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Bryden Macpherson’s hot 64 has thrown him into a potential weekend shootout with touring housemate Chris Wood for the Isuzu Queensland Open title.
Macpherson grabbed two eagles on par fives to bankroll his eight-under-par round on a hectic Friday at Pelican Waters Golf Club outside Caloundra.
Some players in the field were trying to clear 27 holes in the day to make up for the big rain interruption when the course was hit by a wild squall on Thursday.
Victorian Macpherson’s 72-64 start has got him to eight-under-par which was matched by Queenslander Wood (68-68).
The pair will in the mix going into Saturday but they had completed their second rounds before first round leaders Michael Wright, Andrew Martin, Blake Windred and David Bransdon had got rolling after their 67s.
Macpherson’s first eagle on his third hole, the par five 12th, augured well for a positive day.
“I hit a nice drive and three wood to about 35 feet but I hit the putt way too hard. I was lucky that one went in because it hit the hole with a lot of speed,” Macpherson said.
A fine chip dropped in the front of the hole for another eagle three holes from home.
Winning the Moonah Links Classic last month has given Macpherson extra confidence and calmness.
“Obviously, it boosts the confidence to see some results from what you feel you can do,” Macpherson said.
The compact shotmaker is less of the hyper-intense silo he once was when trying to parlay his dream start as an amateur at the 2012 Masters at Augusta into a full-blown career in the US.
“I’ve moved on from the pure competitive nature of just playing golf and that being my entire existence,” Macpherson, 30, said.
“I’m done with the stresses when playing and worrying about my game when I leave the golf course…those were my 20s.
“I’m just enjoying playing golf as a member of the tour in Australia now.”
His marriage to American wife Christina last year has been part of the mellowing process although you still feel Macpherson would treat a game of Monopoly like an AFL grand final.
The home barista is a double espresso sort of guy and always will be.
Chinese teenager Guxin Chen (69-68), lone American Derek Ackerman (68-69) and NSW golfer Dale Williamson (68-69) posted seven-under early for 36 holes.
Pelican Waters member Shae Wools-Cobb made a strong move to six-under with his 67 on Friday while NT PGA champion Aaron Pike shot 66 to reach the same mark.
Macpherson, Wood, Brett Rankin and Tim Hart are sharing a house just two minutes from Pelican Waters this week.
“We can let off some steam together, eat and have a drink and not talk too much golf,” Macpherson said.
Hart could also have been in contention. He was six-under through 11 holes in his second round before a double bogey-double bogey finish flattened his round into a tame two-under 70.
Contending for his state Open has always been an ambition for Wood.
“I played 22 holes on the day, chipped and putted well, was steady and stayed in the round when I had to,” said Wood, a Wynnum Golf Club member.
“It’s nice to play a course you know pretty well and this is a trophy I’ve always wanted to win being in my home state.”
An eagle on the opening hole of his second round has catapulted Gold Coast amateur Lewis Hoath to the top of the leaderboard at the Isuzu Queensland Open.
It may be a blink in time or a signal for the rest of a hectic Friday with some golfers in line for 27 holes to catch-up on Thursday’s rain-hit first round.
Hoath birdied two of his final three holes early in the day to complete his first round as a fine four-under-par 68.
He had a short break and was back out on the course to grab his eagle on the 500m par five first hole to reach six-under.
Queensland’s Chris Wood (68) grabbed two early birdies in the second round to join him at the top at six-under through 22 holes.
Their second round starts jumped them ahead of the four first round leaders who carded 67s…Queensland veteran Michael Wright, 2015 Queensland Open champion David Bransdon, in-form Victorian Andrew Martin and Newcastle’s Blake Windred.
Defending champion Anthony Quayle predicted that 20-under would be a winning score this week and Friday’s early scoring suggested such a target is within range.
NSW golfer Travis Smyth finished his opening round (68) and picked up an early second round birdie to get to five-under.
Chuna’s Guxin Chen (69) moved to five-under as well with two second round birdies through seven holes.
