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He is vying for his first senior Major championship at this week’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in Oklahoma but Rod Pampling concedes Phil Mickelson’s US PGA heroics has been all the talk at Southern Hills.
Nearing his 51st birthday and already with two Champions Tour titles to his name, Mickelson broke the age barrier of Major championship golf with his two-stroke win at Kiawah Island, becoming the oldest winner of a Major in the game’s history.
There is an abundance of Major champions this week at Southern Hills Country Club but rather than chasing former glories, in many cases they are continuations of glorious professional careers.
Pampling was 47 years of age when, like Mickelson, he beat Brooks Koepka by two shots at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in November 2016 and has no doubt that Mickelson’s feat will inspire others to extend their careers on the main tour.
“It should definitely give guys a kick in the pants to show that you can still win out there at any age,” Pampling said of the over-50s continuing to win on the PGA TOUR.
“That’s the beauty of this game. It really is endless as to when you can win as long as your body can stand up to the four days.
“It just shows that in this game anything can happen.
“I was fortunate enough at 47 to sneak one in at Vegas.
“With golf, it really is up to the person, up to the individual. It still takes the right golf course, depending on how far you hit it.
“The guys still play incredible golf out here on the Champions Tour. They hit it just as good; it’s just maybe 20-30 yards behind what the young guys do. But the rest is still there.”
Pampling played a practice round on Tuesday with good friend and playing partner for the opening two rounds John Senden – “We’re not playing together on Wednesday in case we get sick of the sight of each other” – and took time to catch up with Peter Fowler and four-time PGA Tour of Australasia Legends Tour Order of Merit winner Brad Burns.
He conceded that Mickelson’s performance has been a popular topic of conversation and provided some friendly advice for US Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker.
“I saw Steve Stricker out on course and told him that all of a sudden he’s got another player in the mix for the Ryder Cup that he has to look at,” Pampling said.
“There have been a few guys talk about just how amazing it was really.
“To win a Major at that age was pretty amazing.
“Phil’s played a few events out here and obviously played well.”
The timing of Pampling’s win in Las Vegas meant that he played the PGA TOUR right until becoming eligible for the Champions Tour in September 2019.
He didn’t finish lower than a tie for 17th in his first five starts on the senior circuit before the COVID-19 outbreak and six-month layoff halted his early momentum.
“I joke with people and say that I was in my prime but I couldn’t play because of COVID,” the now 51-year-old said.
“I was very confident coming out here and then COVID hit and we were out for six or seven months.
“The advantage that I had from playing was nearly null and void. I was starting from square one again.
“The top group out here are still incredible players. With the slightly shorter golf courses, you’ve got to play so good to have a chance over three rounds. You’ve got to come out of the gates firing straight away.
“The competition is strong and that’s why you see guys like Stricker, Jim Furyk, KJ Choi still out on the main tour at times still playing nice golf.”
Fowler is the first of the Aussies to tee off at 12.16am Thursday night followed by David McKenzie (3.25am), Brad Burns (3.36am), Stephen Leaney (3.58am) and finally Pampling and Senden at 4.09am.
Live coverage of the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship begins at 3am Friday morning on Fox Sports 503.
Australia’s representation at next month’s US Open at Torrey Pines has received a sizeable boost but Jason Day remains on the outside looking in.
The United States Golf Association announced on Monday that an additional 27 players had achieved the qualification parameters necessary to tee it up from June 17-20 with four more Aussies now exempt.
Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith had already qualified by virtue of playing in last year’s PGA TOUR Tour Championship and have now been joined by Adam Scott, Matt Jones, Brad Kennedy and Wade Ormsby.
Scott (39th) and Jones (55th) have qualified as a result of being inside the top 60 in the Official World Golf Rankings following the US PGA Championship while Kennedy and Ormsby have been rewarded for their 2020 Order of Merit wins on the PGA Tour of Australasia and Asian Tour respectively.
The first of 10 qualifying tournaments was played in the US on Monday but 2015 US PGA champion Jason Day has already stated that he won’t attend qualifying.
That now means that to play his way in Day must progress from his current position of No.67 in the world rankings into the top 60 following The Memorial tournament next week where he finished fourth last year.
