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He’s held the title for less than six months but New South Welshman Jay Mackenzie is hoping to use the defence of his WA PGA Championship crown to kick-start the new season.
The 2022 CKB WA PGA Championship presented by TX Civil & Logistics at Kalgoorlie Golf Course represents the start of the 2022/2023 ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia 16-tournament schedule.
For the second year running prize money has increased to a now record $250,000 and Mackenzie is one of eight former champions in the field.
Hailing from the sleepy NSW north coast town of Ballina, Mackenzie has only had since April to revel in his breakthrough win on tour, claiming the delayed 2021 edition by two strokes from Sydney’s Austin Bautista.
Given he had never finished top 10 in a PGA Tour of Australasia event prior it was something of a shock victory, but one he hopes to build on with another strong showing at a course infused with positive memories.
“Everyone tries to win every week but I kind of felt like I was going to play well,” said Mackenzie, who had finished top-15 twice in his three starts prior to arriving at Kalgoorlie.
“I’d played well at that course before, I finished around 30th (T37 in 2019). I made a heap of bogeys that week but lots of birdies. I think I made more birdies than the winner and I had even par for the week.
“You can make a lot of birdies there and I just had to work out how to play the course without making too many bogeys.
“The first time I played there was my first year as a pro so I just hit driver everywhere.
“Now my golf is progressing in such a way that I’ve worked out how to play OK even when I’m not playing well, if that makes sense.
“It will be fun to go back.
“It’s pretty cool that it’s straight away, our first event. I can get that out of the way, I guess.
“I’m excited.”
Now 23 years of age, Mackenzie made headlines in his home town in 2017 when he qualified for the Australian Open as an 18-year-old.
Like many his age, his career trajectory has been disrupted somewhat by the COVID-19 pandemic but it was watching his contemporaries succeed last summer that convinced Mackenzie that he too could win on tour.
Blake Windred (Vic PGA), Jack Thompson (Gippsland Super 6) and Jed Morgan (Australian PGA) were the winners of the first three events on tour last year, providing Mackenzie an extra jolt of motivation.
“A lot of guys that I grew up playing with were all winning stuff,” Mackenzie added.
“I was there and thereabouts with them when I was younger – guys like Jed, Min Woo (Lee), Jack Thompson, Blake Windred – and I saw them winning and it motivated me a little bit.
“When you see people that you’ve beaten before or played with a lot playing really well, it makes you think that if they can do it, then I can do it.”
And now that he has done it once, Mackenzie is determined to do it again.
He will travel to Europe next month for Second Stage of DP World Tour School and gave a glimpse of the competitive desire lurking beneath the laidback exterior.
His grandfather, Gerry Brown, is his sole source of golf advice, the pair adopting a philosophical approach to the mental side of the game that belies the burning desire to win that exists within.
“My main focus is to not get angry on one shot and try on every shot. It’s that simple,” Mackenzie explained.
“Don’t get me wrong, I want to win. I’m probably the most competitive person you’ll ever meet but I kind of worked it out when I was younger.
“My grandfather helps me with my golf and we talk about a lot of mental things.
“I started to realise that every time I got angry, my whole game was no good. I kind of figured that if I was going to get angry it was just going to make things worse.
“I went out that day (WA PGA final round) thinking that if I play well, I know I can win. If I don’t play well, someone else wins.
“You get one winner out of 150 people and every single one of them practices every day and wants to win, so you can’t be upset if they win. It’s a dream come true for them.”
The seven other former champions in the field this week are Jarryd Felton (2020), Stephen Dartnall (2016), Brett Rumford (2015), Peter Wilson (2012), Michael Wright (2011), David Bransdon (2010) and Jason Norris (2007).
This year marks the 11th staging of the WA PGA Championship at the Graham Marsh-designed Kalgoorlie Golf Course and the $250,000 in total prize money is the richest in the tournament’s history.
