Want to recieve exclusive news, videos, tournament highlights, golf important tips and more ?
Want to recieve exclusive news, videos, tournament highlights, golf important tips and more ?
Play for a share of prizemoney on some of the most spectacular golf courses on the planet in the unique Pro-Am Tour format available exclusively to PGA Members.
Designed with Vocational Members specifically in mind, Pro-Am Tours where the Professional recruits and plays with three club members have proven to be extremely popular. And with borders reopening and international travel once again possible there are two trips on sale that offer the experience of a lifetime.
Hosted by Air Adventure Golf, the first three events held at King Island since 2018 have proven to be so popular that the January 2022 tour sold out in just two weeks.
Many of those groups are return visitors so Air Adventure have added a second event for 2022 in May with just 25 groups available.
PGA Professionals who recruit three members at their club to join the tour will enjoy an all-expenses paid trip that includes flights, accommodation, transfers and meals.
Played across Cape Wickham and Ocean Dunes, the King Island experience is one that every golfer must enjoy at least once in their lifetime and Tour Promoter Jon Perrett is eager to see plenty of new faces in May.
“The response to the January Pro-Am was incredible and the majority of those bookings were PGA Professionals who have done the trip in the past,” said Perrett.
“With the borders reopening demand is going through the roof so we thought adding a second event in May would give others the chance to come down and experience King Island for themselves.”
Now is also the time to start planning international travel and there could be few better golf destinations than a week in Ireland.
CGE Golf are staging the Iconic Ireland Pro-Am from April 16-22, 2023 where PGA Professionals and their three amateur teammates will be treated to rounds at three of the most jaw-dropping courses in the world in Ballybunion, Doonbeg and Lahinch.
Included in the package will be a welcome dinner and presentation gala function at the Trump Doonbeg Hotel where the tour will be based.
The tour consists of a practice round, one round team event and a 54-hole Pro-Am Stableford Tournament for the prize pool of $55,000 with daily and overall prizes for the amateurs in the field.
The PGA Member’s ground cost is free of charge, while the amateur cost has been supported by Doonbeg Golf Links & Hotel, making this a most attractive package. Qatar Airlines will be offering a special flight price, departing from all major cities for pro-am participants.
There is also the opportunity to extend the trip into Northern Ireland and schedule a stopover in Doha on the return leg for those who take up the special price offered by Qatar Airways.
“We know international travel is going to be highly sought after in the next few years and for golfers there are few more desirable destinations than Ireland,” said CGE Golf Director Steven Baron.
“We created these tours specifically for PGA Members who don’t ordinarily get to play tournament golf and who have wonderful relationships with the members at their respective clubs.
“This is a way to further enhance those relationships, play some extraordinary golf courses and with a limit of 30 PGA Members pick up a nice slice of the prize money at the same time.”
For more information on either tour click the links below.
Tom Bond has taken out the 2021 South Australian Associate Championships at Links Lady Bay, Normanville in bitter and windy conditions on the Fleurieu Peninsula.
“I’m happy how I played over the four rounds,” said Bond after his win.
“The conditions were brutal. We had four-club winds and the rain was relentless. I had to golf the ball and grind it out mentally and physically on every shot, all the Associates had to.
“The course was in great condition and a real big thank you to Links Lady Bay for hosting the event, it’s a great course.”
With the 72-hole tournament played over two days each comprising two 18-hole rounds, Bond endured the cold and windy conditions to produce a 3-under par 69 in round one and even-par round two to lead the field at 3-under par after day one.
Similar conditions followed on day two, as Bond shot rounds of even-par and a closing 4-over par to claim the title with a total score of 1-over par 289 for the four rounds.
Steve Capon finished runner-up 11 shots back with a total score of 300 strokes.
“I consider my final round to be probably the best golf I’ve played in my life,” said Capon.
“I shot three-under in the last ten holes and I’m incredibly proud with the result. It was a great tournament that was played on one of the toughest and best golf courses in the state.
