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Four birdies in his final six holes has earned Kade McBride a share of victory with Josh Armstrong at the Southport Pro-Am at Southport Golf Club.
Riding the wave of momentum from his tie with Brett Rankin at the Maroochy River Pro-Am last Friday, McBride made clutch par saves at crucial times before coming home in a flurry against a quality field.
The fresh morning conditions made scoring challenging for the early wave but the afternoon groups were the beneficiaries of ideal weather.
Armstrong had two eagles in his round of six-under 65 as McBride made a late charge but match him and claim his second adidas PGA Pro-Am Series victory in succession.
“I didn’t expect this end result with the start I had, but it was great to battle out the round,” said McBride, who was two-under through his first 12 holes.
“The course was awesome. The greens rolled great – sometimes too good – but I managed to hole the ones coming back and keep the momentum going.”
With his prodigious length Armstrong manhandled the tight Southport layout with an eagle at the par-5 fifth and a second at the 306-metre par-4 10th.
“It was the first time playing here which I think sort of helped,” Armstrong reasoned.
“Not knowing the course at all with a little bit of guidance from the playing partners led me to playing aggressively.
“I’m really looking forward to coming back next year to try and defend,” he added.
After securing his ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia status at Q School James Grierson made the trek north to shoot four-under 67 for a share of second, Chris Wood, Tim Hart, Brett Rankin and defending champion Lucas Higgins also finishing just two back.
The next event on the schedule is the Summit Press Printing Coolangatta Tweed Heads Pro-Am on Tuesday with the morning groups to start at 6.45am and the afternoon wave at midday.
Click here for final scores and prize money.
Pictured (from left): Golf Operations Manger Phil Woolvaardt, Josh Armstrong, General Manager Bernadette Lance and Kade McBride.
Queensland pair Brett Rankin and Kade McBride have plundered a barrage of back nine birdies to share victory at the Maroochy River Pro-Am on the Sunshine Coast.
The Maroochy River Golf Club layout continues to mature with each passing year and the combination of rain earlier in the week and greens offering a pure roll ensured that players would need to go low to contend.
Fourteen players would end the day under par but it was McBride and Rankin (pictured with Maroochy River Golf Club GM Charlie McGill) who went lowest with rounds of seven-under 65, both doing the majority of their heavy lifting on the inward nine.
Starting from the ninth tee, McBride rebounded from a bogey at the par-4 10th with six birdies in his next seven holes while Rankin had an eagle and four birdies as he completed Maroochy River’s back nine in six-under 30.
“It was a nice day out there and I had such a fun time with my playing partners,” said McBride.
“I thought the course was presented great and the greens rolled even better.”
The 2019 NT PGA champion, Rankin has won three adidas PGA Pro-Am Series events already this season and looks to be building towards the big summer of golf ahead.
“I’ve been playing some really great consistent golf,” Rankin added.
“I’m looking forward to these next events and the Tour events at the end of the year.”
Tim Hart and James Marchesani shared third spot with fine scores of five-under par 67 as Peregian Springs Teaching Professional Katelyn Must was tied for fifth courtesy of a four-under par 68 in the morning field.
Recently selected to represent Australia at the Women’s PGA Cup in New Mexico in October, Must birdied two of her final three holes to finish alongside Chris Wood three shots off the lead.
The next event on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series schedule is the Southport Pro-Am on Monday, July 11.
Click here for final scores and prize money.
The ‘flat bellies’ were forced to play second fiddle as Terry Price edged fellow veteran Michael Wright for a one-stroke victory at the Biloela Pro-Am in central Queensland.
The 14-hole Biloela Golf Course had not hosted an adidas PGA Pro-Am Series in more than a decade but it left a lasting impression on the 24 professionals who teed it up, including the eventual champion.
Tuned up following his annual return home to Rockhampton for the Ian Weigh Toyota Rockhampton Pro-Am where he finished tied for 11th, Price had two eagles in his round of eight-under 64, including a hole-out from 87 yards at the par-4 12th.
“I hit a great little wedge in and it just happened to drop,” Price said.