Sam Brazel’s fine par save with a long bunker shot from wet sand on his final hole for a morning 69 got him into contention.
Brilliant par save from the wet sand for @SamBrazelGolf on his closing hole for a quality 69 in Rd1 #QldOpen @PGAofAustralia pic.twitter.com/6WBkUSgfMg
— Isuzu #QldOpen (@GolfAustQLD) March 11, 2021
The six female players in the field were hanging tough with Stephanie Kyriacou and amateur Grace Kim carding 74s to open.
Follow the live Queensland Open leaderboard at pga.org.au.
Australian golf’s man-of-the-moment Andrew Martin produced a five-birdie streak at the Isuzu Queensland Open as his encore to last Sunday’s four eagles.
It was a remarkable show of focus from the Bendigo pro who would have been excused if he had a letdown round after waiting so long for his breakthrough tournament success.
Instead, he carried the stellar form of his closing 61 to win The Players Series Sydney into a fine five-under-par 67 for the joint lead at Pelican Waters Golf Club.
Queensland veteran Michael Wright, Newcastle’s Blake Windred, 2015 Queensland Open champion David Bransdon and young Pelican Waters amateur Justin Morley share the frontrunning on five-under with him.
Caloundra amateur Chris Crabtree had a hot round going when five-under after eight holes but pulling his tee shot into trees on his 16th hole for double bogey and a triple bogey from the trees on the last scuttled things.
Half the field failed to finish their rounds because of a near-three hour play suspension on Thursday morning when a Queensland downpour saturated the course outside Caloundra.
Morley will be one out early from 7am (AEST) on Friday to finish the final two holes of his opening round. He grabbed five birdies in 16 holes before the horn blew to bring in the wet brigade for the day.
Martin had two safe pars behind him when rain forced the morning field off the course and he trundled to eight straight before his round exploded.
He had a run of six birdies in eight holes and five in a row. There were no chip-ins this time just more solid ball-striking and putting.
“I was a bit sluggish after the rain delay but five in a row does help,” the understated Martin said.
He drained a superb 12m left-to-right putt that accounted for a fair bit of grain on the par three fifth, his 14th hole of the day.
Keeping his focus was easier than you’d expect.
“We have NSW Open next week and a fair bit of time off after that so it’s knuckle down time when I’m playing good golf. I can enjoy things afterwards,” Martin said.
Bransdon joked that he’s glad he can still play golf because he has no future as a home-school teacher for his youngest children James, 8, and Olivia, 11.
“I did two lots of home-schooling for 10 weeks during the Victorian lockdown (for COVID) last year and I’m definitely better at golf,” he said.
Bransdon clearly enjoys the positional golf and the strong iron play that Greg Norman-designed courses demand. He won this event at Norman’s Brookwater Golf and Country Club in 2015 and set the Pelican Waters course record of 63 in last year’s opening round.
“I only took out driver four times. It’s a course that demands good iron play and that plays to my strength,” Bransdon said.
Windred, 23, made his fifth and final birdie with a fine up-and-down from the compact wet sand in the bunker on the par five 17th.
He hit a six iron to just over a metre on the fifth with “some of the heaviest rain I’ve played in coming down and a wet glove.”
He had nearly three hours to dwell on that putt for his first birdie because he was called off course at that point.
“I actually didn’t think about the putt so I just went out and…yeah, sunk it,” Windred said.
“It can be a dark place mentally on rainy days like this when you don’t know what sort of play is going to be possible.
“An egg and bacon McMuffin and a latte definitely helped during the rain break and some joking with the other guys. It felt like I was starting my round again.”
Defending champion Anthony Quayle (68) had a composed round, Jake McLeod (70) felt his round was ragged and Dalby leftie Lawry Flynn (68) was best of the strong amateur contingent.
Derek Ackerman, the sole American in the field, is four-under with one hole still to complete. He was upbeat but did give a sense of the difficulty with the ball flying two clubs less in heavy rain, cutting through the drizzle without issue and flying or not from the wet rough.
