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West Australian Jarryd Felton will seek to make his Kalgoorlie dominance official when he takes a one-stroke lead into the final round of the CKB WA PGA Championship presented by TX Civil and Logistics.
One of three players tied for the lead at the start of play on Saturday, Felton holed out for eagle from 66 metres at the par-4 12th and came home with six straight pars for a round of five-under 67 to lead the field at 14-under.
On a day where the course record of eight-under 64 fell to Victorian Cameron John, David Micheluzzi’s seven-under 65 elevated him to 13-under and a date in the final group alongside Felton on Sunday.
Runner-up in 2019, Felton was victorious at Kalgoorlie Golf Course in 2020 but COVID-19 border restrictions saw the tournament played with a limited field and over 54 holes.
As a result, that win is not considered an official ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia victory, an asterisk Felton is hoping to wipe clean on Sunday.
“I beat a really good field that year as well and played really good,” said Felton, who has three official PGA Tour of Australasia titles to his name.
“It was 54 holes but with COVID that’s how it was. It would be really good to get the official 72-hole win around here.
“I love coming out here and playing. It suits my eye really well and hopefully I can get the official win this year.”
Nipping at his heels is a group of players seeking to win on tour for the first time.
Micheluzzi (65), Jack Murdoch (69), James Marchesani (67) and Matias Sanchez (71) are all within reach, Felton aware of the threat posed by players hungry for success.
“I’m the guy that’s going to be hunted,” Felton acknowledged.
“They’ve got nothing to lose. They’re going to go out and attack pins and hopefully I can do the same. Make some early birdies just to take the pressure off.
“We’ve got 18 holes tomorrow around a really hard course and the conditions are going to add to that as well. It’ll be a tough day but got to keep to the game-plan.”
There is a calm intensity to Micheluzzi as he seeks to start the new season in the best way possible.
A star amateur who turned professional just months before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world, Micheluzzi leant on his putter on Saturday to play his way into the final group.
Putts for birdie from outside 20 feet at both two and four gave his round early momentum but paled in comparison to the 50-foot bomb he dropped on the par-3 eighth.
Stellar wedge play and a cooperative flatstick put him one clear of Murdoch and three ahead of Brett Rankin (67), Marchesani and Sanchez.
“This is where I wanted to be at the start of the week,” said Micheluzzi, whose best result on tour to date is a runner-up finish as an amateur at the 2018 WA Open.
“I made double bogey on the first hole on Thursday so just proud of myself for not having the head blow off like it usually does.
“I’m excited. I’m going to go and do my thing.
“I haven’t been in a final group in a long time. When I have been I think I’ve done all right but I’m not setting my expectations too high.
“All I want to do is shoot under par tomorrow. All the routine stuff, all the stuff I’ve been working on I’ll try and do tomorrow. If it means a win, it’s a win, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t matter, I’m happy to start out like this at the start of the season.
“It means that things are trending in the right direction.”
On a day in which there were 257 birdies and nine eagles, it took Felton only until the third hole to pick up his first shot of the day.
He followed that up with another at the fourth before backing up his birdie at the par-5 11th with his eagle at 12.
Yet his most spectacular shot may have been an explosion shot from the desert at the back of the 15th green that led to a par save at a crucial time in the round.
“It was not a very good spot but I made up-and-down there which saves one, maybe two (shots),” he added.
“I just needed to get it up so I tried to hit it as hard as I could, catch behind the ball and hope that it doesn’t go 700 metres.
“You practice those shots on Monday and Tuesday and you kind of hope when you hit it out on the course that it’s not going to go too far.
“That’s Kalgoorlie holding on towards the end. Those last six holes are really tough. I had my chances to make birdies there but at the end of the day it’s a stress-free kind of finish to a hard golf course.”
Although John (nine-under 63) made history by supplanting Min Woo Lee (2015), Callan O’Reilly (2016), Chris Thorn (2016) and Michael Long (2018) as the new Kalgoorlie course record holder, he was not the first player to reach nine-under on Saturday.
Starting from the 10th tee, Territorian Jake Hughes made the turn in seven-under 29. Birdies at two and six put the course record within his grasp only for bogeys at seven and nine to suck some of the excitement out of an otherwise wonderful round of seven-under 65.
In the inaugural WA PGA All Abilities Championship pre-tournament favourite Cameron Pollard has established a commanding six-shot lead after Round 1.
Already a winner of All Abilities titles in WA, South Australia and New South Wales, Pollard posted seven-over 79 to lead Scott Smith and Gary Burgess, Pollard’s fellow Sawtell Golf Club product Lachlan Smith just one stroke further back in fourth position.
Play will commence at 9.45am on Sunday with the final group to tee off at midday AEDT.
Click here for Round 3 scores and Round 4 draw.
