Playing in just his fifth pro-am after turning pro following the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Qualifying School – Final Stage in April, Tan beat Braden Becker by a single stroke, denying his fellow West Australian a third win of the WA swing in 2025.

It was the second victory in as many days for Tan, a former WA State Team member and graduate of Drake University in the US, who combined with veteran Brett Rumford to win the WA PGA Foursomes Championship at Nedlands on Thursday.

Sun City Country Club was also the site of Tan’s win in the WA Amateur Championship earlier in the year before he ventured to Q School.

Turning point

Tan was level with Becker on 5-under-par until he birdied his final hole at Sun City, the 455m par-5 fourth.

His winning round included seven birdies with a solitary bogey at the par-4 12th.

Quick quotes

Tan said: “It (winning) feels good. I’ve put a lot of work in so it’s nice to see a round like this come together.

“I’ve played plenty of golf here. I won the State Am here a couple of months ago so I saw the course plenty when I played then.

“I kind of started pretty slow. It was wet and windy but stayed in it and hit a few good shots, made a few putts coming in, and picked up a bit of momentum.”

Leading scores

1 Silvester Tan 66

2 Braden Becker 67

T3 Josh Greer 70

T3 Brody Martin 70

T5 Louis Dobbelaar 71

T5 Dale Howie 71

T5 Aaron Dobson 71

T8 Simon Houston 72

T8 Connor McKinney 72

T8 Joseph Owen 72

Next up

The North Queensland swing of the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series starts with the Mercedes-Benz Tropics Golf Club Pro-Am at Tropics Golf Club in Townsville on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

May 18

Becker breaks duck at Spalding Park

More than a decade of trips north to Geraldton finally got their reward as Braden Becker stormed home to claim the $50,000 Spalding Park Open at Spalding Park Golf Club.

Trailing Andrew Crabb by four strokes heading into the third and final round, Becker and great mate Cameron John were the only players to break 70 on Sunday, both posting 5-under 67 as Becker finished at 12-under for a one-stroke win.

In a field laden with Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia winners, Becker unleashed a stunning run of six birdies and an eagle across eight holes to edge Tim Hart (71) by one, Lachlan Aylen (70) and Daniel Fox (71) sharing third.

A visitor to Spalding Park since his days as a trainee, Becker was beyond thrilled to wear the Spalding Park Open champion’s jacket.

“I think that’s maybe 11 years I’ve been coming up to the Spalding Park Open but I’ve been up here to Geraldton maybe 13 or 14 times for different events,” said Becker.

“I just love it up here. The greens are fantastic; you just can’t fault them.”

Turning point
Becker was 1-over on his round, 6-under for the tournament and trailing Hart by four when he arrived at the par-5 ninth.

An eagle there would spark a run that included six birdies in his next seven holes and a four-stroke lead as he walked off the 16th green.

Hart’s birdie on 16 and a double-bogey by Becker on 17 quickly reduced the advantage to one, par at the par-4 finisher enough to hold on for victory.

Quick quotes
“I felt like the breeze was going to die at some point, so I thought if I hang in there, we’ll see how we go through the turn,” said Becker.

“There’s always a couple of birdies through that middle section on the par 5s into the 11th.

“Fortunately, I made eagle on nine and then birdie on 10, birdie on 11 where I holed a good putt.

“Thirteen is probably one of the harder tee shots, second shots, just very punishing, and I hit it to five foot and made birdie there.

“That really settled me and then I saw the leaderboard and I was still tied for the lead at that point, so I just thought, I’ve just got to keep going.

“Hit a great shot into the par 3 and holed a good 20-footer; super happy with that one.”

Leading scores
1          Braden Becker  69-68-67—204
2          Tim Hart           70-64-71—205
T3        Lachlan Aylen   68-69-70—207
T3        Daniel Fox        71-65-71—207
5          Cameron John  70-71-67—208
6          Deyen Lawson 68-71-70—209

Next up
Haydn Barron and Curtis Luck are among those entered for the WA PGA Foursomes Championship at Nedlands Golf Club on Thursday followed by the Peet – Yanchep Golf Estate Sun City Pro-Am at Sun City Country Club on Friday.

May 13

Bogey-free Brereton wins Wembley Pro-Am

Four birdies in his final six holes has propelled Darcy Brereton to a second win of the year at the GMW & Radlink Wembley Pro-Am.

