would appeal to.
Observing the success that Aussie Kids Golf Academy was having in the city, Arnold saw opportunity in the family demographic in the east of Atlanta yet has been surprised at the clientele they have attracted in the first three months of opening.
“Families come in with their kids and want to do a lesson while their son takes part in a clinic,” Arnold adds.
“This is accessible for everyone, whether you’re a tour pro or an absolute beginner.
“There are no dress codes, we have golf clubs, we have everything.
“There’s a massive market of people that tell us that there was nowhere for them to practice or play.
“It’s been massive among women who can be intimidated going to a driving range.
“We crank the music. We ask what kind of playlist they want to listen to and off we go.”
Making the space open, light and inviting was also a key focus in the design.
Skylights bathe the facility in natural light and the detail in the furnishings was such that people come in and show no inclination that they want to leave.
Complementing that atmosphere is a staff that treat visitors more as friends than clients.
“Our secret sauce is people come in expecting X and they leave with X and Y,” says Arnold.
“Part of that is our culture in Australia, being personable, nice, giving them a great experience.
“If the lesson’s an hour and they’re not hitting it well or whatever, our coaches will regularly run 10 minutes, 20 minutes or 30 minutes over.
“Our staff are absolutely phenomenal. They’re really good people. They’re not clients, they’re really friends.”
Arnold acknowledges that property prices in Australia can make it prohibitive to establish a centre the size of Golf House Academy.
Yet he urges PGA Professionals looking at new business opportunities to explore every idea and to not be afraid to do it differently to everyone else.
Among their innovations, Golf House Academy boasts retractable vinyl walls that give the space flexibility and a game-changing use of impact screens that completely altered how they could maximise their footprint.
“The width of the back space is almost 20 metres so if you use a net, you need four feet between it and the wall,” Arnold explains.
“Tim had the idea of using an impact screen which means you only need 30 centimetres off the wall. That gave us an extra five or six feet, which was huge.
“Once that happened, everything fell into place.
“That was a light bulb moment for sure.”
Jason Norris returned to the scene of one of the biggest highlights of his golf career to take a one-shot lead heading into day two of the Vuksich & Borich Fiji Legends Golf Classic this afternoon.
The Queensland-based Victorian scored a four-shot win in the 2017 Fiji International, a tournament co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia, DP World Tour and Asian Tour, banking the biggest cheque of his career.
Now one of the best players on the over-50s PGA Legends Tour, Norris shot a 1-under 71 on day one to lead defending champion Peter Senior and Martin Peterson by a shot, with a group of four players – Roland Baglin, Chris Hollingsworth, Mark Boulton and Christopher Taylor – a further shot back on 1-over.
It’s the first time Norris has returned to Natadola Bay since he defended his Fiji International title in 2018.
“It’s a great feeling to be back,” Norris said.
“I didn’t play as well as the time I won but the course is magnificent. I just love it and love being here.
“It is a tough golf course and the thing for me this year is that previously I’d only ever played off the back tees. We’re a tee forward and it’s a completely different golf course.
“I had no idea what clubs to hit at times.”
Leaderboard
71: Jason Norris
72: Peter Senior, Martin Peterson
73: Roland Baglin, Chris Hollingsworth, Mark Boulton, Christopher Taylor
74: Andre Stolz, Grahame Stinson, David Fearns, John Onions
Defending champion Sam Brazel has urged more young players to cut their teeth on the pro-am circuit ahead of a bolstered PIMS Group Mackay Pro-Am in Mackay starting Thursday.
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.”
Adam Scott’s record streak of major championship appearances could end at the hands of fellow Australian Cam Davis after the pair played out a gripping playoff at US Open Qualifying in Ohio.
Davis’s childhood idol was a Presidents Cup teammate and fourball partner less than two years ago but on what has become known as golf’s longest day, it was Scott that stood between Davis and a start at next week’s US Open at Pinehurst No.2.
Among the 64 starters vying for four spots at Springfield Country Club, Davis and Scott finished level after 36 holes at 7-under par.