There are opportunities for the likes of Jason Scrivener, Scott Hend and Min Woo Lee to still play their way into the field in a three-event qualifying series being conducted on the European Tour.
Starting with the Betfred British Masters two weeks ago and concluding over the next two weeks at the Made in HimmerLand and Porsche European Open tournaments, 10 places will be awarded to those with the highest aggregate points total.
Other notable additions to a US Open field that now stands at 76 were two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson, Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, Patrick Cantlay, Paul Casey, Si Woo Kim and Lee Westwood.
Andrew Getson’s influence on Phil Mickelson was immediate but it took more than five years for the pair to create a slice of golf history that stunned the world.
In the midst of the chaos that surrounded Mickelson walking down the 72nd hole of a US PGA Championship that elicited Tiger-like roars, Getson was the Australian silent partner in the background.
A product of the Victorian Institute of Sport under Dale Lynch and Steve Bann in a late-1990s class that included Geoff Ogilvy and Aaron Baddeley, Getson had dreams of golf glory of his own.
Lynch first started coaching Getson when he was a junior member at Commonwealth Golf Club in Melbourne and believes his work ethic as a player has contributed to Getson’s success as a coach.
“He worked very hard on his game but he wasn’t in the elite area of amateurs,” said Lynch, who took Ogilvy all the way to the 2006 US Open.
“It’s like in other sports, the guys that have to work hard at their craft tend to show a greater appreciation for that side of it.”
Getson enjoyed only sporadic starts on the PGA Tour of Australasia in the early 2000s and to supplement his income worked first as a caddie and then as coach at the exclusive Capital Golf Club that was the private playground of the rich and famous.
It was there that Bann believes Getson developed the people skills necessary to connect with highly successful people such as kings of industry and legendary lefties.
“I used to do the coaching for the VIP Services at Capital Golf Club and Andrew was working there as a caddie working for VIPs and transitioned into doing some coaching,” revealed Bann, Getson working with such luminaries as US President Bill Clinton.
“That was a really good experience for him because he got to spend time and learn to communicate and deal with very successful people.
“To get your foot in the door at that level is not easy. If you can get the foot in the door and communicate confidence and belief in yourself and what you’re doing, you’re a much better chance of having someone take the time to listen to what you’ve got to say.”
Getson earned a Nationwide Tour card at the 2005 PGA TOUR Final Qualifying School but found little success, missing the cut in each of his eight starts in the 2006 season.
In 2009 Getson transitioned out of playing and into a full-time coaching at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, the club for which Mickelson has been a PGA TOUR ambassador since 1992 and which boasts ‘Phil’s Grill’ restaurant.
When the five-time Major champion parted ways with Butch Harmon in November 2015 the opportunity to hear Getson’s guidance presented itself through Mickelson’s caddie, Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay, who spoke glowingly of the lessons he had been receiving himself.
“We’ve got to give a pat on the back to Andrew Getson,” Mackay said in NBC’s final round review.
“He’s stuck in there with Phil. He’s very opinionated, very knowledgeable and he tells Phil exactly what he thinks.”
“The first thing that Andrew addressed was something that I think a lot of the coaches that Phil had worked with were afraid to, which is that there was a flaw in his swing,” Bann added.
“Because he’s got such brilliant hands he could hit the ball well from anywhere but when Andrew addressed the early steepness in his downswing plane, that made his bad shot a whole lot better.
“From that point on Phil has thought finally someone has stepped up and showed him what to change to get better.”
At a time when many questioned whether Mickelson could still compete on the PGA TOUR, Getson’s simple philosophy to the golf swing struck a chord that brought instant results.
“At the age of 45, Mickelson appears to be experiencing a reassurance in his game under Getson’s tutelage,” Michael Fitzpatrick wrote for Bleacher Report in February 2016.
“Getson’s teaching philosophy is not too dissimilar to Harmon’s in that he has no intention of reinventing the wheel. He works to simply adjust minor swing flaws without altering a player’s natural move to the ball.
“In just three months, Mickelson’s work with Getson already appears to be paying dividends.”
Five years later and with the golf world hanging on every word, Mickelson shared his thoughts on why Getson has been able to help him break through the age barrier and set a new benchmark in possibility.
