Successive rounds of four-under 68 was enough for Mullaney to finish one stroke clear of the fast-finishing Bradley Kivimets (65) with David Van Raalte following up his win at Griffith to snare third at six-under par.

Edged out in extra holes by Jake Higginbottom at the Cowra Pro-Am a week ago, Mullaney moved to No.1 on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series Order of Merit with his win at Leeton.

Co-leader with Cameron Kelly after day one, Mullaney was even par through six holes of his second round before unleashing four birdies on the trot around the turn.

Five straight pars followed before Mullaney admittedly made an error, after taking a peek at the leaderboard, that led to a bogey on 16. He recovered quickly though, making birdie at the par-5 17th despite a less than stellar tee shot.

“I hit a horrendous tee shot,” Mullaney conceded. “I hit 2-iron and it only went about 180 metres.

“Hit a really good second shot to about 20 metres short of the green, chipped it to half a foot so didn’t have to stress too much over the putt.”

Leader after one round in Cowra, Mullaney was relieved to leave Leeton with the win.

“It’s always pretty tricky (to lead into the final round) but I led at Cowra going into the second day there as well so that might have helped a bit,” said Mullaney.

“It was disappointing losing in a playoff there but it’s a good feeling to get it done a week later.”

A non-Order of Merit event, the next tournament on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series schedule is the three-day Air Adventure King Island Pro-Am at Cape Wickham and Ocean Dunes golf courses.

Final scores

A two-stroke leader after the first round, Van Raalte’s second round featured two double bogeys yet he was still able to hold off the likes of Marcus Fraser and 2021 WA PGA champion Jay Mackenzie to win by four strokes at Griffith Golf Club.

Set up by a seven-under 64 in Round 1 where he played the front nine at Griffith Golf Club in just 28 strokes, the win is Van Raalte’s first on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series since 2015.

Now a regular on the SParms PGA Legends Tour, the 53-year-old refused to look at the leaderboard throughout the final round, walking off the 18th hole pleasantly surprised that he had done enough to win.

“It was a bit nervy, to be honest with you,” Van Raalte admitted of his overnight advantage.

“I thought I may have blown it on the last by making a double but in the end it was good enough to get the job done.

“Really happy to be in that situation and have a win again.”

Fraser (66-74) and Cooper Gentle (71-69) shared second spot at two-under par with Mackenzie (71-70), Dean Mulley (73-68) and Aaron Maxwell (69-72) tied for fourth at one-under.

Winner of Legends Tour Qualifying School in 2022, Van Raalte’s first round at Griffith was one to remember.

Starting from the fifth hole, he holed out for eagle from the fairway on his opening hole and then finished with three straight birdies.

At day’s end it showed a front nine of eight-under 28 with six birdies and an eagle.

“I started on five, which is a par 5, and I holed my third shot into the green to make eagle there,” Van Raalte explained.

“I hit it to about 10 feet at the next and missed it, I birdied seven, eight and nine so I turned five-under after those first five holes.

“After we played the back nine, I hit it to about 10 feet on the first. I thought I’d holed that one but missed it and I ended up making a few putts on the way back in, making birdie at two, three and four to finish.

“It would have been nice to shoot 27 but 28 is not too shabby.

“It’s about as good as I’ve done before.

“It was a pleasure to be able to do it.”

The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series remains in the Riverina where Jordan Mullaney and Cameron Kelly share the lead after Round 1 of the Leeton Golf Club SunRice Pro-Am.

Final scores

The first event of the new adidas PGA Pro-Am Series drew a strong field of seasoned Tour professionals with Higginbottom (65-67) and Jordan Mullaney (65-67) locked together at 10-under at the completion of 36 holes.

After Higginbottom made bogey on 18 to finish level with Mullaney, it was Mullaney who would make the crucial error at the first extra hole.

A tee shot that finished in the rough on the adjacent fairway left Mullaney with a near impossible shot into the green, his second finishing in an equally difficult position behind the back of the green.

Understanding the difficulty his opponent was facing, Higginbottom ensured his approach came up short of the hole, playing a chip shot to six inches and sealing victory with a par as Mullaney made bogey.

“The main goal for your second shot is to just keep it under the hole somehow,” Higginbottom explained after picking up the winner’s cheque for $7,190.

“I saw Jordan hit his second shot and saw that he hit it long and knew, from up there, that he was going to be doing very, very well to make a par.

“I actually hit quite a nice shot in, it spun off the front and left a straightforward chip up the hill. I hit a nice chip to six inches.

“It was nice for myself just to be up there and in contention again, kind of get the juices flowing.”

The juices were well and truly flowing as Higginbottom arrived at the final hole of regulation.

Cowra’s 18th green is notoriously tricky and the 29-year-old admitted that he had thoughts of his par putt getting away from him as he tried to seal the deal.

“It is a very tricky green,” Higginbottom conceded.

“I hit my first putt and obviously left it short, probably had four feet for par.