But that would be just the start of the drama.
Seeking to extend his run of 91 consecutive majors dating back to the 2001 Open Championship, Scott chipped in on the first playoff hole, only to watch on as Davis converted his birdie chance from just outside 12 feet to extend the playoff to a second hole.
UNBELIEVABLE PLAYOFF DRAMA!
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 4, 2024
Adam Scott chips in and Cam Davis shows nerves of steel by rolling a birdie right behind him! pic.twitter.com/6MqYheJG5p
The pair split the second playoff hole with pars before Davis stepped up and hit his approach shot at the third playoff hole to tap-in range, Scott coming up short in his attempt to conjure a birdie of his own.
Currently ranked No.60 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Scott won’t have the opportunity to improve his ranking before the qualification cut-off on Monday, his status as first alternate now subject to the USGA’s ruling on how to treat Grayson Murray’s place in the field.
Ranked No.58 in the world at the end of the May 20 qualifying period, Murray was exempt for the US Open prior to his tragic passing two weeks ago, the USGA still to determine whether that spot will be reallocated.
Cam Davis comes up CLUTCH!
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 4, 2024
Made the birdie putt to earn the final qualifying spot out of Springfield and knock fellow Aussie Adam Scott to first alternate. pic.twitter.com/GqHq2wNT1y
It could open the door for Scott to play major number 92, a streak Davis was unaware he was potentially ending.
“I was not aware of that,” Davis told Golf Channel after playing his 39th and final hole of the day.
“I don’t think I would have tried any less… damn. It just goes to show how good a player he is. I had to hit a cracking shot to get on top of him.
“He’s been an idol of mine; it was great to play great golf against him.
“Hopefully he still finds a way in. He’s right on the bubble world-ranking wise so fingers crossed we can both be there. That would be a lot of fun.”
Finishing outside the top 35 in each of his past four starts on the PGA TOUR, Davis’s best result this year is a tie for 12th at The Masters at Augusta National.
Scheduled to play the Memorial Tournament this week, Davis was not only excited by the form he showed across more than two rounds on Monday but the prospect of playing Pinehurst for the first time.
“It’s one of those courses you have grown up seeing multiple times; you just want to get out there and see what it’s like,” said the 29-year-old from Sydney.
“Great golf here is a great stepping stone to playing great golf there.
“It’s going to be a completely different golf course – and we’ve got a completely different tournament next week which will be very different to the week after.
“I’ve got to adjust from where I’m at now for next week and then hopefully the legs are still fresh and we can turn around and play some great golf the week after.
“I’m glad I’ve got the opportunity and I’d love to take it with both hands.”
Davis was the only Australian to earn a spot through Final Qualifying on Monday with Daniel Gale (Ohio State University Golf Club), Rhein Gibson (Duke University Golf Club), Harrison Crowe (Canoe Brook Country Club), Lucas Herbert, Marc Leishman, Karl Vilips (all Woodmont Country Club), Aiden Didone, Scott Hend (both The Bear’s Club), Harrison Endycott (Cherry Hill Club) and Grant Booth, Matt Jones and Wade Ormsby (all Lake Merced Golf Club) all missing out.
Australian Minjee Lee has endured a horror back nine to let a third major championship slip through her fingers at the US Women’s Open.
Tied for the lead and playing in the final group at Lancaster Country Club, the two-time major champion was the leader by two after the first hole on Sunday.
Her birdie from just outside 10 feet and bogeys by 54-hole co-leaders Wichanee Meechai and Andrea Lee gave Lee a front-running position that she seemed destined to maintain.
When Andrea Lee made double-bogey on four and Meechai tripled the par-3 sixth after finding the penalty area with her tee shot, Minjee’s lead had grown to three strokes despite a three-putt bogey of her own on six.
Lee let a birdie chance slip by the right edge of the hole at the par-5 seventh yet would stand on the tee of the par-4 ninth three shots in front of the field at 4-under par.
A tee shot that found the fairway bunker led to a bogey on nine which would signify the beginning of the end.
