Chris Wood (67, 20-under)

On the emotions he experienced over the final 20 minutes

“From 18 onwards to now nervous and then an anxious wait. Then when the boys didn’t make the eagles up the last to force a playoff just happy and a sigh of relief to finally get a win. Now I can relax and enjoy it and get ready for next week. A whole bag of mixed emotions but at the moment just so happy with how I hung in there all week and kept my emotions in check.”

On beating a quality field for a maiden PGA Tour of Australasia title

“The field is basically the same as Rosebud (for The Players Series) and I do feel that I played very well last week, I just couldn’t score. I knew that the same boys would be here this week and that I’d have to go low and just tidy up a few things in my game. I worked on that at the start of the week and it’s just great to finish in front of so many quality guys with so much experience. I did what I had to do and got the job done.”

On playing in the second-to-last group

“Because I haven’t really been up there in the Tour events, especially on the third and fourth rounds, final day, it’s always good to be out of that final group. You have less people watching you, unless you’re playing really well on that final day and you separate yourself from the field. We were all thereabouts all day. On 16 I was very aware of what they were doing. I was up on the 17th green and I knew that the boys hit it in there fairly close and I just listened to the crowd and nobody really clapped for a birdie. I knew that they’d missed it and I had a great chance on 17 for a birdie. It went in end over end and was probably the purest roll I hit all week and that’s when I got nervous. Walking to the tee knowing I’m one in front, I know 17’s a hard hole, they’re going to have to hit a great shot in there to make birdie. I just tried to have two more good swings on 18 and dump it on the green and two-putt and that’s what I did.”

On his tee shot at par-3 17th

“I just knew that 6-iron wasn’t getting there and the front bunkers were a no-go zone so I hit 5 and just tried to give myself a putt. It was a pretty good shot in actually but I wasn’t really trying to hit it that close. I was just trying to get it on the green.”

On his driver, 5-iron shots into the 18th green

“It’s very hard to see the flag on 18 because of all the slopes so I just picked a spot on the clubhouse and swung at that. I didn’t flush it as much but I knew a bit of adrenaline was going to kick in and I knew it would have been all right even if it went a bit long but it ended up being perfectly pin high. I left myself a tricky little 3.5-foot putt and those are the putts that I missed heaps on the first two days and then I fixed my putting. I walked up and said, ‘Just hole it.’ And she went in.”

On putting adjustment he made Friday night

“All I did was lengthen my backstroke a little bit. I felt like I was getting a bit short and jabby because my speed control had been off all week. I lengthened it a bit and it smoothed out the stroke and just put a better roll on it. It definitely helped.”

James Anstiss (71, 19-under)

On his final round

“I just never really got some momentum going. Obviously I made a few birdies early and was going nicely. I hit the flag on two and it ricocheted and came back and I ended up making par but I was 2-under through four and just chipping away. Really never got the putter warmed up, missed a couple of short opportunities on the front, didn’t hole enough in that 6-10 foot range today. I hit a wedge shot long on nine and didn’t get up and down, three-putted 13 for bogey but hit a really nice shot into 15 and had 12 feet for eagle but left that one short, which was disappointing. Nice birdie up the last but never really got it going with the putter to give myself any momentum.”

On the atmosphere in the final group

“I knew what ‘Simmy’ and Blake were doing but it was tough out there. Obviously you’re trying to make some birdies but at the same time it’s so easy to make a mistake and make a bogey that you are playing for par sometimes. I saw after the 15th hole that all four of us were at 18-under so obviously it was tight and no one could really get away. Then Chris birdied 17 which is just ridiculously good because that was playing very tough and then birdied the last.”

On positives he can carry into next week

“Just spend tomorrow recharging the batteries. Obviously the game’s in very good shape, I’m very happy with the way I’m playing and the way I’m hitting it. The course requires a lot of very good ball-striking and I’m striking the ball really, really good at the moment so I’m excited about starting on Tuesday and the four days ahead.”