“He is a tremendous instructor because of his ability to simplify it,” 50-year-old Mickelson said after becoming the oldest Major champion in the game’s history.
“He doesn’t cloud my head with a lot of things. When he’s out here with me, he’s able to keep me on track right away if I make a few errors.
“His guidance has been invaluable to get me back to playing at the highest level because I was striking it very poorly when we started working together.
“He’s really helped me get my ball-striking back and as I’m starting to focus a little bit better, you’re starting to see the results.
“But he has been getting my swing there for some time now.”
Steepness in the downswing was Getson’s own poor pattern as a player but with Kevin Streelman (T8 at Kiawah) and Si Woo Kim also within his stable, Mickelson’s victory is likely to bring even more of the attention he tries to so actively avoid.
“If you’d told me that Andrew Getson was going to be a world class coach when he was a young guy at the VIS I wouldn’t have thought that was his pathway,” said Bann.
“But it’s certainly worked out all right.”
If you’re on the wrong side of 50, you’re probably walking with a spring in your step today courtesy of Phil Mickelson.
Mickelson, less than a month shy of his 51st birthday, became golf’s oldest major champion with an emphatic victory march at the US PGA Championship at Kiawah Island today.
The evergreen left-hander could only manage a one-over-par 73 to finish at six under, but it was enough for a two-stroke win over Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen, both of whom frittered multiple chances to play spoiler.
No fewer than 17 years after his first of three green jackets at the Masters and 16 years since his first Wanamaker Trophy, his sixth major crown came a remarkable eight years after his most recent, the 2013 Open Championship.
And it was absolutely the least expected, his odds having been in excess of 250-1 at most betting agencies pre-tournament.
In becoming the first World Golf Hall of Fame member to win a major championship after their induction, he also wiped out fellow American Julius Boros from the record books – the three-time major champ the previous oldest winner having won the 1968 PGA Championship at age 48.
“I hope this inspires a lot of people … this is an incredible feeling,” Mickelson said.
“I believed it was possible but everything was saying it wasn’t.
“My desire to play is the same (as ever). I’ve never been motivated externally, I’ve always been intrinsically motivated to play against the best at the highest level.
“The belief I could do it motivated me. I just couldn’t see why it couldn’t be done.
“I don’t know how to describe the feeling of fulfilment (and) accomplishment of this magnitude when so few people thought I could do it.
“It’s a moment I’ll cherish my entire life.”
Mickelson was asked what it would like for history now to forever more view him as an “old man”, courtesy of his new record.
“It’s possible it’s the last tournament I win, if I’m realistic,” he quickly reflected.
“But it’s also possible I’ve had a breakthrough in my focus and I could go on a little run.
“The point is it can be done. You just have to work a little harder.
“I worked harder physically to be able to practise as hard as I need to.
“It might take a little harder effort to maintain (yourself) physically, or the skills, but gosh is it worth the effort.”
On a day when great scores were out on the Ocean Course – Abraham Ancer posted a 65, Justin Rose a 67 and Matt Jones a 68 – all those immediately chasing Mickelson found reverse gear at crucial moments.
In the final pairing alone, there were no fewer than five times in the first 11 holes when Mickelson and Koepka had minimum two-shot swings as the leaderboard swung violently.
But when they turned on to the back nine, Mickelson’s perfectly struck 7-iron on the 10th hole set up what proved a winning break.
Koepka dropped three shots in four holes, while Oosthuizen bogeyed the 10th and took a sloppy double on the 13th right when the pressure gauge could have been cranked.
By the time Mickelson cranked enormous drives on the 15th and 16th, his edge was insurmountable and he found cruise control coming in.
Mickelson said he’d gone into a media-free bubble during the tournament to “stay present”.
His caddie, brother Tim, said it was the most focused he’d ever seen Phil, yet still had to challenge his older brother during the round.
“Probably 200 times I told him to keep his mind quiet,” Tim said.
Phil praised his brother and all those around him, including Australian coach Andrew Getson.
“I’ve not let myself think about the result until now,” Phil said.
“I was just trying to stay in the present, wasn’t watching TV, getting on my phone, just trying to quieten things down because my thoughts would be racing.
“I believed for a long time that I could get back to this level.