“It probably had a foot of break from four feet. I was actually quite conscious that if I hit that putt a little hard and got a high-side lip-out it was probably going to go 12 feet by.

“I tried to die it in the front, obviously it snuck under the hole but it was nice to get it done in the playoff.”

Winner of the New Zealand Open in 2012 as an amateur, Higginbottom turns 30 in October but is currently exploring a life away from the tour.

He is undertaking the Tour Professional Articulation (formerly PGA Bridging Program) as part of the PGA’s Membership Pathway Program under Ryan and Janelle Smith at Charlestown Golf Club in Newcastle.

But as he looks to the next phase of his golf career, Higginbottom didn’t close the door completely on tournament golf.

“I’ve actually been doing my bridging so I’m going to do a bit of coaching at Charlestown with Ryan and Janelle Smith,” said Higginbottom.

“Going to take a little bit of a spell from playing but we’ll see if we can get into some events throughout the year.

“I’m not saying it’s over but we’ll see how we go.”

A tournament-best seven-under 64 in the second round saw Austin Bautista finish one stroke out of the playoff to take outright third, one clear of veteran Nathan Green (68) with David Bransdon (69) rounding out the top five.

The next event on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series is the O’Neill & Brown FGC Sleepin’ Rough Invitational at Federal Golf Club in Canberra.

Final results

The final event on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series schedule saw Austin Bautista lead by three after Round 1 before Bittle unleashed a birdie barrage in Sunday’s second round.

Six strokes back at the start of the day, Bittle began with three straight birdies and made three in a row again around the turn, playing his first 10 holes in eight-under par.

That brought him level at the top of the leaderboard and he resisted the temptation to go for the green at the short par-4 12th.

He made par there and bogey on 13 but birdies on 15 and 17 for a round of nine-under 63 and 10-under total to finish three strokes clear of Queensland’s Gavin Fairfax (68) with Justin Warren (65), George Worrall (69) and Andrew Kelly (66) sharing third spot.

“You never know quite what you’re going to have before you tee off,” Bittle said of his Round 2 mindset.

“I managed to be six-under through nine to start the day and that put me tied with the overnight leader at seven (under).

“I figured that if I could get a couple more that you never know what might happen.

“I didn’t really change my game-plan throughout the day, I try not to do that. You’re always trying to play the best you can and if the game-plan changes under a certain situation then you can always put not quite a great swing on it or play a bit too aggressive.”

Winner of a $100,000 BMW courtesy of a hole-in-one at TPS Murray River, Bittle confirmed he would cash that in to fund his golf for the next few years.

Also front of mind is a big finish at The National starting Thursday as he seeks to avoid a return visit to Qualifying School.

Currently 64th on the Order of Merit, Bittle is eyeing off a top 10 at The National Golf Club to move inside the top 50.

“I’m in a position where a good week will let me avoid Q School,” said Bittle, whose best finish this season on the main tour is a tie for 12th at the NZ PGA Championship.

“I’ve had a few good rounds in the past month but I’ve only been able to put one together each week.

“If I can string two, maybe even three next week then I could be in with a look come Sunday.”

A tie for 19th was enough for Brisbane’s Tim Hart to clinch the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series Order of Merit from Matthew Millar and Brett Rankin.

Final scores

The penultimate event of the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series, the Box Hill Pro-Am drew former touring pro and now media personality Mark Allen out for a rare start but no one could keep pace with Mackenzie.

An electrical storm in the morning forced the start of play to be pushed back two hours, Mackenzie in the afternoon groups who raced the sun to the clubhouse to complete their rounds.

Rather than forcing him into error, Mackenzie credited the increased speed of play for his round of 61 and two-shot win.

“Finishing in the dark, you’re trying to finish pretty quickly, which is sometimes good,” said Mackenzie, who spent the morning watching the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play on TV.

“It helps me because I like playing a bit quicker.”

Due to safety reasons the par-5 18th was reduced to a 135-metre par 3, reducing the Box Hill Golf Club par to 69 for the day.

After his blistering start from the 12th tee, Mackenzie added three further birdies on the front nine and a ninth for the day on the par-4 10th to finish two clear of Austin Bautista (63).

David Tapping, Simon Hawkes and Kit Bittle all finished in a share of third with rounds of 64 as Mackenzie made the most of his Box Hill debut.

“First time at Box Hill, I like it,” said the champion.

“It’s not too long, which is nice. Just got to hit it straight and hole some putts which seems to be what I do.

“I had a really good start; I don’t know how. I had five birdies in a row, just hit them all pretty close and holed a couple of putts.”

The 2022-2023 adidas PGA Pro-Am Series concludes with the $50,000 Eynesbury Masters in partnership with Tasman Logistics Services starting Saturday.

The field boasts a host of ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia tournament winners along with 2006 Australian PGA champion Nick O’Hern.

Final scores

The Victorian, who was a fixture on the circuit a few years ago, had not won an event on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series since the Lang Lang Pro-Am of 2016, all of 2,563 days – or seven years and seven days ago.