Another three-putt on 10 saw Minjee fall into a tie for the lead with eventual champion Yuka Saso (68) at 2-under, but the tables would soon turn dramatically.
As Saso birdied the par-5 13th ahead, Minjee’s tee shot at the treacherous par-3 12th trickled back into the penalty area fronting the green, the double-bogey putting her three shots back in the blink of an eye.
It was a place from which she was unable to recover, making a second double-bogey on 14 followed by bogey on 15 for a final round of 8-over 78 and tie for ninth, seven shots back of Saso.
“I started good. Felt like I hit it pretty good; just missed a couple putts for birdie early and then I kind of blew up from there,” was Lee’s frank admission post-round.
“Obviously I’m going to acknowledge my disappointment and then come back stronger, take the positives out of the week.
“It’s a lot of pressure on the last day, so wasn’t my best performance but I’m sure there will be many better performances ahead.”
As Lee struggled, fellow West Australian Hannah Green matched the low round of the tournament, climbing into a tie for 16th with a 4-under 66 with Sarah Kemp and Gabriela Ruffels both even par for their final rounds.
Birdies at seven, nine and 11 generated the momentum that Green had been chasing all week, completing her climb up the leaderboard with birdies from five and three feet at 16 and 17.
“I feel like I gave myself better putts for birdie today, a lot more uphill putts, which was nice,” said Green.
“I felt like the first few rounds I had a lot of double breakers that had a couple feet of break. You can’t be aggressive with those because your eye is just not used to seeing that.
“The game plan was pretty much the same the entire week, it was just the execution that was different today.”
It was a near miss, too, for Rod Pampling at the Principal Charity Classic on the PGA TOUR Champions.
Tied for the lead entering the final round at Wakonda Club in Des Mines, Pampling kept pace with Ernie Els on the front nine but the South African surged clear with two birdies and an eagle shortly after the turn, Pampling’s 3-under 69 good enough for a share of third.
Kirsten Rudgeley finished just two shots shy of the playoff as she grabbed a top-five finish at the Dormy Open Helsingborg on the Ladies European Tour while Kiwi Ryan Fox continued his strong form on the PGA TOUR with a tie for seventh at the RBC Canadian Open.
Photo: Chris Keane/USGA
Results
US Women’s Open
Lancaster Country Club, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
1 Yuka Saso 68-71-69-68—276 $US2.4m
T9 Minjee Lee 70-69-66-78—283 $271,732.67
T16 Hannah Green 76-71-72-66—285 $161,840.67
T29 Sarah Kemp 75-72-72-70—289 $68,873.14
T51 Gabriela Ruffels 75-73-75-70—293 $26,209
T58 Amelia Garvey (NZ) 76-71-74-73—294 $23,035.89
MC Lydia Ko (NZ) 80-73—153
MC Steph Kyriacou 77-76—153
MC Keeley Marx (a) 76-81—157
PGA TOUR
RBC Canadian Open
Hamilton Golf & Country Club, Hamilton, Ontario
1 Robert MacIntyre 64-66-66-68—264 $US1.692m
T7 Ryan Fox (NZ) 66-64-70-70—270 $295,317
T42 Adam Scott 70-69-70-69—278 $29,986
MC Aaron Baddeley 77-71—148
MC Harrison Endycott 72-79—151
DP World Tour
European Open
Green Eagle Golf Courses, Hamburg, Germany
1 Laurie Canter 68-66-73-72—279 €392,765.45
T65 Daniel Hillier (NZ) 77-70-77-77—301 €5,660.44
MC Haydn Barron 77-71—148
MC Jason Scrivener 75-76—151
MC Sam Jones (NZ) 76-75—151
MC David Micheluzzi 74-78—152
Ladies European Tour
Dormy Open Helsingborg
Allerum Golf Club, Sweden
1 Perrine Delacour 68-70-67—205 €45,000
T5 Kirsten Rudgeley 69-71-67—207 €11,200
T64 Momoka Kobori (NZ) 75-70-74—219 €885
MC Amy Walsh 73-76—149
Korn Ferry Tour
UNC Health Championship
Raleigh Country Club, Raleigh, North Carolina
1 Kaito Onishi 68-69-69-66—272 $US180,000
T38 Rhein Gibson 72-70-66-73—281 $4,915
MC Brett Drewitt 71-72—143