“The course layout always makes you grind and adapt to the unrelenting situations you ultimately find yourself in, especially in those conditions.”
Brodie Whitbread finished in third place with a total score of 302.
“Some of the hardest conditions I have ever played in but that’s golf. A real testament to Tom and Capo’s games,” said Whitbread.
In the concurrently-run Pro Am, a hole-in-one was made by Darcy Salamon from Kooyonga Golf Club on the 15th hole in round two with a perfect 9 iron.
“Because of the elevated green we couldn’t see the ball go in, we heard a noise, but didn’t have a clue until we got up there,” said Salamon.
Anna Stanton’s path to becoming the Golf Operations Manager at Woodford Golf Club west of the Sunshine Coast is simultaneously an example of where golf in Australia has come from and the people who will shape its future.
As she oversees a thriving junior program at Woodford boasting a growing group of young girls, Stanton can’t help reflect back on her formative days in the game in Kilcoy just 20 minutes down the road.
There was a lone friend who was also a golfer, less than 10 lady members at Kilcoy and little indication that a career in golf was ever possible.
Stanton’s playing ability earned her an invite to Brisbane to attend the Kelvin Grove State College’s Golf Excellence program and her rural upbringing helped to earn a scholarship through the Adam Scott Foundation to study a Diploma in Golf Management at the PGA’s International Golf Institute in 2012.
A Bachelor of Business majoring in sport management through Griffith University followed in 2013 and 2014 but after completing her Professional Year at Palmer Gold Coast to attain her PGA credentials, Stanton found employment difficult to come by.
“I’ll be honest, I had those thought processes at the end of 2015, when I was going from casual job to casual job of, ‘Is there actually a career for me in golf?’,” Stanton reveals.
“I think that mindset has changed now, not just in the golf industry but across all industries with regards to gender equality and opportunity.”
Will full-time employment within the golf industry proving elusive Stanton tapped into her upbringing on the family farm and enrolled in Veterinary Technology at UQ Gatton, picking up a part-time job at Gatton Golf Club to keep some money coming in.
When she was exposed to the most difficult aspect of life as a veterinarian, Stanton shifted again to study a Graduate Certificate in Applied Digital Marketing before applying to become the Assistant Golf Operations Manager at Woodford in November 2019.
“It’s a bit of a crazy little ride,” she concedes.
“My role’s quite diverse here. I look after the communication including the Facebook page and we’ve essentially doubled our audience in the space of two years.
“I wear a lot of different hats, I do monthly newsletters, I do weekly updates, the designs for flyers. But then also look after the actual golf ops side of things, which can be quite overwhelming too, especially when golf is so popular and just grown in popularity.
“Our club numbers have improved by probably 25 per cent. It’s crazy.”
Subconsciously, Stanton is also doing something at Woodford and in south-east Queensland that perhaps won’t come to fruition for another decade.
From the enthusiastic band of junior girls at Woodford to girls taking their first steps in the PGA’s Membership Pathway Program, Stanton is providing the one thing she lacked as a junior… an example to follow.
“I’m only 26 and in the grand scheme of things, there’s not too many golf ops managers who are around my age let alone female,” she adds.
“We’ve got three little girls at Woodford all around the same age and they wear their junior member shirts. They’re really, really sweet and they bind together in the program and egg each other on which is fantastic. Because that’s what you need. That’s what you need to build more of that culture and make everyone try harder and be better.
“I’ve thought about the influence that I’ve had on the aspiring female trainees because there are more females than ever in the program. I understand the ones in Queensland look up to me as something of role model with a job that they would like to be able to move in into.
“It’s good to be able to lead the way and hopefully encourage more females in golf to take up those roles as well.”
Women are welcomed into Thrive. Men become part of the Wolfpack and juniors play as a Centenary Park Shark.