Michael Sim (69, 19-under)

On the final group battle

“It was a bit of a grind for me the front side. I got the ball up and down quite a bit but James and Blake were hitting the ball well. I got the ball up and down on the first three holes for par and some of those were really good up-and-downs. I made another good up-and-down at six and a good two-putt at eight so I was really hanging in there the front nine. James probably could have made a couple more putts but it was hard to know what Chris was doing in front becauise there was only one leaderboard driving around in a cart. I saw him birdie 17 and then 18 being a forward tee and down breeze, you’ve got to think that he’d get to 20 and he did. Good on him, that’s a great result for Chris.”

On having a share of the lead after a birdie at 14

“I wasn’t watching the leaderboards too much, I was just trying to focus on what I needed to do and I struck the ball a lot better on the back. I didn’t really look at the leaderboard until the 17th tee when it was right in front of us and I saw Chris make 2 and go to 19-under. I was just trying to focus on what I was doing. I wasn’t really trying to focus on winning the tournament just because I struggled so much the front nine with my ball-striking.”

On opportunities to get to 20-under over closing holes

“I laid up on 15 and wedged it to 12 feet and lipped out, 16 I was 15 feet and thought I made that but didn’t and then 17 I hit a good shot and two-putted. I had my chances coming in but I was just proud of myself of how I grinded out the front nine just to give myself a chance there at the end.”

Terry Pilkadaris (65, 12-under)

On racing daylight to finish his second round

“I had a 10-ffoter for birdie on the seventh hole and then two-putted the eighth in the dark. I didn’t want to have to come back in the morning at 7.30 to play one hole and then wait around to tee off again at 12.30. Jason Norris missed the cut but he asked what I wanted to do and I said, ‘Let’s go. Let’s get through.’ Steve Jeffress was in front of us and he told us to hit so we played the last hole with them, which was nice of them. The last three holes were a par 5, medium par 4 and long par 4 and I reckon we played them in 20 minutes. Jason putted out on seven and then went and hit his ball off the tee so I took my time with my putt and then played out the last hole.”

On the two suspensions of play mid-round

“I birdied nine and 11 and then hit a great drive down 12. I had 215 to the hole but the ball was above my feet and on an upslope but it was down breeze. I was going to hit 3-iron, get it over the hill and let it run down to the green but then they blew the buzzer. We went inside for an hour-and-a-half, came out and it’s raining and the wind’s blowing straight into me and I’ve got to hit 3-wood with the ball way above my feet and on an upslope. I hit it 130 metres, hit my 9-iron into the green to about six foot and holed it for birdie, so I got away with it. We had the delay, I hit my 3-wood and then hit the 9-iron onto the green and then they blew the buzzer again. So we hit two shots and were in for another hour. Then the wind changed direction so it was a completely different breeze and you had to adjust to that. It switched 180 degrees. It was a complete change.”

On the highlights of his round

“I hit a bunch close, into two or three feet. On 14 I hit 6-iron to about a foot and 18 I hit it to three feet which was nice. It was pretty solid.”

On moving across to the Open Course

“The Open Course plays differently because it’s a completely different golf course. I played a nine-hole practice round out there on Wednesday and the greens were quicker. It’s a whole different dynamic.”

Michael Sim (66, 12-under)

On the conditions Friday morning

“The wind got up overnight and woke me up and then there was some rain showers that rolled through. It was pretty windy from the get-go. We had a shower come through on holes two and three but on that Legends Course once you get through the first you get a nice run of down-wind holes. I played those nicely and made some putts and I knew the last six holes were going to be tough.”

On starting with two birdies

“The first tee is quite a wide drive but the wind was in off the left and I don’t think any professional likes that wind direction. Being elevated makes it a little bit more exposed. I managed to hit a good drive down there, couldn’t get on for two so laid up and pitched it close. I did that on the second as well so it was nice to get started that way.”

On returning to tournament play last week

“That was probably the first time I’ve played four rounds of golf in 10 months, competitive golf anyway. I had some nice rounds and felt like if I missed a green I didn’t get up and down or threw in a silly three-putt. It wasn’t terrific but I made the cut and managed to put four rounds together. You need to play tournament golf to know what you’ve got to work on.”