Victorious on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series last month at Yenda, Brereton held off a field laden with Tour talent with a superb round of 8-under 64 at Wembley’s Old Course.

The 30-year-old finished two strokes clear of a seven-player logjam that included Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia winners Andrew Martin, Cameron John and Daniel Fox along with DP World Tour winner Marcus Fraser, Andrew Kelly, Lachlan Aylen and Alex Edge.

Turning point

Starting from the par-4 ninth hole, Brereton was 1-under through his first six holes but headed to the front nine 3-under after birdies at 15 and 17.

He moved to 4-under with birdie at the par-5 first but it was his late charge of four birdies in five holes from the par-4 third that separated Brereton from the pack.

Leading scores
1 Darcy Brereton 64
T2 Andrew Martin 66
T2 Alex Edge 66
T2 Cameron John 66
T2 Andrew Kelly 66
T2 Daniel Fox 66
T2 Marcus Fraser 66
T2 Lachlan Aylen 66

Next up

There are tournaments across three states on Friday highlighted by Round 1 of the $50,000 Mitchell and Brown Spalding Park Open. The single-round pro-ams being played Friday are the Hahn Shelly Beach GC Pro-Am and the inaugural Pacific Harbour Pro-Am at Pacific Harbour Golf Course on Bribie Island.

May 12

Double success for in-form Sanchez

Riding an improved putting game, Matias Sanchez has become a back-to-back champion in the adidas PGA Pro-Am series after claiming the Toro Australia – TQUIP Pro Am at The Western Australian Golf Club.

The winner of the Sanwell Cottesloe Open at the weekend, Sanchez shot a round of 6-under-par 64 to earn a one-shot margin over Daniel Fox (WA) and Tim Hart (Qld).

The Victorian’s hot streak in WA has included breaking the Cottesloe Golf Club’s course record with a 63 on Saturday.

Turning point

After starting his round on the ninth hole, Sanchez set up his latest victory with a run of four birdies in five holes on the back nine. Back-to-back birdies on the sixth and seventh completed the job.

Quick quotes

Sanchez said: “I just came out here and just tried to play my best golf and fortunately enough it was good enough.

“I’m just trying to be as free as possible out there and not try to think too much out there about what can go wrong or what might happen. I guess all you can do is just hit the shot that’s required so that’s what I was really trying to do.

“I’ve always been thought my putting was the best part of my game and it’s probably let me down the last two or so months, three months. It’s nice to see that it’s sort of coming back because the first half of last season it was really, really strong.”

Leading scores

1 Matias Sanchez 64

T2 Daniel Fox 65

T2 Tim Hart 65

T4 Jordan Doull 66

T4 Connor McKinney 66

T4 Samuel Slater 66

T4 Cameron John 66

9 Cory Crawford 67

Next up

The WA swing continues with the GMW & Radlink Wembley Pro-Am on the Old Course at Wembley on Tuesday.

May 12

Sanchez’s 63 sets up Cottesloe success

Matias Sanchez produced the third course record of the week in the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series on the way to winning the Sanwell Cottesloe Open at the weekend.

The Victorian professional’s record round on the Perth layout came on Saturday, a 9-under-par 63, highlighted by two eagles, which set up a three-stroke lead to take into the final day of the 36-hole event.

Sanchez lost the outright lead early on Sunday when Queenslander Louis Dobbelaar started with four straight birdies, but he managed to post a 3-under-69 to finish with a two-shot margin over Dobbelaar and Curtis Luck (WA), the duo shooting matching rounds of 67-67.

The 26-year-old’s course record was the third so far in the West Australian swing, following on from 63s by Hayden Hopewell at the South West Open at Bunbury and Braden Becker at the Kwinana Pro-Am.

Turning point

Searching for his first adidas PGA Pro-Am Series victory since 2023, Sanchez looked like he was losing his grip on the title on Sunday when he made a double-bogey on the par-5 14th and followed up with a bogey on the par-4 15th.

But he turned the event back in his favour by making a two at the short par-4 16th, his tee shot ending up just five feet from the hole.

Quick quotes

Sanchez said: “A three-shot lead can get mowed down pretty quickly so I just had to stay focussed on making birdies and hitting the best possible shots.

“It was pretty up and down most of the day. I didn’t hit the ball as good as yesterday but yesterday was pretty amazing. It’s hard to beat what happened yesterday.

“It’s nice to get a win. I haven’t really won in a while and it’s nice to see the game’s coming together.”