Golfers tend to join clubs without ever being part of a team but recognising the flood of interest from new golfers in the wake of the pandemic, Centenary Park Golf Course in Frankston south-east of Melbourne sought to approach things slightly differently.
Led by PGA Professional Jack Donaldson (pictured) who operates Impact Golf Performance at Centenary Park, the group dynamics and enhanced connection to the golf facility are engendering an enthusiasm that Donaldson says can’t help but be infectious.
“With team sports being shut down, a lot of men and women who traditionally would have been a part of football and netball and those sort of sports have gone, ‘You know what? I want to do something. And being locked down for a year, I need to start a sport’,” says Donaldson.
“We have the ‘Get Into Golf’ program and then we have development programs that enable people to feel like part of a team.
“The women’s program is called Thrive. The logo for that is basically a flower with a golf ball in the middle of it and women have really loved that, love to feel that inclusion in the program.
“The men’s program is called Wolfpack. It’s that pack mentality – a bit more masculine than a flower – and it’s been really cool to see men embrace that and the mateship and camaraderie they develop being in those programs.
“And then the junior program is called the Centenary Park Sharks.”
Akin to martial arts disciplines that reward levels of progression with advancing colours of belts, Donaldson encourages development within his junior program with different coloured hats.
Based on the Titleist Performance Institute program, juniors start out with red Centenary Park hats and progress to white, blue, green and eventually black.
“Red is a lot of locomotive skills – running, jumping and basic posture – and then we go into white, which is the fundamentals level, dialling in posture, grip, athletic weight shift,” Donaldson explains.
“Blue is basically the play stage, introducing kids to the golf course, and then we go to green, which is the training stage for the older teenager who does drills and stations and things like that.
“Finally, black is the elite level for kids who take the game quite seriously and want to play at a competitive level.
“The good thing about those caps as well is that motivation to get the next one and we some retention in our junior programs because they want to go up to that next level and get the cap that their friend may have already earned.”
And it is not only the juniors who Donaldson manages in transitioning from beginning to the golf course.
A crucial element in his adult program comes towards the end, guiding his newcomers not only in technique but providing a grounding in how to feel comfortable on the golf course.
“I block out times on a time sheet in an afternoon on a Saturday or Sunday to provide an environment where they know there will be people of similar abilities and they can just ease their way into the game,” adds Donaldson.
“It’s like a lot of traffic coming through, ‘How do I merge into the traffic?’ It’s our job to make that golfer’s journey easy.
“I tell people that the most important thing is to understand how to look after the golf course and to be aware and respectful of other people on the golf course.
“If you are playing slowly but know to let other people through, those golfers will appreciate that awareness and are much more likely to make you feel welcome on the course.
“The rules are just a byproduct of playing the game. You’ll learn them as you go, but you don’t have to know them all. We’re just looking to have a good time and enjoy ourselves.
“Golf can be whatever you want it to be. If you want to go and play three holes and then go and have a drink with a friend, or go to the driving range, or play 18 holes competitively, it is whatever you want it to be.
“I really drive that home as much as I can. That this is a game for everybody and it’s what you want to make of it.”
Meeting the market
The over-riding question arising from the COVID-infused golf boom centres on how to turn newcomers into life-long golfers.
Rather than a reliance on the heritage of the game and the traditions it is built on, Donaldson says it is beholden on the golf industry to meet the market that has suddenly emerged rather than expect it to come to us.
Whether it is offering more group-based lesson environments that people can participate in with friends, making time available to transition them to the golf course or simply embracing the new ways people want to experience golf, every opportunity is one worth exploring.
“I actually had some girls come to the range, they would have been in their early 20s, one looked like a bit of a punk and one had Converse on,” Donaldson says.
“They were out on the range and pumping music and I actually excused myself from a lesson to go over to them.
“They might have been thinking I was coming to tell them off but I said, ‘Can you please come back? Because this is awesome.’