On highlights of his second round

“Six was a down-wind par 5 and seven is quite an open tee shot. I didn’t really hit it close today, I made a good amount of 12-15 foot putts. I really like the greens here this week but the interesting thing coming up is that we’re now switching golf courses. We leave the Legends and move across to the Open Course. It’s a much bigger test out there with a greater premium on your ball-striking and with the wind forecasted for the weekend it’s still anyone’s tournament.”

On record at Open Course where he was T3 at 2009 Moonah Classic

“I haven’t played it since the Moonah Classic. I played it a little bit when I was in the AIS golf program so I do know my way around the golf course quite well. Definitely looking forward to it. Probably need to hit a few more cleaner iron shots out there than on the Legends Course. Happy to be in a good position for the next two days and looking forward to the weekend.”

Zach Murray (65, 10-under)

On the expected bad weather on Friday

“I haven’t got my meteorological qualifications yet but it got pretty blowy there through six or seven holes. It’s just typical Melbourne, southern Victoria weather. You just never know what you’re going to get.”

On his return to competitive golf

“Last week I played really nice in spots. I knew I was close and started the year off pretty nice at the Blitz Golf Glenelg and Geoff Ogilvy has put on a couple of days that I’ve been playing well in. After not playing well in Europe at the back-end of last year I really came back with a different perspective on my golf. The mindset that I’m in at the moment is really nice. It’s a tough game at times when you’re not playing well but those underlying values that I learnt over there have come to the forefront a little bit.”

On his change in mindset

“It’s been a big dream of mine to play on the European Tour. I get excited to watch it at night when I’m not playing, I just love it so much. Sub-consciously I put too much pressure on myself. Out loud I certainly didn’t but inside there was that bit of tension for my first run at it. I went over there without any practice or tournament preparation at all and shot in the mid-80s first round. And when you’re in the bubble it’s not an easy thing to do, to reset and go again. It called for a bit of a reset on my mental approach about things in general. Backing myself in and being confident. Those are things that you need to practice.”

On the approach he took to second round

“When you know you’re playing well you don’t really question it. I didn’t go out there today with anything in mind. I just went out and played. It was never forced. Yesterday I played sensational, I just hit the wrong ball out of a bush. I thought it was my ball. It had the same markings but just had a red line underneath that I couldn’t see. Never once did I think that it wasn’t mine. I just got back on the horse and off I went again. I’ve really only hit one bad shot that got me in the bush and apart from that it’s been good.

“I remember Phil Mickelson saying once that when he rolled in a putt on the first hole of the British Open when he lost to Stenson, once he saw that go in he didn’t have to force the issue. It’s been a bit like that. I’ve holed some nice ones early and taken advantage of the rest of the course and played conservative when I’ve had to. That’s what happens when you’re playing good golf, you take the pressure off yourself by rolling in a few early putts and then you’re off.”

On the triple bogey at nine on Thursday after hitting the wrong ball

“I was in shock because I’d spent so long clearing the lie to be able to hit it. It was a comedy of errors and we laughed about it afterwards but it was a bit of a kick in the guys because you knew on a day like that, bogeys hurt so triple bogeys really hurt. But I was calm the whole time. It’s the things that I’ve been practising coming to the forefront.”

On the eagle at 12

“I’m driving the ball really well at the moment and hit a nice drive down there. I had 8-iron in and hit it to about 20 feet and rolled it in. You get 3-under after four and from there on you knuckle down and take your chances when you can and it adds up to 7 at the end.”

On the par save at seven from 15 feet and birdie at eight

“There was a two-shot swing. Those are the ones that keep you in the hunt.”

Dire weather predictions failed to come to fruition for those out early with a strengthening breeze the only defence to the low scoring that has dominated the first two days, lightning in the area and rain forcing a suspension of play at 1.45pm AEDT.