Steph Kyriacou, who started birdie-birdie, and young amateur Grace Kim both shot two-over 74 on a day when the sodden course played at its longest off the back tees.
Caloundra local Chris Crabtree produced a short, sharp birdie burst before a sudden rain squall stalled Thursday’s opening round of the Isuzu Queensland Open.
Play was halted after just 75 minutes of play at Pelican Waters Golf Club. A two-hour, 45-minute suspension of play kept players on hold while stubborn rain cleared, waterlogged fairways drained and pools in bunkers receded for a 10.30am (AEST) resumption.
Amateur Crabtree was off in the first group on the 10th tee at 6.30am.
As a long time member of Pelican Waters, Crabtree was at home.
He was three-under-par for his first five holes and was staring at another top birdie chance from just under 4m on the par-three 15th when players were called off the course.
Top female pro Steph Kyriacou started birdie-birdie in a super start before the rain came. The six women in the field are playing off the same back markers as the men this week.
Defending champion Anthony Quayle hit a pinpoint driver 275m on his second hole, the 311m par four 11th. A neat pitch and a short putt had him off to a perfect start.
Shae Wools-Cobb owes the Isuzu Queensland Open his best golf after over-complicating his home course advantage at Pelican Waters during last year’s tournament.
Wools-Cobb, 25, will tee off in Thursday’s opening round at Pelican Waters with confidence from the highest finish of his formative professional career.
The young Sunshine Coast golfer from Mudjimba, just up the highway from Pelican Waters, finished tied third last Sunday in The Players Series Sydney where he produced one of his hottest rounds as a pro.
His seven-under-par 64 to open the tournament was just the reinforcement he needed to show all the work he is putting in with coach Grant Field is paying off.
When the COVID-19 pandemic stopped Australian tournament golf in its tracks a year ago, Wools-Cobb hit the practice range when he was restricted to a single four-round tournament in 11 months.
He’s also a member at Maroochy River Golf Club but works with Field at Pelican Waters, beside Caloundra, on the same practice range where PGA Tour star Cameron Smith tunes up when in town.
“I’m usually known for being a really good putter who has to hole a lot to keep in tournaments,” Wools-Cobb said.
“I hit all 18 greens in that 64 and just feel I’ve been hitting the ball a lot more solid since the resumption (of tournaments) in January.”
Those who know Wools-Cobb will always tell you he is a super hard marker on his own game. When he sighs that he’s hit a ball thin but straight it’s often an eight-out-of-10 shot on the eye. He’s chasing the perfection that all golfers do.
Wools-Cobb went to Maroochydore State High and plays regular Saturday and Sunday competitions at Pelican Waters so this really is a home game this week.
He never capitalised on that head start with a poor 73-78 flop to miss the cut at the same course last year.
“I have high hopes this week and I’ve definitely learnt a lot from last year when it felt weird playing a tournament on a course I play all the time,” Woos-Cobb said.
“I’m super-aggressive when I play in a normal Saturday or Sunday comp but shied away from that in the tournament and came unstuck being too conservative.”
Where he’d normally fade a big driver down the tough par four 18 to leave a seven iron approach, he took three wood and left himself a much longer iron for an approach shot. He bogeyed the hole both days.
The nines have been flipped this year so the 18th will play as the ninth.
“The Queensland Open is where I made my debut as a professional in 2018 so it’s always really special to play it,” the former top amateur said.
“I remember those early days as a pro and all the tension in my short game.
“It all just clicked with my good finish (15th) at the Australian Open in 2019 and I’ve just carried on from that with better golf.”
Jason Day has accepted that there are areas of him game that need tightening up if he is to break a winless drought that is now stretching close to three years.
Positioned just outside the top 10 heading into the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Day’s Sunday started to come unstuck at the hole that champion Bryson DeChambeau made his own this week, the par-5 sixth.
As DeChambeau had the Florida fans roaring with his cross-lake tee shot that on Sunday finished just 88 yards short of the hole at the 565-yard par 5, Day found the water with his driver on his way to a double-bogey.