“That’s the sort of stuff that we’ve got to encourage. The right attitude in the pro shop and the engaging and welcoming personality is crucial.
“We’re not exclusive anymore. We can’t use that word. We’ve got to be inclusive, being welcoming to people of all walks of life. It’s being adaptable to different people and understanding that golf is not a certain type of clothing and attitude anymore. It’s quite vast in that the people that it caters to.”
Guiding Cameron Smith and Louis Dobbelaar to become Australia’s highest-ranked male professional and amateur golfers respectively has seen Grant Field named the Coach of the Year (High Performance) at the Queensland Golf Industry Awards on Thursday night.
In its new position on the calendar in October, the celebration of Queensland golf’s high achievers from January 2020 to July 31, 2021 attracted more than 350 guests to The Star on the Gold Coast where PGA Professionals, tournament hosts, turf professionals, administrators, golf clubs, amateurs and volunteers were recognised for their contributions.
A highlight of the evening was a live Q&A via Webex with three of Queensland’s greatest golf exports, Karrie Webb dialling in from North Queensland and Cameron Smith and Scott Hend from their homes in Florida.
Since the start of 2020 Smith has climbed from outside the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings to now be at a career-high of 21st and on the verge of breaking into the top 20 in the world.
His breakthrough individual PGA Tour title at the Sony Open was the start of an impressive run for Smith who was runner-up at the 2020 Masters, won the Zurich Classic alongside Marc Leishman and represented Australia at the Tokyo Olympics.
In the time of COVID where travel has been difficult, Smith says it is Field’s communication and strong foundation that has enabled them to continue to find success despite being unable to work together in person.
“It’s pretty weird not being able to see him face to face but we’ve done a pretty good job of staying on top of things with video and FaceTime,” said Smith.
“Before I came out on tour we had a pretty good idea of what worked and what didn’t and we’ve never really tinkered with anything.
“We knew what worked, we knew what didn’t, and we just kept getting better 1 per cent at a time.
“It’s an easy trap to fall into but we’ve never changed something to try and get better.
“Throughout my career so far we’ve done a really good job of staying to true to what we’ve worked on from day one.”
Field’s other star performers the past 18 months include Australian Amateur champion and Male Amateur Golfer of the Year Louis Dobbelaar, European Tour player Maverick Antcliff, Dylan Perry, Luke Parker, Sarah Wilson and Andre Stolz.
The other big winner on the night was Maroochy River Golf Club on the Sunshine Coast, picking up three awards.
Course Superintendent Stuart Campbell received the Superintendents Achievement Award, the Maroochy River Legends Pro-Am was named the Legends Tournament of the Year and they were awarded the prestigious and hotly-contested Golf Club of the Year award.
Brookwater Golf Club’s John Collins was named the Coach of the Year (Game Development) for his work in coaching some 7,000 juniors and introducing 700 adults to the game through Get Into Golf programs during the judging period.
In addition to his daily duties at Gailes Golf Club in Brisbane Brent Barlow has completed more than 50 education programs in the past 18 months to earn Club Professional of the Year while the ongoing success and development at Parkwood Village saw Luke Altschwager recognised as the PGA Management Professional of the Year.
The Brisbane Golf Club celebrated a double win with General Manager Geoff Kuehner taking the Manager of the Year award and the club’s junior program overseen by Head Professional Joe Janison named the Junior Golf Program of the Year.