“I’ve had a few breakthroughs on being able to stay present and focused, because physically I was playing as well and striking it as well as ever.
“So there was doubt, for sure …
“I worked harder, that’s the deal.
“I believed I could do this, but until this week I haven’t been able to prove it to everyone.”
Mickelson, who joined Sam Snead, Ray Floyd and Davis Love as the only players to have won in four different decades on the US PGA Tour, described Getson’s role in rebuilding his confidence to his glory days as “invaluable”.
“Andrew is a tremendous instructor because of his ability to simplify it (golf),” Mickelson said.
“He has helped get my swing on plane … doesn’t cloud my head with a lot of things and he’s able to keep me on track right away if I make a few errors.
“His guidance has been invaluable … he’s helped me get my ball striking back.”
Mickelson also paid tribute to legendary Tom Watson who made a run as far as a playoff aged 59 during the 2009 Open Championship.
“That was one of the greatest sporting performances. It’s inspiring to see people like that do it,” he said.
“I hope it inspires people to put in the work. There’s no reason you can’t, you just have to do that work.
“There’s no reason the game of golf can’t be a game for lifetime. If you take care of your body … you can work out the right way to play golf for a lifetime and I appreciate that.”
A sand save at the final hole and a helping hand from wife Courtney has clinched West Australian Brody Martin the two-day Cottesloe Open in the Adidas Pro-Am Series at Cottesloe Golf Club on Sunday.
Playing in the final group alongside six-time European Tour winner Brett Rumford, Martin added to his overnight score of 6-under 66 with a birdie at the opening hole only to give it straight back at the second.
Birdies at the sixth, eighth and 10th holes kept Martin ahead of the chasing pack but when he made bogey at the par-3 13th and got word that Jason Norris had reached 7-under the pressure gauge rose a few levels.
Having endured near misses at the 2018 WA PGA Championship and the 2020 WA Open it shaped as a nervy finish for Martin but Norris’s dropped shot at the final hole and his own piece of bunker brilliance ensured he finished one shot clear at 7-under from Norris (68), Matthew Millar (66) and amateur Simon Liddell (68).
With rain falling and the threat of lightning in the area, Martin raced through the final three holes and left himself with an approach shot from 147 metres from the fairway bunker on the final hole knowing par would be good enough to win.
“I hit 7-iron into the front trap which wasn’t that bad and fortunately I had my wife Courtney come and grab the clubs and keep them dry,” Martin explained.
“She gave me my lob wedge, I had a good lie and fortunately hit it to within one rotation of going in.
“If I’d had to putt something from outside four feet it might have been a little bit different.
“Making par up the last isn’t the easiest thing to do when you know you’ve got to do it to win the tournament.”
Despite finishing third at the 2020 WA Open at Royal Fremantle Golf Club and winning the Campbelltown Golf Club Pro-Am in December 2019 Martin doesn’t even have the status necessary to guarantee starts in the Adidas Pro-Am Series.
A fellow PGA Professional and the Marketing and Events Coordinator at Wembley Golf Complex, Martin’s wife Courtney has ensured her husband is in the field for next Sunday’s E-Z-GO Wembley Pro-Am but other than that and a sponsor’s invitation to the South West Open in June Martin remains unsure what his playing future holds.
“This win does help my career but it doesn’t get me into the next golf tournament,” said Martin, who works full-time for GolfBox in Osborne Park.
“I’ve got an eight-month-old little girl now so things are different.
“I didn’t go to Q School mainly due to COVID but I’m in talks with the PGA just to try and see what can happen.
“I’ve got those two events but apart from that I’ve got nothing else to play.”
Sharing the new course record with Martin on day one, Rumford couldn’t back up his first round of 6-under 66, a double-bogey on the par-4 third getting the veteran off on the wrong foot in a round of 2-over 74.
Seven birdies and a lone bogey at the par-5 17th saw Millar earn a share of the course record and second position alongside Norris and Liddell with South Australian Max McCardle (69) outright fifth at 5-under.
Cottesloe Golf Club member Michael Hanrahan-Smith matched the best rounds of the weekend with a 6-under 66 to finish tied for sixth with Rumford, Rick Kulacz (68), Daniel Gale (71) and Conor Brown (69) at 4-under, experienced Tour players Terry Pilkadaris (71), Andrew Martin (69), Brady Watt (69) and Braden Becker (70) a shot further back at 3-under.