MC Dimi Papadatos 66-77—143
PGA TOUR Champions
Principal Charity Classic
Wakonda Club, Des Moines, Iowa
1 Ernie Els 62-68-65—195 $US300,000
T3 Rod Pampling 65-65-69—199 $120,000
T6 Vijay Singh (FI) 64-68-68—200 $76,000
T8 Steven Alker (NZ) 67-68-66—201 $60,000
T10 David Bransdon 68-68-66—202 $50,000
T12 Stuart Appleby 68-69-66—203 $38,400
T12 Steve Allan 69-66-68—203 $38,400
T18 Michael Wright 67-70-68—205 $23,844
T27 Richard Green 70-69-67—206 $16,600
T32 Cameron Percy 66-69-72—207 $12,133
T41 David McKenzie 70-70-68—208 $8,800
T47 John Senden 70-69-70—209 $6,400
PGA of Australia Life Member Bob Shearer has been honoured by his beloved home club in Melbourne, Southern, with a life-size bronze statue outside the clubhouse.
Shearer, who died in 2022 aged 73, was a lifelong member of the club and to the time of his passing, played regular golf at Southern.
The statue by sculptor Louis Laumen and Cameron McIndoe of Fundere Foundry depicts Shearer striping a 6-iron down the first hole.
It was unveiled by the Shearer family – wife Kathie, sons Bobby and Brett and grandson Jake on Sunday.
“Bob never sought or expected accolades, but I know for a fact he would have been humbled and completely overwhelmed with this statue as a lasting tribute to his memory,” said Kathie Shearer.
Shearer won both the main titles on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia – the PGA Championship and the Australian Open – as well as a New Zealand Open, on the US PGA Tour and the DP World Tour and is one of the all-time greats of the sport.
Beyond tour golf he rode a cart from his Dingley Village home three times a week to play at Southern. Kathie Shearer said that the family knew when golf was on his radar as he would begin humming as he shaved, a few bars of Don’t Worry Be Happy or Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling.
“This was his club, this is what he loved, and I understood it. It was his values, it was the principles, it was the inclusiveness, it was the fun, but mostly it was the camaraderie and the people.”
Southern GC President Peter Anderson observed that there was a deeper meaning deeper to the erection of a statue than Shearer’s fine quality as a player. “I trust when you see this statue, please think about the camaraderie, the friendship, the mutual respect we all have,” Anderson said.
PHOTO: The Shearer family – wife Kathie, sons Bobby and Brett and grandson Jake – at the new Bob Shearer statue unveiled on Sunday.
Two late birdies by James Mee and an untimely bogey by Tim Hart saw the pair crowned joint winners at the CMR Recycling Sarina Golf Club Pro-Am.
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.
Time to dial in his new clubs is paying off for Darcy Boyd as he takes a one-stroke lead into the final round of the CMR Recycling Sarina Golf Club Pro-Am.
Boyd shot 8-under 55 in Round 1 on Saturday to edge James Mee (56) by a single stroke with Nathan Page (57) and Tim Hart (57) a shot further back in a tie for third.
Joint winner with John Lyras at Bowen just a few days ago, Boyd wielded his new clubs that he put in the bag prior to Townsville to great effect, opening his round with three straight birdies.
There would be six more over the course of his round and a lone bogey at the par-3 16th at the 16-hole Sarina layout.
“I got a new set of clubs at Townsville and put them straight in the bag,” said Boyd.
“I hadn’t really done any testing with them and they were sort of there at Townsville, but hadn’t really dialled them in yet.
“Had a few days off before Bowen and got my numbers and started to feel comfortable with them.
“I felt like I had a lot of good numbers again today. Started with three in a row and just had perfect numbers into each and they were sort of all tap in. Felt like I did that most of the day.”