2021 Queensland Golf Industry Award Winners
Coach of the Year (High Performance): Grant Field (Pelican Waters GC)
Coach of the Year (Game Development): John Collins (Brookwater G&CC)
Club Professional of the Year: Brent Barlow (Gailes GC)
Management Professional of the Year: Luke Altschwager (Parkwood Village)
Tournament of the Year: Hutchison Builders Redcliffe Pro-Am
Metropolitan Tournament of the Year: Coca-Cola City of Brisbane Pro-Am
Regional Tournament of the Year: Ian Weigh Toyota Rockhampton Pro-Am
Legends Tournament of the Year: Maroochy River Legends Pro-Am
Golf Course Turf Apprentice of the Year: Nick McClymont (Headland GC)
Superintendents Achievement Award: Stuart Campbell (Maroochy River GC)
Assistant Superintendents Recognition: Michael Todd (Royal Queensland GC)
Golf Club Staff Member of the Year: Sutthichai Sukplang (Tally Valley GC)
Golf Club Board Member of the Year: Joey Lyttle (Wolston Park GC)
Golf Club of the Year Award: Maroochy River Golf Club
Inside Golf Manager of the Year: Geoff Kuehner (The Brisbane GC)
Male Amateur Golfer of the Year: Louis Dobbelaar
Female Amateur Golfer of the Year: Justice Bosio
Junior Female Amateur Golfer of the Year: Justice Bosio
Junior Male Amateur Golfer of the Year: Kai Komulainen
Volunteer of the Year: Jane McFarlane (Gatton Jubilee GC)
Golf Club of the Year (Under 400 Members): Dalby Golf Club
PGA IGI Excellence in Golf Education: Sean Bradfield
Golf Supplier of the Year: MiClub
Services to Golf Award: Len Beck
Junior Golf Program of the Year: The Brisbane Golf Club
Former National PGA Professional of the Year Ian Pritchard has been named the South Australian PGA Professional of the Year for a fourth time at the South Australian Golf Industry Awards night.
More than 200 guests gathered to honour the industry’s high achievers with Pritchard’s efforts in game development at Mount Osmond Golf Club earning recognition as the PGA Professional of the Year for the first time since 2016.
A PGA Member for the past 31 years, Pritchard has overseen the introductory programs at Mount Osmond with great effect.
Of the participants in Mount Osmond’s Try Golf program 75 per cent flowed through into becoming members at Mount Osmond, the Get Into Golf program has seen increased numbers and Pritchard has established an affordable school’s program that allows Seymore College and Glenunga High school students an introduction to the game of golf.
In addition to bringing new people into the game Pritchard continues to service the members at Mount Osmond to the highest of standards, conducting weekly member clinics as well as coaching the Mount Osmond pennants team.
Guiding the emergence of Japan’s elite amateurs into world golf earned Gareth Jones a second SA Coach of the Year (Elite Performance) nod.
Based at Glenelg Golf Club, Jones has done a remarkable job in improving the standards of Japan’s best amateurs as the national golf coach which is being reflected in their performances once they enter the professional ranks.
Takumi Kanaya has recorded top-10 finishes on both the European Tour and PGA Tour in 2021 to go with his three wins on the Japan Golf Tour the past 18 months while Nasa Hataoka had a win at the LPGA Tour’s Marathon LPGA Tournament and was runner-up at the US Women’s Open.
Mone Inami won a silver medal on home soil at the Tokyo Olympics and is currently 20th in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and of the current Japan amateurs under Jones’s tutelage Keita Nakajima won the McCormack Medal as the No.1 in the World Amateur Ranking and Tsubasa Kajitani won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship.
Jones has also promoted the game by generously giving up his time to present to the SA Membership Pathway Program Associates at training school and was a keynote speaker at the Japan Olympic Committee Coaching Academy prior to 2021 Olympics to multi-sport Olympic coaches in Tokyo.
Like Pritchard, Sarah King devotes much of her energies to growing the game and her passionate and tireless work earned her the SA Game Development Coach of the Year along with the award for MyGolf Deliverer of the Year.
Since becoming a Full Vocational Member in 2019, King has had a focus on growing the game not only for Glenelg Golf Club but for South Australian golf as a whole.
In the past year she has conducted more than 200 MyGolf junior clinics, managed and run the women’s Try Golf program with 80-100 active participants with an amazing 50 per cent conversion to membership and is head of coaching for Glenelg’s pennant program and is a key stakeholder in Glenelg’s Junior Foundation program.