The next event in the WA swing of the Adidas Pro-Am Series is the Toro Australia Pro-Am at Western Australian Golf Club on Monday.
View the final Sanwell Cottesloe Open leaderboard at pga.org.au.
Veteran Brett Rumford and prolific Adidas Pro-Am Series winner Brody Martin will take a one-stroke advantage into the second and final round after setting a new course record at the Cottesloe Open at Cottesloe Golf Club in Perth on Saturday.
Some of Australian golf’s most recognisable names arrived to tackle the picturesque seaside layout that is regarded as one of Perth’s finest and has been remodelled in recent years by former club champion and acclaimed player and course architect Graham Marsh.
Given the course changes the 6-under 66 posted by both Rumford and Martin is the new benchmark, the chasing pack needed to produce something similar on Sunday to progress to the top of the leaderboard.
A six-time winner on the European Tour, Rumford completed his 18 holes in the morning wave bogey-free while Martin – who also took advantage of the excellent scoring conditions after a chilly start – eagled the par-5 eighth and birdied the ninth to pick up three shots in his final two holes.
New South Welshman Daniel Gale looked set to post a score few could match when he made the turn at 5-under after starting from the 10th tee but bogeys at three, four and six brought him back to the field, a birdie at the short par-4 ninth putting him three back with one round to play.
Rumford and Martin both began their opening rounds on the back nine but it wasn’t until they reached the front that their journey into red numbers accelerated.
Making the turn at 2-under Rumford picked up shots at the third, fourth, seventh and eighth holes to post 6-under while Martin made birdies at the first and third holes before his final flourish to join Rumford at the top.
A lone bogey at the par-3 second was the only black mark against Gosnells Golf Club amateur Josiah Gilbert’s round of 5-under 67 to be outright third with Gale and Kevin Yuan tied for fourth two shots back and PGA Tour of Australasia winners Michael Long and Jason Norris in a group of eight players a further shot back at 2-under.
The undulating and exposed layout became tougher the longer the day went with Lake Karrinyup Country Club amateur Simon Liddell the best of the afternoon groups, making birdie at the 16th and 17th holes in his round of 2-under 70.
The second round of the Cottesloe Open begins at 7am WST with the leaders to tee off at midday.
In the toughest conditions that Cameron Smith could recall, the eight-man Australian charge faltered at the PGA Championship at windy Kiawah Island resort in South Carolina today.
Smith is the leading Australian at one over par through two rounds of the season’s second major championship, just inside the top 30 after shooting 72-73.
Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa and legendary Phil Mickelson hold the lead at the halfway point, reaching five under par overall. Another major specialist, Brooks Koepka, is just a shot further back.
Taking advantage of the calmer morning conditions, the 50-year-old Mickelson shot a 69, with a 31 on the front nine, raising the notion of a sixth major championship win eight years after the previous one.
Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open champion, was superb today until he bogeyed the difficult final hole to post a 68.
High hopes were held for Sydney’s Cameron Davis, who shot an opening 69, but the 2017 Australian Open champion did not bring his best today.
The Seattle-based Aussie began with a double bogey at the par-four 10th, his first hole of the day, after hitting his tee shot way right. At the par-five second hole he found water off the tee then had a further penalty drop on his way to a triple bogey eight, and he carded a 78 for the day.
In context Smith’s 73 was solid, including a water ball at the long par-three 17th. “It’s probably the two hardest condition days I’ve seen, to be honest,” said the Queenslander. “Maybe a few days around Augusta here and there, the British Open can get windy and wet, as we all know, but no, pretty tough stuff.
“I mean, a score is still out there, which I love. I think the course has been set up really nice. It’s just that you’ve got to kind of get lucky with those longer putts going in.”
Six of the eight Australians made the cut which fell at five over par.
Adam Scott (72 today) and Marc Leishman, who dropped three shots on the last two holes, both missed out. But Sydney’s Matt Jones, Western Australian Jason Scrivener and Victorian Lucas Herbert are in at four over par, Herbert playing his way through with a nice 72 today after forgetting to bring his golf clothes.