Leading scores

1 Matias Sanchez 63-69 – 132

T2 Louis Dobbelaar 67-67 – 134

T2 Curtis Luck 67-67 – 134

T4 Andrew Kelly 69-67 – 136

T4 Jason Scrivener 69-67 – 136  

T4 Cory Crawford 68-68 – 136

T4 Cameron John 66-70 – 136

T8 Joseph Owen 69-68 – 137

T8 Jarryd Felton 69-68 – 137

Next up

The WA swing continues with the Toro Australia – TQUIP Pro Am at Western Australian Golf Club on Monday followed by the GMW & Radlink Wembley Pro-Am on the Old Course at Wembley on Tuesday.

May 9

Becker sets new course record at Kwinana

Braden Becker has played at Kwinana Golf Club a countless number of times but he’s never produced a competition round like he did at the Dunning’s Kwinana Pro-Am on Friday.

Capitalising on an “absolute hot start”, the West Australian set a new course record of 9-under-par 63 to capture the club’s adidas PGA Pro-Am Series title by three shots over Deyen Lawson.

How the record unfolded

Becker made a tap-in eagle on the 459m par-5 first before following up with a birdie from eight-feet at the second.

He then almost aced the par-3 third and picked up another birdie at the fourth to be 5-under-par through four and with thoughts of a sub-60 round in his mind. He turned in 30 after a birdie at the ninth and added in another three birdies on the back nine.

All up, Becker was -5 on the par-5s for the day.

Quick quotes

“I reckon I’ve played the pro-am here every year since 2013 and apart from that I’ve played here a bunch of times because I only live 20-25 minutes away,” Becker said.

“I enjoy playing with the members here. They’re a great group of members.

“After that hot start, I was thinking ‘the course record is definitely on and hopefully we can get to that magical break 60 number’.

“The greens were just so perfect out there. It’s always a pleasure to play here for that reason.”

Leading scores

1 Braden Becker 63

2 Deyen Lawson 66

T3 Lachlan Aylen 67

T3 Daniel Fox 67

5 Max Ford 68

T6 Jordan Doull 69

T6 Andrew Kelly 69

T6 Dale Howie 69

T6 Adam Hatch 69

T6 Louis Dobbelaar 69

T6 Sam Slater 69

T6 Cory Crawford 69

T6 Jason Norris 69

Next up

The Sanwell Cottesloe Open will be played over two rounds at Cottesloe Golf Club this weekend.

May 7

Zach’s max reward at Secret Harbour

Brisbane’s Zachary Maxwell is eyeing a fast start to the upcoming Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season after a one-stroke win at the TenGolf Group Pro-Am south of Perth.

Played over two days at The Cut Golf Course and Secret Harbour Golf Links, Maxwell compiled consecutive rounds of 3-under 69 to finish one shot clear of Sydney’s Nathan Barbieri (71-68) with Lachlan Aylen (70-70) and Deyen Lawson (71-69) sharing third.

Maxwell’s only previous adidas PGA Pro-Am Series win was a lucrative one last July, pocketing close to $15,000 after taking out the Optilease Redcliffe Pro-Am.

The 25-year-old had two top-20 finishes during the 2024-2025 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season and will seek to build on that at the 2025 PNG Open in August.

“It’s really good just to top the funds up and go home and focus on training,” said Maxwell.

“Not work as much and just get ready for Papua New Guinea and start the Australian season off.”

Turning point
The only player to break 70 in Round 1 at The Cut on Tuesday, Maxwell began day two ahead by a single stroke from a group of five players.

That advantage soon disappeared with a bogey at his opening hole before Maxwell responded with birdies at 16 and 17.

One-under on his round when he reached the par-5 11th, Maxwell gave himself a look at eagle before tapping in for the first of two closing birdies.

“It was a very pivotal moment of the round,” said Maxwell.

“We checked the live scores and I had to really show up and hit a good golf shot.

“I hit a really, really good 3-wood in there tight for eagle. Unfortunately lipped out the putt, but it was a very comfortable birdie and helped me finish the round off.”

Quick quotes
“It was quite beautiful being able to play those two courses,” Maxwell said of playing The Cut and Secret Harbour in consecutive days.

“Being a Queenslander, but it’s very good to come over here to Perth and appreciate some of these beautiful courses.

“I’m very grateful to not only be able to play them, but get a win while doing so.

“This is going to be my last pro-am before the season starts.

“I’ll go home and play the close ones and Rockhampton but my main focus will be going to Papua New Guinea and being very ready for that one.”