On top of offering her coaching services upwards of 50 hours per week six days a week at Glenelg, King also visits Sandy Creek Golf Club to provide golf lessons to those members who do not have a PGA member onsite to provide lessons.
King has also continued to further education by completing the Titleist Performance Institute Level 1 accreditation, Constraint to Perform – Training Human Skills, putting with JB Capto Coach webinar and Project One Putt and is currently studying for her TPI Junior certification, PuttLab certification and Bachelor of Psychology.
The other major award of the night was the Service to the South Australian Golf Industry award which went to 47-year PGA Professional Allan Telford for his outstanding efforts in growing the game throughout the state.
2021 SA Golf Industry award winners
SACGSA Graduate of the Year: Jordan Sherratt (Thaxted Park Golf Club)
Girls OOM Vardon Trophy Winner: Amelia Whinney (The Grange Golf Club)
Boys OOM Vardon Trophy Winner: Charlie Nobbs (The Vines Golf Club of Reynella)
Women’s OOM Vardon Trophy Winner: Amelia Whinney (The Grange Golf Club)
Men’s OOM Vardon Trophy Winner: Jack Buchanan (Glenelg Golf Club)
MyGolf Deliverer of the Year: Sarah King (Glenelg Golf Club)
PGA Club Professional of the Year: Ian Pritchard (Mount Osmond Golf Club)
GMA Excellence in Golf Club Management: Steven Freeling (Westward Ho Golf Club)
Service to the South Australian Golf Industry: Allan Telford
Country Volunteer of the Year: Diana Perkins (Naracoorte Golf Club)
Metropolitan Volunteer of the Year: ‘Wednesday Warriors’ (Mawson Lakes Golf Club)
SAGCSA Excellence in Turf Management: Stephen Pellatt (Blackwood Golf Club)
PGA Coach of the Year – High Performance: Gareth Jones (Glenelg Golf Club)
PGA Coach of the Year – Game Development: Sarah King (Glenelg Golf Club)
There are few spare moments in the week of Perth-based PGA Professional Emma Liebenau but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
PGA Professional at Mount Lawley Golf Club.
Support Specialist at golf software provider MiClub.
MyGolf coordinator.
Wife and mother to two boys.
“I feel like I’ve got the best of both worlds. I’m really, really lucky,” says Liebenau.
“I coach Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings, Thursday evenings, and then do a bit of MyGolf for schools as well. I do one day a week in the office for MiClub and then one day a week from home.
“I’ve always been flat out, Saturday, Sunday for so many years and then I realised that now the boys are full-time at school I needed to be a mum on the weekends.”
After moving from Darwin to Perth as an eight-year-old, Liebenau began attending the junior girls golf days run by Kay Lane before progressing to Melville Glades where she became a junior member.
With talent and persistence Liebenau developed to the point where she was selected to represent Australia in the Tasman Cup team but by 15 began to develop back problems that would curtail her playing days.
Even after it was suggested to her by her dad, himself a PGA Professional, that she explore the coaching route through the PGA it took special consideration to begin a traineeship.
“I tried to start my traineeship, but my back was just too bad,” she recalls.
“I played one round and I just said to them, ‘I can’t do this. My back’s not good.’
“Gavin Kirkman and Troy O’Hern were the big drivers of getting me an exemption, because this was before flexible arrangements. I was playing off 0.5 just before then so I got an exemption on my playing history, given my back condition, which I had to support with letters from surgeons outlining that it was a real injury.
“From memory Gavin told me that I was the first person to receive such an exemption.”
Liebenau completed her traineeship under the legendary Ross Metherell at Collier Park, got married and had her two boys in that time and was shortly after invited to Mount Lawley to help develop a junior program that today is the envy of many Australian clubs.
Working in cohort with Sue Thomson and Julie Lepp, Liebenau set about putting in place junior clinics with structure and consistency that parents could rely on and kids could look forward to.