“Yeah, I just feel like I’ve just gotten out of a fight and I’ve won,” said Herbert, whose warm-up was interrupted as he waited for a friend to drive back to his rental house and fetch his proper attire.
Herbert called coach Dom Azzopardi at home, so concerned was he as he prepared. “I got on the range straight back into the wind, and I think I hit about four 2-irons in a row over the left fence.
“So I FaceTimed my coach with like nine minutes till my tee time going, how do I fix this? There’s something really, really wrong. How do I fix this? It was like, we just had a laugh because it can’t get any worse. This is going to be a fun day. We’re going to be shouting fore left a lot.”
Jason Day thought he had missed the cut after posting 74-75, but at five over par he scraped in despite troubles on the greens. “It’s funny, I feel really positive about my game,” said Day. “There’s a lot of good signs out there. I just somehow just got to get over the putting part.”
As for the others, Mickelson was the headline act, although he was at a loss to explain the resurgence.
“I don’t know if I have a great answer for you,” he said. “I think that I was patient even though things weren’t quite going well at the moment, and I had a few shaky strokes on 16, 17 and 18 where I was very tentative. I was able to make an adjustment on the front and ended up making some really good putts. I putted very well.”
Mickelson has been playing well on the senior tour, but this was unexpected. “Physically I feel like I’m able to perform and hit the shots that I’ve hit throughout my career, and I feel like I can do it every bit as well as I have, but I’ve got to have that clear picture and focus,” he said. “So these first two days have been much better.”
Cam Davis loves the big moments – and he’s put himself in position for another early at the US PGA Championship.
The lanky Sydneysider, in just his second major championship, showed poise well beyond his 26 years to card a three-under-par 69 at Kiawah Island’s tough Ocean Course and share second place on a tumultuous opening day.
Davis trails only Canadian Corey Conners, who caught fire late in his round and surged to a two-stroke advantage with his own breakout round, a five-under-par 67.
But it was Davis, already enjoying his best season on the US PGA Tour, who caught the eye late.
The 2017 Australian Open champion was well placed with two early birdies, but on a course renowned for penalising bad shots, was given a rude shock when his hooked drive up the sixth was unplayable.
The resultant penalty drop was taken in wasteland from where it took two more shots to reach the par-four green.
Three putts later and with the resultant triple-bogey on his card, Davis could have been excused for unravelling on his PGA Championship debut.
But he’s made of stern stuff and immediately began the rebuild with a birdie up the seventh.
An eagle on the seventh powered him back into the fray and another birdie on the par-three 14th put him back alongside major champions Brooks Koepka and Keegan Bradley in the group that now shares second.
He narrowly missed three subsequent birdie chances that would have him second alone, but Davis can be well pleased with both his form and his mindset.
“It helps when you’re hitting the ball in pretty good spots and not really having to stress too much,” Davis said.
“There was one hole where I was a little bit frazzled, I guess.
“But for the most part I was just doing my own thing and playing the golf course the way that I see fits my game.
“That’s all I can do … and chill out between shots.”
Of the other Australians, in-form Cam Smith looked set to take his place among the leaders when he almost casually loomed at two under through 13 holes.
But two makeable birdie putts and another for par from the 14th to 16th all burned the edge as he lost momentum.
A spectacular bunker blast singed the edge on the tough 17th, then a blocked drive into the wasteland right of 18th couldn’t be overcome and led to a closing bogey as he finished at even-par 72.
“I thought the ball-striking was really up there today,” said Smith, who was clearly satisfied with his overall game.
“The last five holes I played two over and basically didn’t really miss a shot. I hit a bad drive on 18 but it didn’t really feel bad, that’s just the way it is around here.
“I thought I putted well – a couple more putts go in and I’m right up there.
“Yeah, no work for me tonight. I’m just going to get a good rest and be here early in the morning.”
New South Welshman Matt Jones, in fine form all season long on the US PGA Tour and with an eye on possible Olympic selection, hit the lead momentarily during the morning phase of play.
Jones, already a career-best 24th on the Tour’s FedEx Cup money list, went top when he drilled his fourth birdie on the 13th.
But, like so many others on the brutal closing stretch of holes and playing at arguably the wind’s zenith for the day, the dual Australian Open champ came undone in a hurry.