Overnight leader Dimi Papadatos created a two-shot buffer to the rest of the field with only the 18th still be completed while Sim’s second consecutive 6-under 66 elevated him into outright second, one shot ahead of Blake Windred, James Marchesani, Anthony Quayle and Aaron Wilkin (through 16 holes) at 11-under.

Murray’s 7-under 65 was the equal-best of the morning groups along with Matt Millar and would have had him positioned even higher than seventh on the leaderboard if not for a mishap midway through his opening round.

Murray’s second shot into the par-5 ninth finished in bushes right of the green and after spending a couple of minutes clearing debris so that he could get his club on the ball, realised as he marked his ball on the green that it wasn’t his.

“I was in shock because I’d spent so long clearing the lie to be able to hit it,” Murray said. “It was a comedy of errors.

“We laughed about it afterwards but it was a bit of a kick in the guts because you knew on a day like that, bogeys hurt so triple bogeys really hurt.

“But I was calm the whole time. It’s the things that I’ve been practising coming to the forefront.

“After not playing well in Europe at the back-end of last year I really came back with a different perspective on my golf.

“The mindset that I’m in at the moment is really nice. It’s a tough game at times when you’re not playing well but those underlying values that I learnt over there have come to the forefront a little bit.”

A pre-5am wake-up call in darkness at home in Melbourne gave little cause to consider the prospects of wild weather as the 24-year-old calmly compiled a round of 65 to go with a first round of 3-under 69.

Starting his second round with a birdie at nine, an 8-iron to 20 feet opened the door to an eagle at the par-5 12th, birdies at 16 and 18 getting Murray to 3-under at the turn. He picked up another at the short par-4 second and then closed with birdies at two of his final three holes to earn a treasured Saturday sleep-in.

Tied for third at the 2009 Moonah Classic, Michael Sim is also well positioned for the switch from the Legends Course across to the Open Course over the weekend after a second consecutive 6-under 66.

Sim’s only two bogeys through 36 holes have both come at the par-4 15th, two opening birdies a nice way to settle into a rhythm in more difficult conditions.

“The wind got up overnight and woke me up and then there was some rain showers that rolled through. It was pretty windy from the get-go,” said Sim, whose 2009 Moonah Classic result was the pre-cursor to his three-win season on the Nationwide Tour.

“The first tee is quite a wide drive but the wind was in off the left and I don’t think any professional likes that wind direction and being elevated makes it a little bit more exposed.

“I managed to hit a good drive down there, couldn’t get on for two so laid up and pitched it close.

“I did that on the second as well so it was nice to get started that way.

“I didn’t really hit it close today, I made a good amount of 12-15 foot putts. I really like the greens here this week but the interesting thing coming up is that we’re now switching golf courses.”

Victorian Ben Campbell has been disqualified after playing the wrong ball but not realising until after he had played the following hole.

Cameron John (10-under 62)

On shooting 66 Sunday at The Players Series

“I finally got it going with the putter on the last day at Rosebud and I knew that if I’d putted well all week I probably would have ended up a lot higher up the leaderboard. I played as good as I did last week and rolled pretty much everything in.”

On starting his round with two birdies

“I felt good on the practice green and then rolling a couple in on the first two I thought that was a good way to start. I almost rolled in a long one for par on the third so I knew the putter was warm enough, I just had to give myself enough chances. The greens are pure so I thought if I started them on line they’d probably go in.”

On making eagle at the 501m par-5 sixth

“I hit a good drive down that hole and only had 8-iron in and hit it to eight feet. It was as simple as start it on line and it’s going to go in. It was a little bit downwind and I had 165m in so I hit 8-iron.”

On the best of his birdies on the back nine

“The one on 17 was pretty good. It’s always nice to get to double figures. I rolled the putter really well but that was one where I hit it six feet. I ahd to putt across the slope and thought it was a good chance to get to double figures and might be the last. I could have quite easily got to 11 or 12 but you’re never going to play a round like that without having a couple that slip past the edge.”

On experience playing on the Mornington Peninsula

“I’m a Melbourne boy but I played a lot of events down here. I’ve pretty much played all of them heaps and today’s conditions was as good as it will ever get down here. It wasn’t windy so it was a matter of just looking at the holes and if you put a decent swing on it it’s not going to move off line.”