“Once you create those opportunities of eight-week courses, provide structure in the lessons, turn up on time, get the basics right, you develop trust with parents. And make it fun,” she adds.
“When those juniors are ready to progress to the next level, you create another class and allow them to grow. That coaching pathway allows parents to see that their kids are developing.
“We also have a playing pathway. We’ve just introduced a five-hole modified course on a monthly basis on a Sunday afternoon that Sue and Julie are running and from there they graduate to the nine-hole course on Sunday where they can gain a handicap on the gold tees. Then they go from gold to red, then up to 18.
“It’s a slow burn but the club have recognised that juniors are the future of the club.”
Mixed in with her coaching duties is 18 hours per week with MiClub, further expanding Liebenau’s skill set and giving her cause to consider a potential move into club management in future.
“I can’t believe what I’ve learned,” says Liebenau, who has been assisting clubs in her part-time role for the past two years.
“I’ve learned some basic coding – very basic – but it’s really good to be in a really professional team in an office environment, just to see how that works.
“If I ever get a golf operations role or anything like that, it complements what I’m doing. I’m getting to speak with clubs all over Australia and people that I used to play golf with who are now golf ops managers now.
“I just love the balance. I love the IT side of it and I do think club management could be something I explore down the track.
“Golf operations would definitely be something I’d consider in the future but things will happen when they’re meant to happen.
“I know that sounds crazy, but sometimes you just keep plugging away and they’ll happen when it’s the time.”
James Macklin from Jindalee Golf Club has claimed the QLD PGA Associate Championship, coming from the clouds to clutch the tournament in a three-way playoff.
Harrison Wills, who lead the tournament from days one to three, stumbled on the last day, giving up his 6-shot lead within the first nine holes and opening the door for Macklin to pounce.
“I can’t believe I am standing here,” said Macklin, who earns a start on the 2021 QLD PGA Championship with this win.
“On Wednesday I thought I had torn my ACL and actually called the PGA informing them I was pulling out (of the tournament), but left it until I received my results, which showed the damage not so severe so I decided to play.
“It was hard to see Harrison (Wills) play like that today, but that is golf and I am glad I could come through with the win.”
On a wet and waterlogged course after heavy overnight rain which delayed the start of play, low scores were hard to come by.
Overcoming the conditions to earn spots in the three-way playoff were Dylan Gardner, who shot a final round one-under 71, and Zoe Maxwell, who posted the day’s best round of a 2-under par 70 to equal 290 at the top of the leaderboard.
Zoe Maxwell subsequently three-putted and bogeyed the first playoff hole, narrowly missing her chance to become the first ever female QLD PGA Associate Championship.
“I was nervous seeing all those people watching me,” laughed Maxwell after the round.
Macklin then produced a 15-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to edge out Gardner and seal the victory.
Tournament-long clubhouse leader Wills had a day to forget, hitting 84 – 20 more shots than his course record-equalling 64 on Monday – to slip to a tie for seventh with Peter Lyon.
Rounding out the top five were Alexander McCoy, Elliot Beel, and Bailey Arnott.
James Macklin now takes home the Carnegie Cup and $6,400 prizemoney, as well an automatic start in the 2021 QLD PGA Championship at the Nudgee Golf Club in January.
For a full scorecard please click here.
Harrison Wills is in prime position heading into the final day of the 2021 QLD PGA Associate Championship, teeing-off with a 6-shot lead.
An even par round of 72 in wet and windy conditions extended Wills’ margin yesterday, as his nearest chaser at the start of the day Peter Lyon shot 3-over 75 to slip down the leader board into a tie for third.
“I played well again today, other than a few wayward tee shots and two three-putts,” Wills said.
“It was a strange round and although I had those three-putts, I did have quite a few one-putts also which kept the score respectable.”