Starting with a birdie from the 14th hole, Price went back-to-back with birdies at 18 and one and then vaulted out to five-under through his first nine holes.
He birdied the short par-3 eighth and then holed his second on his penultimate hole for a bogey-free 64.
“It was an absolute pleasure to be here,” said Price.
“The course is fabulous and playing partners just as good.
“I’ll be making sure I talk to as many people as I can about coming to visit.”
Fellow former Open competitor Michael Wright snared second with a seven-under 65 that featured nine birdies and a double bogey at the par-5 10th.
Shae Wools-Cobb continued his consistent season with a six-under par 66 to finish outright third, Sam Brazel and Brendan Smith sharing fourth at four-under 68.
The next event on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series is the Maroochy River Pro-Am on Friday, July 8.
Tim Hart has logged the most significant win of his career to date, coming from one stroke back to win the $60,000 Ian Weigh Toyota Rockhampton Pro-Am.
A noted one-day specialist who can bring courses to their knees with his prodigious length, Hart has been working hard with coach Richard Woodhouse to transfer that talent to multi-round tournaments.
Runner-up at the NT PGA Championship, Hart has been at his prolific adidas PGA Pro-Am Series winning ways in recent weeks and produced the best score of the third and final round at Rockhampton Golf Club to post 15-under and win by three.
Damien Jordan (68) was outright second, three shots clear of Andre Stolz (69) with overnight leader Josh Armstrong (75) fourth alongside Tom Power Horan (70) and Douglas Klein (69).
Armstrong began strongly with birdies at the first and third holes but his tournament hopes would come crashing down with a quadruple-bogey nine at the par-5 14th, dropping another shot at the par-3 16th to tumble out of contention.
Hart went out in four-under on his way to a third successive round of five-under 67 and what has the potential to be a career-changing victory.
“I holed some good pars to start my round and steady in,” said Hart.
“After that I fell into a bit of a zone and didn’t have to think too much.
“Having a quick look at the leaderboard on the back nine I lost track of my thought process and didn’t finish exactly how I would have liked,” he added.
“I had a great playing week and played some really nice golf.”
In a special opportunity for local juniors, seven junior members received an invitation from the Rockhampton Golf Club to participate in the final day of the Pro-Am and play alongside the professionals.
Zane Blackborough (right) was the Gross Winner with a fine round of 80 as and Lachlan Williams (left) claimed the Nett Winner honours with a score of 68.
The next event on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series is the Biloela Pro-Am on Tuesday, June 28.
Click here for final scores and prize money.
Veteran Scott Strange has defied difficult conditions to record his third win of the WA swing of the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series at the Broome Furnishings Carpet Paint and Tile Pro-Am.
The wind was low but the temperature turned right up at Broome Golf Club, keeping scores in check as Strange started the second round one shot adrift of Simon Houston.
The pair both began their second rounds from the 11th hole – Strange in the group ahead – and it was Strange who struck first to assume top spot on the leaderboard.
Birdies at 13 and 16 saw the two-time DP World Tour winner move to five-under as Houston dropped back to three-under with a bogey at his opening hole.
Houston responded with birdies at the par-3 15th and par-4 first to re-join Strange at the top of the leaderboard.
Strange then birdied the second hole to move into the outright lead once again at six-under but quickly dropped back with a bogey on the following hole.
The par-5 eighth would prove to be the turning point of a see-sawing final round.
Strange was greenside in two shots and calmly got up-and-down for birdie as Houston was forced to lay up after missing his tee shot right.
A pushed wedge from 70 metres meant that Houston was unable to match to Strange’s birdie, settling for a par to drop one back.
A three-putt from Strange at the ninth opened the door again but Houston dropped a shot of his own, closing with another bogey at 10 in a final round of one-over 73 to earn a share of second as Strange finished two clear.
Haydn Barron (69) was the only player to break 70 in the second round to finish alongside Houston and Braden Becker in a tie for second.
The recent winner at both Spalding Park and Port Hedland, the two-stroke win was not enough to reel in Becker on the WA Order of Merit through 12 events.