On playing in conditions like predicted Friday

“Yeah, probably 10 or 15 times. It’s bound to happen once probably every week you come down here. If you come down here for a week one day’s going to be bad so you’ve just got to grin and bear it and hold onto your hat as much as you can. I’m sure the scores won’t be as good tomorrow but if I hit it as solid as I did today it’s always an opportunity to shoot a really good number.”

Dimi Papadatos (10-under 62)

On starting his round with eagle at par-5 ninth

“I hit driver, 3-iron to 10 feet and rolled it in. I had about 215 metres for my second. You wouldn’t necessarily expect to eagle nine but it’s definitely a really good birdie opportunity. I hit a good shot in there and tried to make the most of it. When there’s no wind like today, the scores are going to be pretty low so I knew I had to make the most of all the opportunities I got. Got into a good groove and kept ticking it over.”

On the low scores posted in the morning

“I knew the scoring was good so I was pretty aware that even though I was probably 5-under pretty early I needed to keep pushing on from there. It’s a good position to be in but I still had a lot of opportunities so I wanted to make the most of my round. I made quite a few birdies going out and then I had the easier nine coming in so I wanted to make sure I made the most of it to finish off the round.”

On his lowest score in a tournament

“I holed an eight-footer for last to get to 10. I was in the middle of the fairway on the last and thought, Geez it would be nice to birdie this because I haven’t had 10-under before. I stepped back away from it and thought about hitting it in there close and hit a good one in there to eight feet and rolled it in. I think my best score in a tournament before today was 64 so this is something different for me.”

On prospect of difficult conditions Friday

“You don’t really know what the conditions and course can bring so just have to manage whatever’s out there. You can’t have too much expectation coming out on a day like tomorrow when you don’t really know what the weather’s going to be like. It could be a bit of a grind, it could clear up, not really sure how it’s going to play out but just try and get some momentum going early in the round and keep it rolling.”

Josh Clarke (9-under 63)

On his preparation prior to round one

“I turned up today hitting it good. I struggled late in the week last week but something kind of clicked yesterday in the practice round, the nine holes I had in the morning, and I started finding the middle of the clubface again. Irons were the only real issue last week and they were pretty sharp today.”

On starting his round with four straight birdies

“The birdie on the third was pretty good. I hit a quality 7-iron into maybe 15-16 feet and rolled a left-to-righter in that didn’t really ever look like missing. The other three were quite regulation and straightforward but the one at the third made me think that we could be onto something today.”

On the pride he felt earning his Tour card at Moonah Links

“That was pretty big. That was what I’d been wanting to do for the last six or seven years. Since I left school that’s all I’ve wanted to do and had a few tough points along the road, a few good results but that was the first part of it, that opened my eyes and made me think that maybe I can do this. Waiting for a bit of validation.”

On shooting 3-under 69 in the final round of Q School

“It wasn’t playing easy that day and I’d got off to a pretty slow start that week. The one easy day I’ve ever seen Moonah Links have I was feeling pretty crook and shot over par on the first day. I thought I’d put my foot in it there but I played really solid for the rest of that week, especially that last day. That 3-under the last day was pretty similar to today. I didn’t hit many poor shots, got a few putts to drop, kept the head cool. That was a really good round.”

David McKenzie (8-under 64)

On his preparation for round one

“My wife told me to go down on Wednesday and have a practice round otherwise I was going to go blind on it. So I skipped two holes – the 13th and 14th – but as it turned out I birdied both of those. So it’s been a pretty chilled-out preparation so far. I’m playing these tournaments because I like the golf courses and I’m having a bit of fun but I’m pretty chilled and relaxed about it all knowing there are a lot of young guys who are really keen with a lot of advantages on me.”