Elliott Beel from Mackay Golf Club, who finished runner up in last year’s tournament, fired a 1-under par 71, to post a 54-hole total of even par (216).
That round helped Beel climb the leader board to outright second, six shots behind Wills at the commence of today’s final round.
“I had a poor start which didn’t help with me chasing down Harry (Wills) but I did keep it together toward the end,” Beel said.
“Obviously Harry will need to falter to have any chance, but if he does I will be there to pounce”.
Low rounds of day three were produced by McLeod Golf Club’s Robert Spence and Nudgee Golf Club’s Zoe Maxwell, who nailed rounds of 2-under par 70 in the elements.
The final round begins at 11:00am today at the Windaroo Golf Club in the City of Logan.
For all scores and information please click here.
Club Catalina at Batemans Bay on the New South Wales South Coast is built around its connection to the community.
When bushfires ravaged the region and came close to encroaching on the golf course in January 2020, the clubhouse became a place of refuge for members whose houses perished in the blaze as well as serving as an overflow for the adjacent bushfire evacuation centre.
That community connection has again been evident through the time of COVID-19 as the golf course became a sanctuary for members and their guests, the club has also leant on its community for assistance.
Members have in the past conducted the club competitions and ‘Cadet Masters’ administered the junior program, the club recently took the step of bolstering the presence of PGA Professionals in their pro shop to not only better serve the members but provide a consistent delivery of service with greater attention on programs for women and juniors.
Mitchel Judd (Director of Golf) and Rodney Booth (PGA Professional) joined Club Catalina earlier this year, Judd most recently serving as the Director of Golf at Cathedral Lodge and Booth as Director of Golf at Tocumwal Golf and Bowls Club on the Murray River, their immediate focus a simple but significant one.
“Our goal is pretty simple really, we strive to be the pre-eminent golf destination on the South Coast,” says Judd.
“I believe if we focus on our people, our community and the experience our members and guests are having then everything else will look after itself.”
To achieve this Judd and Booth have set about implementing broad changes to elevate the club’s golf operations more in line with 21st century thinking.
The administration of competitions that currently run five days a week and the implementation of more formal women’s and junior programs are designed not only to improve the experience for existing members but to provide a seamless pathway for those looking to join.
“The first three months that I was here I was amazed just how active the committee was in the golfing operations,” says Booth, who relocated to Batemans Bay with his young family.
“The Club are looking to move the golfing operations forward, hence the employment of Mitchel and myself into our current roles. Club Catalina is a large scale Licensed Club, so the aim to have a stronger structure built into the golf operations has become a primary focus.
“With Mitch and I taking over the two roles it was a longer-term plan of streamlining golfing operations, as most clubs are accustomed to.
“Mitch and I are gradually involving the Golf Shop in terms of timesheet preparation, competition structure and providing that professionalism we were employed for.”
Part of that message in recent times is centred on making women feel more and more welcome at Club Catalina. The latest in the series of beginner ladies clinics is scheduled for September, where the primary goal is to make the participants feel comfortable and that the club is there for their enjoyment.
“Golf has certainly become a sport that has actively pursued increasing the engagement of females and the approach taken by Club Catalina since my arrival is certainly along these lines.” Booth says. “Driving female participation is not only essential in securing the longevity of a golf club, it shows the club is serious in the area of inclusiveness and its position within the sport.”
“We’re looking to engage with that beginner ladies crowd and show them that you don’t need to have all the flash gear or be an expert to play the game. You can come out and enjoy walking the golf course and engage yourself amongst another social outlet.
“Golf is a chance to share time and space with another group of people who they perhaps hadn’t originally thought of.
“Whether it’s men, ladies or juniors, anyone can get involved in the game. If it results in one more person on the timesheet, it is another social outlet for them to enjoy and to appreciate the club’s facilities.
“The immediate impact that Mitch and I have had is to provide a professional inclusive service that will welcome anyone to come and play at Club Catalina.”