Houston’s seventh top-three finish in 12 events has him in third place on the Order of Merit.
The Broome Pro-Am concludes another successful edition of the WA swing of the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series.
Click here for final scores and prize money.
New South Welshman Josh Armstrong will take a one-stroke lead into the final round after producing the low round of day two at the Ian Weigh Toyota Rockhampton Pro-Am.
The $60,000 prize purse always ensures a quality field at Rockhampton Golf Club and the cream has risen to the top with one round left to play on Sunday.
With six top-10 finishes in the most recent ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia season, Armstrong has done everything but win, playing in the final group with Aaron Pike at the TPS Hunter Valley in March.
The big-hitting giant took his second round by the scruff of the neck early, opening with an eagle at the par-5 first in a front nine of six-under 30 to develop a handy advantage from the likes of Tim Hart, Damien Jordan and Tom Power Horan.
Bogeys at 11 and 15 were offset by late birdies at 16 and 17 for a round of six-under 66 and two-round total of 11-under.
Hart’s second straight round of five-under 67 puts him in outright second at 10-under with Jordan (68) in solo third at eight under.
Power Horan (70), Andre Stolz (69) and Brendan Smith (67) are tied for fourth at six-under and will need a fast start on Sunday to apply pressure to the front-runners.
“The course is presenting itself very scoreable,” Armstrong said.
“I’m holing putts when I really need to, hitting it pretty well and playing the par 5s well.”
While Armstrong’s eagle at one was a spectacular start to his round it wasn’t the best score on the hole on Saturday.
After making a bogey at one in Round 1, Aden Morrison started his second round by making an outstanding albatross, holing his 8-iron second shot from 160 metres for the rarest of twos.
So unexpected was Morrison’s feat, the 22-year-old first thought it had gone over the back of the green before its discovery in the bottom of the cup.
“It was such a surprise,” said Morrison. “We were all looking long because there wasn’t anything on the green and then one of my playing partners checked and it was in.”
The final round of the Ian Weigh Toyota Pro-Am starts at 6.50am Sunday morning with the leading group of Armstrong and Hart to tee off at 12.20pm.
Click here for Round 2 scores.
The June Broome heat may have caught some off guard but Simon Houston’s hot form held up to take a one-shot lead at the $36,000 Broome Furnishings Pro-Am.
The final event in the WA swing of the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series, Broome Golf Club is looking a treat and with the temperature nudging above 30 degrees each day players have the chance to swing freely.
No one did it better on day one than Houston who at one point raced to six-under before two late bogeys saw him sign for a four-under 68.
Chasing his second win of the WA swing, Houston was five-under through his first seven holes but back-to-back bogeys at 10 and 11 kept his advantage to just a single shot.
Hot on Houston’s tail are in-form players Scott Strange and Braden Becker along with Peter Cooke, the trio all posting rounds of three-under 69.
Like Houston, Cooke was five-under through seven holes of his round but dropped shots at six and seven to sit in a share of second.
Strange will be out to capitalise on another strong start and complete the north-west weekend triple after winning both Spalding Park and Port Hedland events.
The final round commences at Broome Golf Club at 10.30am AWST and promises to be an exciting climax to the May/June swing of the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series.
Click here for Round 1 scores.
A bogey-free five-under 67 has earned Victorian Kyle Michel a share of the Round 1 lead as the big guns all fired on day one of the Ian Weigh Toyota Rockhampton Pro-Am.
With $60,000 in prize money to be won, the 54-hole Rockhampton Pro-Am invariably draws a stellar field and the 2022 edition is no different.
Tour winners in America, Europe, Asia and Australasia are all towards the pointy end of the leaderboard but it is Michel, Tim Hart and Josh Armstrong who will enter Saturday’s second round with a one-stroke lead.
With the North Queensland weather matching the superb conditioning of the golf course there were scores to be had and it was Armstrong who posted five-under in the morning wave.
The New South Welshman’s lone slip-up came at the par-5 seventh, a shot he quickly recovered with a birdie at the short par-4 eighth, closing out his round with a par at the ninth for a share of the lead.