In his second year on Tour and with a win at Portsea earlier in the year, Boyd says he has returned to the North Queensland swing of the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series a more confident player.
“Last year was my first year out on Tour and I was a bit of a deer in headlights really,” he admitted.
“I thought my game was good enough, and it probably was, but in terms of just playing in the afternoon field and seeing guys shoot such low scores morning and afternoon, event after event, I probably wasn’t in the right mindset.
“I feel a bit more comfortable with it now and I think that’s just what you’ve got to do to compete, especially in this North Queensland swing.”
Two Members with a combined 110 years of service have been made Life Members of the PGA of Australia.
Kyle Francis (left) and Denis Brosnan (right) were announced as Life Members at the Annual General Meeting on Tuesday night in recognition of the more than 50 years that each have contributed to the growth of the Association and golf in Australia.
The Brosnan name is synonymous with golf equipment in Australia but Brosnan’s golf career began at the age of 12 with a part-time job in the pro shop at Virginia Golf Club in Brisbane’s north.
After a few years, Brosnan was put forward to begin his PGA Traineeship under Fred Anderson at Oxley Golf Club.
He completed his PGA training under Frank McCarthy Snr at Jindalee Golf Club, spent a few years as the PGA Professional at Caboolture Golf Club and was recruited to become the PGA Professional at Redcliffe Golf Club in 1967.
Brosnan was there for the next 24 years, working alongside his wife June – who passed away in 2016 – who would prove instrumental not only in the founding of Brosnan Golf in 1977 but in the company’s success over the coming decades.
Now in his 58th year as a PGA Professional, the establishment of 16 Golf World retail stores in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia would further entrench the Brosnan name in the consciousness of Australian golf and strengthen a love affair with the game that continues to this day.
“Golf is my life, as many of you know,” Brosnan said in a video message, his Life Membership application submitted by Nigel Lane and seconded by Wayne Grady and Richard Beer.
“I like to play golf regularly. I was the Club Professional at Redcliffe Golf Club for 24 years and it always gave me a great deal of pleasure to nurture young golfers, to bring them through, to teach golf.
“The PGA has meant so much to me over the years and, as a proud member of the Australian PGA, whether I travel throughout Australia or around the world, Australian PGA Professionals are admired. We are welcome in golf clubs all over the world.
“Thank you to the Australian PGA for the training, for the effort that they put in to nurturing and training Professionals for the future.
“The Australian PGA has a fantastic future going forward. Our current Board is brilliant, the ideas that they possess are very positive and growing.
“As a proud PGA Professional, I would like to say thank you very much.”
Kyle Francis’s influence on the PGA of Australia over the past 52 years is significant and varied.
Like Brosnan, it had humble beginnings, caddying and picking up balls for Billy Holder at The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney.
Francis completed his apprenticeship under Holder in 1971 and spent time under the legendary Alex Mercer at Royal Sydney in the late 1970s.
He was at New Brighton Golf Club for seven years before joining Concord Golf Club as Head Professional in 1987.
After a decade at Concord, Francis spent time playing again before stints working for Geoff Scott as his ‘roaming manager’ four years at Paradise Palms in Cairns before returning to Sydney and Bexley Golf Club in 2018 where he worked for five years prior to retirement.
In the 1980s, Francis became the National and State education Chairman, a role he would retain through until the mid-1990s.
He played a critical role in establishing what is now known as the ACE Program and, after joining the senior ranks in 2002, spent seven years as the Chair of the now PGA Legends Tour.
“This is the greatest honour that a member can receive and I am proud to be joining such an illustrious group of members, past and present,” Francis said in his acceptance speech.
“I’ve met many great people and made many terrific friends. I’d like to thank my lifetime friends, Col McGregor and Peter McWhinney for submitting my nomination to the Board, the Board for approving it to go to the Members and of course, all of you guys for voting for me.”
Darcy Boyd drew motivation from a John Lyras chip-in to earn a share of victory at the Abbot Point Operations Bowen Pro-Am at Bowen 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.