On a front nine of 31

“I made a few nice putts, that was the big thing. I made a six-footer on the first and the second hole I drove it onto the front edge of the green and putted it almost off the other side of the green and then holed a 20-footer coming back. Ultimately I made a lot of putts in the 15-20 foot range and that’s how you have your low rounds. I hit it in play a lot and gave myself lots of chances from that distance.”

On the eagle at six

“I didn’t actually go with a yardage book this week. I was cranky that they didn’t have any books in yards so I just went with the rangefinder and I couldn’t get the yardage on that one. It was a bit of a guess and as it turned out I mis-hit my 3-hybrid from in the vicinity of 240 yards and hit it into 15 feet and holed the putt. It released further up the green than I was anticipating because it bounced a little bit harder and lower and skipped up a little bit further. Deyen Lawson ahd a putt on a similar line so I got a look at a read there.”

Blake Windred (8-under 64)

On a day of low scoring

“For me personally, I feel like there’s more pressure to go low and nail the one per centers when the course is quite gettable. I like when it plays tough because the most well-rounded players rise to the top usually. I take a lot out of today, to be able to hole a few putts when I really needed to and get a wriggle on.”

On playing the front nine in 7-under 30

“I made eagle at one, birdied two, horseshoed for bogey on three, hit it up to eight feet on four and full horseshoed again and if I wasn’t in the right mental space I might have let it get to me. A couple of years ago it may have rattled me more than it did but right then and there was the break point. Either I move on and finish the round like I did or fade away a little bit and shoot 3-under. I was happy with the way I bounced back after a couple of horseshoes on that back nine.”

On noticing the morning scores

“My caddy, Jack Poutney, with three holes to go he told me there was a score of 9 in when I was at 4. We kind of recognised that we needed a couple more birdies and then I made eagle at six, hit it to a foot from 85 metres on the next and then holed a 18-footer on the last across the slope. He gave me a nudge to make me realise that 5 or 6-under wasn’t going to be that good today, it actually helped me a lot and made me go into that last hole trying to finish off with a couple of birdies.”

On the difficult conditions predicted for Friday

“I’m preparing for it to be awful, and hopefully it stays the same all day.”

Michael Hendry (7-under, 65)

On taking advantage of good scoring conditions

“It was nice and calm, plenty of fairway width and the greens were good. It’s pretty hard to make bad scores. It’s pretty easy to chip away and make a few putts and then all of a sudden you’re 5 or 6-under.

On the highlights of his round

“I hit a pretty reasonable drive and a 6-iron into the wind from 164 metres to 15 feet and managed to hole that putt. That was probably the hardest birdie of the day today of the birdies I made. I was giving myself plenty of good looks. I picked most of the par 5s off by hitting them in two or getting up around the green. I hit a couple of good 7-irons into a couple of the par 3s and holed a couple of reasonable putts. All of a sudden it was 7-under. It felt pretty stress free today. I hit 17 greens and the one I missed I missed by about a foot and putted it anyway.”

On the condition of the greens

“They’re holding quite well. I quite like how they are. It might be better if they were a little bit firmer. Three-quarter wedge shots were getting a bit of spin today where I’d prefer them to land and stop on the spot rather than spinning back. The course is in great condition, you cannot fault it. The green surrounds are just pure. You could putt from 60 yards if you wanted to. You’ve got a million options, you’re not being dictated to by a lie around the greens. My preference would be a little bit firmer but they’re by no means soft.”

On returning to Moonah Links

“I played the Moonah Classic back in 2010 and I did pretty well in that event from memory (Hendry was tied for 10th). I’ve always kind of liked the golf course. I’ve not played the Legends before but the style of golf course I enjoy and I’ve always been quite good in the wind. I don’t mind playing in a little bit of breeze so the general conditions you find down here are going to suit me quite well.”

Steven Jeffress (7-under 65)

On starting with a bogey-free 65

“It was nice, considering I feel like I’ve been playing terrible. It was nice to get off to a solid start. Last week was my first event for 11 months so it felt good to get off to a solid start. All COVID I reckon I’d have been lucky to spend five hours on a putting green and I used to do that in two days. Not a whole lot of practice and just over the past two weeks just haven’t been striking the ball overly great. I always hit it reasonably straight but if the contact’s not quite there you can’t get it near the hole and then you’re chasing your tail all day today. I won’t say I flushed it today but I managed it better.”

