A joint winner at Biloela Golf Club two weeks ago, Choat again had company at the top of the leaderboard as Alex Simpson and Josh Clarke matched his total of 7-under 65.

Surprisingly, all three players were in the morning wave, their clubhouse mark unmatched in the afternoon as Harry Goakes, Dean Jamieson and Aaron Maxwell all posted 6-under 66.

Choat had barely signed his scorecard before video of his first ever hole-in-one hit the socials, the 46-year-old raising his arms to the skies when he found his Titleist at the bottom of the cup at the par-3 13th.

“I was playing with Wade Hooper who is probably a foot taller than me,” Choat said.

“He goes, ‘I think that’s gone in.’ He’s calling it on the tee and I can’t see anything.

“I keep walking, walking, walking, Wade gets his camera out and starts filming.

“As soon as I saw it in, it was a massive release because 40 years of golf and none. I’ve had them flying the hole, bounce off the green, spin back, lip out.

“I reckon I can count 10 that should have gone in so to actually have one go in was just huge.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by PGA of Australia (@pgaofaustralia)

HOW THE WINNING ROUND UNFOLDED

The 18th hole was Choat’s first and he began with a birdie.

He added two more at two and three but it was two eagles in the space of four holes that provided the backbone to his score.

The first came with a three at the par-5 10th before the long-awaited ace at 13.

Choat birdied 14 to get to 9-under on his round but made double-bogey on his final hole, the par-4 17th.

Like Choat, Simpson began with a birdie at his opening hole, the par-5 eighth, but it was a stretch of four birdies in the space of five holes late in his round that enabled him to match Choat and Clarke at 7-under.

Clarke took a step back with a bogey at his first hole but accumulated eight birdies from that point, six of which came in his final eight holes to also finish at 7-under.

WHAT THE WINNER SAID

“I didn’t really think a win would come from the morning. It was cold and the ground was wet. There was no wind, but I thought we were losing lots of distance with the wet and cold conditions.

“I actually arrived in Townsville with some form and then it quickly dropped off and I really started to doubt myself. Hanging around with a lot of these young players is really good. They talk about their games a lot and it’s a very open forum.

“Through conversations and positivity of some of the young ones, I’ve felt the need to just keep pushing and pushing and it was the second round at Emerald where I really started to find something and I probably haven’t really looked back since.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
T1        Alex Simpson               65
T1        Anthony Choat            65
T1        Josh Clarke                   65
T4        Harry Goakes               66
T4        Dean Jamieson            66
T4        Aaron Maxwell             66

NEXT UP

With a proud history and a record $80,000 in prize money, the Optilease Redcliffe Pro-Am tees off on Thursday with a Tour-quality field to do battle across two rounds at Redcliffe Golf Club.