A bogey on the 15th was followed by another on the 16th, a double on the 17th and a bogey on the final hole as he fell back to a one-over 73.
Jason Scrivener was also very impressive for a very long time.
The West Australian, in just his second major championship, fought back from two early bogeys to reach one under through the 11th.
He also bogeyed three of the closing five holes, but soothed the damage with a birdie on the long 16th to also card 73.
Marc Leishman and Jason Day each fired opening 74s, but they came in different fashions.
Victorian Leishman was square through 12 holes and mixed three bogeys with a late birdie from that point.
Queenslander Day, champion of this event six years ago, looked in early trouble with his third bogey by the sixth hole.
But he made a spectacular eagle on the seventh and fought hard to play the final eight holes square to pick up several shots on the majority of the field.
Lucas Herbert fought long and hard, but eventually stumbled and carded a 76.
The Victorian began the day with a drive blocked into the water right of the 10th fairway and a subsequent double-bogey.
In his sixth major championship appearance, Herbert hung tough for a long time and was still two over when he stood on the third tee.
A hat-trick of bogeys at that point was damaging, but he hit back with a late birdie on the seventh to give himself a chance tomorrow.
Queenslander Adam Scott also began the day on the wrong foot and, despite a couple of birdies, never really recovered.
Scott leaked his opening drive into the same pond that Herbert found, but went one worse with a triple-bogey en route to a flat 78.
Of the other big names, world No.1 Dustin Johnson endured two double-bogeys in a 76, while tournament favourite Rory McIlroy shot a rollercoaster 75.
LEADERBOARD
Victorian Andrew Kelly has recorded his first win in more than 12 months in what was a dramatic conclusion to the Kwinana Pro-Am at Kwinana Golf Club south of Perth on Thursday.
The first event in a busy eight-weeks for the Adidas Pro-Am Series in Western Australia, a star-studded field including former European Tour winner Brett Rumford, 1991 British Open runner-up Mike Harwood and PGA Tour of Australasia winners Matt Millar, Jason Norris, Rick Kulacz and Tom Power Horan assembled at the picturesque parkland layout and it was Kelly who emerged victorious.
Starting his round from the 389-metre par-4 seventh, Kelly began with a birdie but said it was the shot he picked up on his penultimate hole – the par-4 fifth – that ultimately proved the difference in his winning score of 4-under 68.
“I hadn’t really looked at the scores but from doing this long enough I know that 4-under is a lot better than three,” Kelly said.
“I had a putt from about 12 feet and put a lot into it and was pretty keen to make it. It’s nice to see those ones go in when you’re a bit more desperate.”
Initially it appeared that Kelly had been tied at the top by fellow Victorian Daniel Beckmann only for Beckmann to be disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard that should have read 3-under 69.
Returning to the game after an eight-year hiatus it was a cruel blow for Beckmann but Kelly too is reacquainting himself with life on tour after spending a number of years away from the game.
A member of Peninsula-Kingswood for the past 20 years, Kelly was tied for 17th at The Players Series at nearby Rosebud Country Club in January and credited a good putting performance for his first pro-am win since the Peninsula Honda Pro-Am in February last year.
“I’ve been playing pretty good without really posting the scores, a few chips and putts here and there,” said Kelly.
“I gave it away six years ago but the past two years I’ve been playing as much as I can.
“I’ll play all the pro-ams I can for the rest of the year and if I can get into some of the bigger events later in the year I’ll play those too.”
Winner of the 2019 Gippsland Super 6 Tom Power Horan finished outright second a stroke behind Kelly with Rumford, Norris, Neven Basic, Gavin Reed and second year Associate Josh Herrero all sharing third at 2-under 70.
Players now move on to the two-day Cottesloe Open at Cottesloe Golf Club where Peter O’Malley and Terry Pilkadaris will add their considerable star power.
“I wasn’t the next-best player not to win a major. I jumped over it and got one before you could name me the next-best. I beat you to it.”
While those in the heart of La La Land may have viewed Steve Elkington’s 1995 US PGA Championship victory as a bolt from the blue – especially given he started the final round six shots back of the lead – the Wagga native was well and truly in the conversation as the best player in the world without a Major championship.