There were no backward steps for Michel, however, as he kept a clean card in his round of 67.
Like Armstrong, Michel started his tournament on the 10th hole and made the turn in three-under with birdies at 12 and 13.
The recent winner of the Onsite Rental Group Mining Towns Series, Hart also played the back nine in three-under before making two birdies on the trot to start the front nine.
He too dropped a shot at seven but bounced back with a birdie at nine to join Armstrong and Michel at five-under.
In-form Tom Power Horan sits just one shot back in a tie for fourth with Damien Jordan at four-under, Terry Price using all of the knowledge gleaned from growing up on the golf course to post three-under 69 and a share of sixth with Andre Stolz and Douglas Klein.
As part of the community engagement synonymous with the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series, six PGA Professionals contributed their time to a group of 24 Rocky juniors on Thursday.
The session went for 90 minutes as the pros showed an eager group of kids some of the tricks of the trade and left them with some tips on how they can lower their scores next time they play.
The second round of the Ian Weigh Toyota Rockhampton Pro-Am begins at 6.50am on Saturday with the afternoon groups to tee off from 10.50am.
Click here for Round 1 scores.
Lismore’s Sam Brazel has claimed his second consecutive adidas PGA Pro-Am Series win with a one-stroke victory at the Manuplex Emu Park Pro-Am near Yeppoon.
Following on from last weekend’s three-stroke triumph at the Emerald Pro-Am, Brazel used a hot start to post a number that would remain untouched through the course of a gorgeous afternoon at Emu Park Golf Club.
The ideal weather and immaculate course condition provided players the perfect opportunity to go low yet only a third of the field ended the day in red figures.
Leading the way was Brazel whose three straight birdies out of the blocks and front nine of five-under provided the cornerstone of his round of six-under 66 and a one-shot win.
The former Hong Kong Open winner only recently returned to the Pro-Am circuit after a short bout of illness and picked up from where he left off at Emerald.
“It was a real pleasure to be out here,” Brazel said post-round.
“The course was presented beautifully and the support was amazing.”
Brazel only had one slip-up for the round on the short par-4 12th hole but managed to come home steady to win by one shot.
Sharing second place on five-under 67 was Brad Burns, Douglas Klein and Lucas Higgins with the in-form Tom Power Horan and Josh Armstrong tied for fourth with rounds of four-under 68.
Prior to the brilliant performances of the PGA Professionals, Emu Park also raised more than $400 for their junior program through the 100-metre shootout conducted the night before.
The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series now moves to Rockhampton for the 54-hole $60,000 Ian Weigh Toyota Rockhampton Pro-Am starting Friday where Michael Wright is back to defend his title against a field laden with Tour winners.
Click here for final scores and prize money from Manuplex Emu Park Pro-Am.
Perth-born Scott Strange continues to assert his class on the WA swing of the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series, completing a three-stroke victory at the 2022 Roy Hill Golf Classic Pro-Am.
The Port Hedland Golf Club sand scrapes posed a challenge to many of the players in the field yet Strange never faltered, firing rounds of 65-66 for a two-round total of 13-under, three shots clear of WA Open champion Braden Becker (66).
The more familiar Port Hedland conditions of bright sunshine and moderate winds welcomed players for Sunday’s second round, Strange (pictured with Port Hedland Men’s Captain Russell Visser and Ladies Captain Helen Pullinger) and Becker producing matching birdies at the opening hole.
Playing in the group ahead of Strange, Becker made birdie at both five and six to narrow the margin, Strange countering with a birdie of his own at the par-4 fifth.
The winner of the Spalding Park Open extended his lead to four strokes with birdies at eight and nine and then played the back nine in two-under to comfortably keep Becker at bay.
Rick Kulacz (70) finished third on five-under total to move into fourth place on the WA Order of Merit with one event left to play.
Players now move onto Broome for the final event of the May/June swing of the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series, the 36-hole Broome Furnishings Carpet, Tile and Paint Broome Pro-Am starting Friday, June 24.
Click here for final scores and prize money.