Four bogeys on the back nine added up to a final round of 7-over 79 and a tie for 31st, still the best finish of any of the Aussies at Bay Hill Club and Lodge, but with recognition that he has work to do before he returns to the winner’s circle.
“It feels really close to playing some good golf, but I feel like I got a lot of work to do before I can really believe that I can kind of win out here again,” Day said.
“And I’m not saying that in a negative way at all, I just feel like there’s a few areas of my game that just need to be tightened up and it’s not that far away.
“I don’t have any issues with my body so there’s no excuses in regards to that. I can go out and work as hard as I can. I can putt as long as I want to, which is great.
“Overall, I think it’s been moving in the right direction, which has been a plus.
“I’ve just got to focus on what I’ve been doing great and just try and tighten up the areas that I need to tighten up and then get back to winning. That’s all I can focus on.”
The 2016 champion at Bay Hill, Day returns to another tournament venue where he has had success this week, TPC Sawgrass for the THE PLAYERS Championship a year on from when the TOUR was forced to shut down due to the looming threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Kind of a whirlwind year to be honest. It’s kind of crazy that it’s already been a year. But also it feels
like it’s been a long year as well,” Day said, the TOUR suspending the season prior to the second round of THE PLAYERS last year.
“I think everyone is excited to get back to the PLAYERS Championship next week. I think everyone’s just excited to get back and play it again and I heard it’s in tremendous condition.
“I’m excited to get back.”
Coming on the back of her best LPGA Tour finish on US soil, Sarah Kemp was once again the pick of the Aussie girls at the LPGA Drive On Championship, recording her best round of the week in the final round to finish tied for 34th.
After a strong start Katherine Kirk struggled on Sunday, starting with three straight bogeys on her way to a 5-over 77.
PGA TOUR
Arnold Palmer Invitational
Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando, Florida
T31 Jason Day 70-72-68-79—289
T49 Danny Lee 73-71-71-77—292
MC Matt Jones 76-72—148
MC Cameron Davis 76-72—148
MC Cameron Percy 72-76—148
MC Marc Leishman 74-75—149
LPGA Tour
LPGA Drive On Championship
Golden Ocala Golf Club, Ocala, Florida
T8 Lydia Ko 69-72-72-71—284 $US30,463
T34 Sarah Kemp 72-72-74-71—289 $8,499
T48 Katherine Kirk 69-72-73-77—291 $5,469
MC Sarah Jane Smith 77-78—15
Victorian Andrew Martin has broken through for the biggest win of his professional career but it took a world record four eagles and his lowest score in 15 years on tour to do it.
Beginning the final round of The Players Series Sydney eight shots from the top of the leaderboard, Martin sent statisticians and leaderboard attendants into a frenzy with a front nine at Bonnie Doon Golf Club that featured four eagles, a birdie and a bogey to draw within striking distance of overnight leader Charlie Dann.
Three bogeys in succession by Dann after the turn saw Martin edge clear and when he completed his 10-under 61 with a birdie at the 18th hole set a clubhouse total of 18-under for the likes of Dann and Jordan Zunic to chase.
A birdie at the par-5 14th brought Dann back to within one but a birdie chance at 17 that came up inches shy of the cup and a final chance at 18 that never threatened the hole secured Martin a win that will live long in the history books.
His score of 61 is believed to be the lowest final round to win in the history of the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia and he joins the likes of Gordon Brand Jnr (1986), Willie Wood (1990), Scott McCarron (1995), Mikko Ilonen (2003) and Haotong Li (2019) to record four eagles in a single round on a major tour.
His three eagles in succession from the seventh hole also matches the effort of Finland’s Toni Hakula at the Abierto de Chile in 2019, the only player to achieve the feat in any PGA Tour-sanctioned tour event.
The 2004 Australian Amateur champion has been a prolific winner in pro-am events since turning professional in 2005 but at 36 years of age was struggling to put into words what such a victory represented.