And he knew it.
He was ranked No.17 in the world, had won the Australian Open three years earlier, had five PGA TOUR titles to his name and in the four majors prior he had finished inside the top 10 on three occasions.
He was at the height of his powers when he arrived at Riviera Country Club that week in August and needed every single one of them to leave that Sunday with the Wanamaker Trophy.
“It was just perfect,” said the winner.
Born in Inverell but raised in Wagga in the New South Wales Riverina region, Elkington came to the attention of the NSW Golf Association as a teenager and was drafted into the State team.
That was where he would form a partnership with legendary Australian coach Alex Mercer that would take them from obscurity to the very highest echelon of the game.
Defying the accepted convention that Aussies should first play in Europe before taking their games to the United States, Elkington went down the college route and was a star on the University of Houston team that were national champions in 1982, 1984 and 1985.
He turned pro later that year and when he finished runner-up at the 1986 PGA TOUR Q School tournament secured his immediate playing future in his adopted country.
It took until the 1990 Kmart Greater Greensboro Open for ‘Elk’ to etch his name into history as a winner on the PGA TOUR but in the next five years established himself as an elite player in elite company, winning The Players Championship for the first time in 1991 and twice claiming the Tournament of Champions title in Hawaii.
Elkington’s first prominent appearance on a Major championship leaderboard came when he was tied for third at the 1993 Masters and in the lead-up to the PGA in 1995 was tied for fifth at The Masters and tied for sixth at The Open Championship at St Andrews.
The long-time host of the LA Open and a revered George C. Thomas and William Bell design, it became evident early in the tournament that the game’s best players were going to be able to get after it.
At the halfway mark Ernie Els and Mark O’Meara had equalled the lowest 36-hole score of 131 in PGA Championship history and established a three-shot lead from Justin Leonard, Elkington, fellow Australian Greg Norman, Colin Montgomerie, Jeff Maggert and Brian Claar in a group a further shot back at 135.
“The weekend is when everything is going to start happening,” Els said somewhat prophetically.
By the end of Saturday’s third round Elkington was in fifth place six shots back of Els after shooting a 3-under 68 that very nearly didn’t happen at all.
His career has been spent fighting an allergy to grass but when Elkington picked up a sinus infection fly fishing in Scotland the week after the Open at St Andrews, his health was already cause for concern.
“Beware the golfer with the sniffles, the limp, the headache or the sore back. Steve Elkington turned up this week with his allergies kicking up, head aching, nose running,” wrote Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray.
Add to that a cold that he picked up Friday night at Riviera and the possibility of withdrawing became very real.
“I felt so bad when I went to bed last night that I didn’t know if I was going to get up,” Elkington told The Daily Breeze. “Thank goodness I’m playing good.”
But trailing Els by six shots, good wasn’t going to be enough, but Elkington sensed that the South African would have to deal with more than simply the chasing pack.
“He is a pretty strong front-runner but it all rides on tomorrow.”
Unwilling to wait to see whether Els would wilt, Elkington showed the courage to push for a score capable of winning that could also have led to a Sunday blowout.
He birdied six of the opening 11 holes to roar into contention and when he picked up another birdie at No.12 had taken sole ownership of the lead.
When he posted a final round of 7-under 64 for a 72-hole total of 267 – the lowest in PGA history and tying Norman’s 1993 Open score at Royal St George’s for lowest in any major – it would take something special to catch him, and Montgomerie delivered.
He birdied the final three holes to match Elkington’s score and force a playoff, the 32-year-old Aussie responding with yet another birdie at the first playoff hole from 25 feet to complete an unlikely triumph in the home of Hollywood.
“I played the round of my life,” Elkington said.
Helped in no small part by his extraordinary play at Riviera, Elkington was awarded the Vardon Trophy for the lowest scoring average by the PGA of America in 1995.
He finished with 10 PGA TOUR titles – including winning four tournaments on two separate occasions – and lost in a playoff at the 2002 Open Championship at Muirfield.
He turned 50 in December 2012 and finished tied for sixth at the 2013 US Senior Open and in 43 starts on the Champions Tour recorded eight top-10 finishes.
In 2017 he was elected into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame and hosts Secret Golf with Steve Elkington on CBS.