On the chip-in at seven and par save at eight

“I hit a terrible second shot into seven and there’s a big slope at the front of the green. It rolled back down that into a divot and I didn’t get it up the hill to the green and it rolled back down again. I had about 30 metres to the front of the green and pitched it in for par with the 60-degree lob wedge. And then the next hole I got up and down from about the same distance off the green to save par again. They were a couple of nice little momentum holes. You make a couple of bogeys there and all the gas goes out of you. The pitch-in was excellent.”

On sharpness of short game after the layoff

“Around the greens I feel like my short game is almost as good as it’s been in years. I feel like I can’t miss. I don’t know where that comes from, probably confidence more than anything, especially off the tight lies down here. The grass is so tight but I’m loving it. I feel like if I’m off the green it’s not an issue because I feel like I can get it up and down.”

On how he has spent 11 months without tournament golf

“I’ve actually been painting. My dad was a painter so I know how to do it so I’ve been doing a few jobs painting, which has kept me busy. I think I’ve done three houses while the break’s been on. I would much rather play golf because painting is not great on your body, especially a 45-year-old body like mine.”

Playing the Legends Course in perfect scoring conditions, the early groups went on a birdie blitz with 16 players at 5-under or better but Clarke’s 63 was the pick of them, two strokes clear of Kiwi Michael Hendry, veteran Steven Jeffress and talented up-and-comers Kyle Michel and Justin Warren.

Rattling off four birdies in each of his first four holes, Clarke wasted no time in reacquainting himself with the happy Moonah Links memories having earned his tour card on the Open Course just over 12 months ago.

Although playing opportunities have been few and far between due to COVID-19, Clarke admitted that being back on the property instantly brought back the positive vibes of his conformation into the touring professional ranks.

“That was pretty big. That was what I’d been wanting to do for the last six or seven years,” Clarke said of finishing 24th to earn his card last January only six months after turning professional.

“Since I left school that’s all I’ve wanted to do and had a few tough points along the road, a few good results but that was the first part of it, that opened my eyes and made me think that maybe I can do this.

“I was pretty pumped after the last time I was here and looking forward to a busy year but that obviously hasn’t eventuated.”

Surprising himself by finishing tied for 10th at the 54-hole NT PGA Championship last October, Clarke faded on Sunday to finish tied for 48th at The Players Series last week but rediscovered his ball-striking during a nine-hole practice round on Wednesday.

“I struggled late in the week last week but something kind of clicked yesterday in the practice round and I started finding the middle of the clubface again,” said Clarke, who shot 9-under 62 in the first stage of Q School at Riverside Oaks two years ago.

“Irons were the only real issue last week and they were pretty sharp today.

“The birdie on the third was pretty good. I hit a quality 7-iron into maybe 15-16 feet and rolled a left-to-righter in that didn’t really ever look like missing.

“The other three were quite regulation and straightforward but the one at the third made me think that we could be onto something today.”

Hendry was the first of the morning players to post 7-under, his round of 65 highlighted by birdies at the two par 3s on the front nine and another at the 420-metre par-4 13th that was playing into the wind.

“It felt pretty stress free today. I hit 17 greens and the one I missed I missed by about a foot and putted it anyway,” Hendry said.

“It’s pretty easy to chip away and make a few putts and all of a sudden you’re 5 or 6-under.

“I hit a pretty reasonable drive and a 6-iron into the wind from 164 metres to 15 feet and managed to hole that putt.

“I hit a couple of good shots into a couple of the par 3s and holed a couple of reasonable putts.”

It was without the putter that Jeffress generated momentum midway through his opening round.

Swapping golf clubs for paint brushes for much of the past nine months, Jeffress admitted that he sharpened his focus after missing the cut last week and leant on his short game to sit near the top of the leaderboard.

“It was nice, considering I feel like I’ve been playing terrible. It was nice to get off to a solid start,” said the 2014 Fiji International champion.