He shot a seven-under par 65 to win by two shots from Ryan Lynch, and he was elated.

The 46-year-old took five years off professional golf to tend to his son before returning to the game two years ago.

“I dominated pretty much for five years and then I stopped for five years,” he said.

“My son came over to me full-time, he was very heavily involved in (AFL pathway club) the Stingrays.

“I was a full-time father and golf had to go on the back-burner. I’ve been back playing full-time golf now for two-and-a-half years and it has been a struggle. It really has.

“I don’t do things like I used to; all the young kids hit it so much further. It’s a different game. But it’s nice, I shape it a lot and the young kids, they look at me and they go, ‘Far out, old man you’ve got some pretty good game’. Which is nice.”

At Heidelberg he started out hot and “got pretty lucky” along the way.

“I played very solid, hit 16 greens, most of the fairways, had a couple of poor bogeys, unfortunately one on the par-5 and one where I thought I hit a great drive down 15. Apart from that it was very solid.

“I seriously could have had 10-under today. It’s nice to shoot seven but a win’s a win.”

Haywood is enjoying his return to professional golf although he noticed a significant change.

“I was very fortunate last year to travel and play some golf.

“These guys are too good out here to just play and then have seven days off and then play again. I’m in a different situation now. I’ve been playing nice. It’s been close.

“I didn’t realise it’d been seven years since my last win, but I knew that I’d had the five years off. For so long I had probably four or five wins a year. It’s nice to get a good win.”

The next event on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series is the Gorilla Ladders Box Hill Golf Club Pro-Am on Thursday followed by the three-day season-ending Eynesbury Masters starting Friday.

Final scores

Spectators can come and see their favourite golfers chase the $50,000 in prize money on offer, with players even giving tips to the amateurs during the tournament.

General Manager of Eynesbury Quarter Brad Alton says the tournament will include an impressive field of top golf pros, amateur players as well as big names from other sporting codes.

“We’re so excited to welcome last year’s winner, Braden Becker (pictured), who had a breakout year in 2022. He’ll also be joined by Aussie great Nick O’Hern, who beat Tiger Woods not just once, but twice in match-play.” Brad said.

“Out on the green on the first day, you’ll see them playing with Ciaron Maher and David Eustace from Ciaron Maher Racing, one of the tournament’s major sponsors.  

“On the second day, spectators can come and watch as the pros are teamed up with amateurs. Then on the third day, they can watch professional players competing alone in the final round as they chase a prize purse of $50,000. All made possible by our Major Sponsors, Tasman Logistics and Ciaron Maher Racing.

“This is a great opportunity for players and spectators to experience a top event at Eynesbury’s 18-hole championship golf course, designed by the legendary Graham Marsh.”

Spectators can also enjoy off-field entertainment, with free kids’ clinics, live music, food trucks, a beer garden and a marquee and bar on the back of the 18th green.

“The event is a great day out for every golf pro, amateur and spectator who takes part,” said Brad.

When: Friday 24 March – Sunday 26 March

What: A three-day pro-am golfing event, with each professional paired with three or four amateurs.

Where: Eynesbury Golf Course, 487 Eynesbury Road, Eynesbury VIC 3338

Who: Amateurs, professionals, corporate groups and spectators.

More: Entry fees apply for participants, while spectators can watch the play for free on Saturday and Sunday.

For more information, visit eynesburygolf.com.au/eynesbury-pro-am/

– By Soda Communications

In Victoria to play the SParms PGA Legends Tour swing, Barr extended his stay in Melbourne for a rare start on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series.

Tied for third two days earlier at the White Glove Mover Legends Pro-Am at Albert Park, Barr showed that good form can transfer to any tour, finishing top alongside Adam Burdett with a score of four-under 69.

With Keysborough Golf Club in phenomenal condition, Barr made good of the early going to set the number for the afternoon groups to chase.

Burdett had the solo win within his grasp but bogeyed his final hole to finish level with Barr in top spot.

Barr had three birdies, an eagle and the lone bogey in his round, both he and Burdett praising the quality of the Keysborough greens, describing them as good as anything they have putted on.

The next event on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series is the De Bortoli Heidelberg Golf Club Pro-Am at

Heidelberg Golf Club on Friday, March 17.

Final scores and prize money

Diaz took full advantage of the still morning conditions with a bogey free round that could have been more if not for two eagle putts that came awfully close to dropping.

In the afternoon field, Stolz put himself in with a chance by reaching three-under through eight holes but it was a large charge that pushed him into a share of the lead.

He birdied his final three holes to stay on top of the SParms PGA Legends Tour Order of Merit.

A shot back from Stolz and Diaz was New Zealand’s Michael Long who eagled the par 5 16th to put himself in the mix.

Next up on the SParms PGA Legends Tour schedule is the Club Mandalay Legends Pro-Am on Thursday.

Final scores