“It’s still a bit of a whirlwind,” Martin explained. “To shoot 10-under, that’s still hard to get through my head, but mainly just the support of my family and my wife Rachel has given me to be able to keep doing this because it is tough in Australia to make a living here.
“I’ve never really fallen out of love with the game. I’ve always wanted to do it and if I was ever going to stop playing it would be a hard pill to swallow because I still feel there is a lot I want to achieve.
“This is one little box ticked but there a couple more I want to do. It’s just good to show that my game is still there.”
Runner-up at both the NZ PGA and Queensland PGA in 2012, Martin’s Sunday charge began when he holed a pitching wedge for eagle on the 386-metre par-4 third and backed it up with a birdie at the par-4 fourth. A bogey at the par-3 sixth was the only misstep on Sunday and was followed by a stretch of golf rarely seen anywhere in the world.
Two good shots into the par-5 seventh set up an eagle from pin-high, he chipped in from the front-edge at the 268m par-4 eighth and picked up his sixth shot in the space of three holes when he chipped in from the left of the green at the par-5 ninth.
It was at that point that the prospect of winning the tournament – and shooting the magical 59 – first entered Martin’s mind.
“After eight when I chipped in there I thought, I’ve got to be close,” said Martin after his best round in a tour event and second only to a 59 he shot in a Saturday comp at his home club Neangar Park.
“I just wanted to shoot a good score to be honest. Try and jump up the leaderboard and four eagles obviously helped that.
“After I holed the putt on 11 I thought I must have been right up there.
“Without having scorecards you don’t have it there to look at every time you open your yardage book and see your score.
“You can click the leaderboard on your phone but I decided to just keep doing what I was doing and then sign the screen when I got in.”
Philosophical about being run down by such an extraordinary round of golf, Dann remained positive about his performance over the four days at Bonnie Doon but admitted that he struggled to jump off once he boarded the dreaded ‘bogey train’ at the 10th hole.
“It’s definitely called the bogey train for a reason; that train was moving,” said Dann in what is his best result in a PGA Tour of Australasia event.
“Things spiralled for me at the eighth by hitting that chip into the grain and didn’t make the contact I wanted. I was also fighting for a par on the next, the par 5, which has been good to me this week.
“Things just went from there and in this game when you’re in a bit of a spiral times the pressure of the situation, it just kept happening and I was trying to work for a par.
“Very different experience for me for sure.”
It was a new experience too for Elvis Smylie who climbed into a share of third in his debut professional event with a final round of 6-under 65 for a four-round total of 15-under, level with Australian Amateur champion Louis Dobbelaar, Brett Rankin, Shae Wools-Cobb and Jordan Zunic.
A third successive round of 1-under 70 saw amateur Grace Kim finish as the best female in the field in a tie for 28th while Kogarah Golf Club’s Ali Rachid completed a wire-to-wire win of the TPS Junior Invitational, a second round of 2-over 73 giving him a three-shot buffer from Fletcher Murray, Jye Halls, Daley Loumanis and Blake Phillips.
Andrew Martin has won his maiden ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia title with a two-stroke victory over Charlie Dann at #ThePlayersSeries Sydney presented by Cisco Webex.
Starting the final round tied for 14th at 8-under the card, Martin took advantage of lighter winds than the previous three days to make eagle on the par-4 third hole before adding a birdie at the fourth.
A further three consecutive eagles on holes seven, eight and nine propelled the Bendigo local up the leaderboard to second place as he made the turn.
A birdie at 11 lowered his score further before adding a final birdie at 18 to go to a fourth round total of 10-under and the lead of The Players Series tournament at 18-under.
Overnight leader Dann carded a final round of even-par to take outright second place at Bonnie Doon Golf Club with a total of 16-under.
Pro debutant Elvis Smylie, amateur Louis Dobbelaar, Brett Rankin, Shae Wools-Cobb and Jordan Zunic tied for third place at 15-under.
Amateur Grace Kim was the highest placed female, finishing T28 at 7-under while Ali Rachid won the The Players Series Junior Invitational by two strokes with a final score of +5.
More to come.