“I won’t say I flushed it today but I managed it better.

“I hit a terrible second shot into seven and there’s a big slope at the front of the green. It rolled back down that into a divot and I didn’t get it up the hill to the green and it rolled back down again. I had about 30 metres to the front of the green and pitched it in for par with the 60-degree lob wedge.

“And then the next hole I got up and down from about the same distance off the green to save par again.

“They were a couple of nice little momentum holes. You make a couple of bogeys there and all the gas goes out of you. The pitch-in was excellent.”

Five-under through eight holes has David McKenzie as the best of the afternoon wave with 19 players at 3-under as they near the halfway mark of their opening round.

Follow live scores from the #VicPGA here.

A year in which he had planned to use his status as an ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia winner to play up to 30 events and take his game overseas was effectively wiped out by COVID-19. This week’s Victorian PGA Championship at the Moonah Links Resort represents a chance to put that plan back into action.

A Kiwi who grew up playing golf with Ryan Fox in Auckland but moved to Adelaide a decade ago after being scouted to play AFL, Rawson turned to professional golf in 2015.

He registered just two top-10 finishes from 47 starts prior to the 2019 Vic PGA at Cape Schanck where he barely made the cut, weekend rounds of 65-64 enough to finish one shot clear of Marcus Fraser.

It was a win no form guide could have predicted but instilled a sense of belief in Rawson that he was now ready to take his game to the world.

“At that point in time it was a nice little confidence boost to go and have a crack overseas,” recalled Rawson, who has spent much of the past year consulting as a stock market analyst.

“It was certainly a real confidence booster in terms of proving to myself that when I was under pressure, I was able to perform. Everyone likes to think that they can do that but until you really do it, it is a bit of an unknown.

“After winning I went to the Aussie Open and finished 30th without really getting out of second gear and then went over to Asian Tour school and missed out on a card by a couple of shots.

“From there COVID hit and we didn’t get to play again.

“From where I was sitting I was prepped to play 25-30 events in 2020 and thought it was going to be a breakout year for me.

“Definitely a chance to restart and kick-start things from here this week.”

Now 32 years of age and father to eight-week-old Rex, Rawson is confident that he has knocked off enough of the rust the past two weeks to give a good account of his title defence, albeit on two different golf courses than the one he won on.

Opening with a 10 at the Gippsland Super 6 was admittedly worse than he expected but he and his coach Adrian Wickstein have seen enough to know that there are positives to be taken from two missed cuts.

“Over at Gippsland through two rounds my coach figured out that I’d made the third-most birdies in the field but I missed the cut,” said Rawson, who missed the cut at The Players Series by two strokes.

“I was 7-over through two holes and got it back to 1-over for the first round and then I was 2-under for the second round and made a triple on a par 3 with four holes to play after a bit of a bad break.

“I was doing a lot of good things – and the same applied last week – but just too many soft mistakes.”

Relatively late to the professional ranks, patience has been a critical element to Rawson’s development as a golfer.

History may suggest time is running out but he need only look to his childhood sparring partner to know that opportunities from the PGA Tour of Australasia are possible.

“Ryan and I grew up together in Auckland. Our junior golf was founded upon who can hit it harder and who can hit it further, and naturally he won most of those,” Rawson said of Fox, who used a maiden Tour win at 27 years of age to propel him to the European Tour and Major championships.

“Seeing how he transitioned, how he went through the New Zealand golf scene, what he did in major amateur events and then transitioned to a pro… Seeing that it still took him three years or so to mature into a professional player and hone his game a little bit more just shows the patience required.

“At the same time, it does give you the confidence that when I’m on, I can compete with Ryan and encouraging to see that he’s done it so there’s no reason that I can’t.”

The Victorian PGA Championship will be played over both the Legends Course and Open Course at Moonah Links from 4-7 February with professionals to be paired up with an amateur playing partner for the Victorian PGA Celebrity Amateur Challenge.

View round one tee times for the #VicPGA at pga.org.au.