Leading scores
1          Zachary Maxwell          69-69—138
2          Nathan Barbieri            71-68—139
T3        Lachlan Aylen               70-70—140
T3        Deyen Lawson             71-69—140
5          Tim Hart                       70-71—141
T6        Scott Barr                     71-71—142
T6        Caleb Bovalina             70-72—142

Next up
Dunning’s Kwinana Pro-Am at Kwinana Golf Club, Friday, May 9

May 4

Hopewell equals course record to triumph in Bunbury

Back home from competing on the European Challenge Tour, West Australian Hayden Hopewell tied the Bunbury Golf Club’s course record to win the South West Isuzu South West Open on Sunday.

A brilliant 9-under-par 63 in the final round, the best score of the day by four strokes, gave Hopewell a two-shot margin over NSW’s Nathan Barbieri to earn the second win of his career on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series.

Fresh off his victory at the Axedale Pro-Am in Victoria, Andrew Martin led at Bunbury Golf Club after an opening 65 on Saturday but the Victorian had to settle for third place after closing with a 71.

Hopewell is currently on a break from the Challenge Tour where he is ranked 47th on the Order of Merit as he strives for a DP World Tour card for 2025/26,

Turning point

Starting his round from the 10th tee, the former Bunbury junior made his run early, making five consecutive birdies from the 11th hole. An eagle at the par-5 second propelled him to 8-under for the day through 11 holes.

His only dropped shots for the day came with a double-bogey at the par-3 seventh, but he then birdied the eighth and ninth to see off Barbieri’s challenge.

Quick quotes

“Today was a special round,” the 23-year-old said.

“I hit it solid and the hole just felt like a bucket. I was seeing every putt and they were just dropping. It was quite uncanny at times.

“I was stoked to finish off the round by holing a nice putt on the last to tie the course record. It was on my mind. Being a junior here for a bit, it holds a special place in my heart.”

Leading scores

1 Hayden Hopewell 70-63

2 Nathan Barbieri 67-68

3 Andrew Martin 65-71

4 Jason Scrivener 69-68

T5 Braden Becker 69-69

T5 Cameron Kelly 67-71

T5 Daniel Fox 70-68

T5 John Boulton 69-69

9 Scott Strange 70-69

Next up

The TenGolf Group Pro-Am will be played The Cut Golf Club and Secret Harbour Golf Links on Tuesday and Wednesday (May 6-7)

May 1

Perkins, Dobbelaar share the title at Bunbury

Queenslanders Louis Dobbelaar and Blaike Perkins kicked off the Western Australia swing of the 2025 adidas PGA Pro-Am Series by sharing the title at the Urban Quarter Dunsborough Lakes Pro-Am on Thursday.

Rounds of 6-under-par 66 gave the duo a one-shot margin over PGA Legends Tour member Scott Barr (WA) in a field full of Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia talent.

For Perkins, it was his first pro-am series title, while the joint win continued a resurgence of form for Dobbelaar, who regained his Tour card at the recently completed Qualifying School at Moonah Links.

Turning point

Perkins rattled off five birdies in six holes on the back nine but was brought undone by going out of bounds which led to a double-bogey on the par-4 18th, his 12th hole of the day.

However a three on his final hole, the par-4 sixth, ensured he kept a share of top spot.

Meanwhile, Dobbelaar, who started on his round on the 14th, had seven birdies and a sole bogey in his round. He birdied the back-to-back par-fives on the back nine, 12 and 13, to get to 6-under.

Quick quotes

Perkins said: “I was flying at 6-under through 10 and then hole 18 hit me. I knew I had to get a few more birdies then to catch Louis and made a really nice short putt on the last there to tie him. It’s my first pro win so I’m pretty stoked about it.”

Dobbelaar said: “I got off to a good start and played the tough holes well. Hit the ball really nice and had a lot of opportunities during the day. It’s great to play a course in really nice conditions like here at Dunsborough Lakes. It was a bit of a treat.”

Leading scores

T1 Louis Dobbelaar 66

T1 Blaike Perkins 66

3 Scott Barr 67

4 Braden Becker 68

T5 Jordan Doull 69

T5 Cameron Kelly 69

T7 Cameron John 70

T7 Tim Hart 70

T7 Aaron Pike 70

Next up

The WA swing reaches Bunbury Golf Club for the South West Isuzu South West Open over 36 holes this weekend.