Follow live scores from The Players Series Sydney presented by Cisco Webex
Dinner with his girlfriend and a customary M&M McFlurry will form the basis for Charlie Dann’s preparation to turn a three-shot lead into a maiden professional triumph at The Players Series Sydney at Bonnie Doon Golf Club on Sunday.
With the wind and firming putting surfaces tormenting many of the leading players in the third round on Saturday, Dann’s composed 5-under 66 and 16-under total created a three-shot buffer to 2020 Queensland Open champion Jordan Zunic with Dale Williamson and Shae Wools-Cobb two shots further back in a tie for third at 11-under.
The 2018 NSW Open champion, Jake McLeod moved within striking distance of the top of the leaderboard with a fine round of 5-under 66 on Saturday, picking up four birdies in a bogey-free back nine to earn a share of fifth at 10-under alongside Blake Windred (68), Australian Amateur champion Louis Dobbelaar (68) and Brett Rankin, whose 7-under 64 was the best of day three.
But Dann is the man they all have to catch after he recovered from an early bogey at the par-4 second with birdies at four, seven and eight and an eagle three at the par-5 ninth for the second day in a row.
The 28-year-old dropped shots at 10 and 17 but birdies at 12, 14 and 15 ensured a handy advantage ahead of his quest to record a breakthrough PGA Tour of Australasia triumph.
Admitting that he is both “scared and excited” about what is to come on Sunday, the Sunshine Coast product said that he is comfortable with feeling uncomfortable as the front-runner through 54 holes.
“I was nervous at the start. I was nervous all last night because I haven’t been in that position,” Dann said of leading at the halfway point of the tournament.
“If you’re putting yourself in uncomfortable positions on the golf course you know you’re doing something usually quite well.
“I was pretty excited to be nervous, which was cool. I felt it for the first three holes but then flicked a little switch and felt somewhat comfortable. It was really fun the rest of the day.
“I’m going to have a nice dinner with my girlfriend tonight and you know what, if we walk past McDonald’s, I’m not going to not go in.”
Coached by Grant Field the past six years, Dann said that the confidence in his putting stems from the sheer amount of golf he has played since heading to Victoria in mid-January, a tie for 11th at the Moonah Links PGA Classic his best result in the events that count towards the Order of Merit.
“I’ve done a lot of putting over the last six months but I got really technical through that whole period because I wasn’t playing any events but playing these events, I’ve kind of just willed them in,” added Dann.
“I feel like I’ve taken all the pressure off my stroke and I just try to have good tempo. If I’ve got a good mindset over most of them, I’m sure they’re going to go in.”
A regular travelling companion of Dann, Dale Williamson will start the final round five shots adrift but knows that if he can keep a relatively clean card will give himself chances to bridge the gap.
A quadruple-bogey on Thursday and a double-bogey at the par-3 sixth on Saturday has given the Killara Golf Club member ground to make up but he intends to take an attacking mindset in his chase of a first professional win.
“If I can eliminate a couple of those mistakes and get close to having a bogey-free round where I know I’m going to have a lot of birdies, I should be able to get thereabouts,” said Williamson.
“The birdies have come pretty easy this week, it’s just been keeping the other stuff off the card. I’ve had a lot of birdies and a few eagles but just trying to stay consistent and get rid of the other rubbish.”
And if Dann wins, Williamson intends to have a McFlurry waiting for him on the 18th green.
“I won’t be handing it to him (if he wins); I’ll be tipping it on his head.”
Like Dobbelaar, Grace Kim is fresh from an Australian Amateur championship victory and leads the ladies remaining in the field at 6-under par, LPGA Tour player Su Oh two shots further back at 4-under and Doey Choi and Breanna Gill both at 2-under.
The 36-hole TPS Junior Invitational also commenced on Saturday with Kogarah Golf Club’s Ali Rachid leading the way at 3-over, one stroke clear of Blake Phillips (Concord GC), Ella Scaysbrook (Port Macquarie GC) and Daley Loumanis (St Michael’s GC).
