Wilson braves weather in delay-filled #NZPGA morning

Victorian Jack Wilson has overcome wild wet weather and two delays to lead the morning field in round two of the SEC NZ PGA Championship.

An incredible score of 8-under 64 on a chilly 12 degree Christchurch morning has moved Wilson’s total to 12-under par after two rounds.

With morning tee times delayed by 45 minutes due to overnight rain, weather has continued to play a big part in the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia tournament.

“When we started yesterday it was pretty windy and we came out today to a 45 minute delay, 10 degrees colder, it is good to walk away with a number like that,” said Wilson.

“To do it in weather like that was fantastic. I’ve managed to walk away with a birdie on the last as well so you’ve got to be happy with that.”

Wilson was left with just two shots to play in his second round before another delay was called as water flooded sections of the Pegasus Golf and Sports Club layout, a situation that Wilson found tough to handle from a mental standpoint.

“I thought it was pretty hard to deal with,” he said. “We’d played in it pretty much all day, but at least in the same conditions for two hours and then just as I’m about to finish the siren decides to go.

“Once you get past being a bit annoyed we sat in front of a heater, had a pie and you can’t control that so you deal with what you can and get things dry, then we went out and finished it off.

Not a fan of the wet weather the Victorian credits caddy Rizz for improving his mindset and making his game easier.

“I’m very lucky to have the super caddy on the bag,” added Wilson. “When the weather gets like that it is a big help to have someone else there.”

“I stole the umbrella, he got really wet, he made sure all of the clubs were dry, and for someone who doesn’t know golf very well he’s doing an incredible job.

“That was down to him today. He made it as easy as possible, when it started coming in pretty heavy you could see that he was getting a little on edge but we did a good job and I got lucky on one hole but otherwise the putter was just really hot so it was good fun.

Keeping things fun remains a big part of Wilson’s game and it is caddy Rizz who is often happy to oblige.

“I made three birdies in a row and when I make three birdies in a row we call it a turkey and when I do that Rizz has to act like a turkey,” Wilson laughed.

“He was dancing around like a turkey on the fifth hole today and that was probably the highlight, it always is.

“I was just disappointed that I lipped out on 16 for another one which would have been quite funny to make him do that twice in a round.”

With the wet weather expected to stay this evening before a finer day tomorrow, Wilson hopes his score will hold up as overnight leader Josh Geary takes to the course in the afternoon field.

“If the conditions stay like they are now I’ve got everything crossed that it comes back in as heavy as what it was when we were out there, that would be really nice,” joked Wilson.

“If it stays like this, Josh is in awesome form. It’d just be good to be there come Sunday to be hanging onto his coattails and be somewhere near it when we get to the last six holes, it’d be good fun.”

Also playing in the morning round, Nick Flanagan and Denzel Ieremia have fired 2-under and 3-under par respectively in round two to sit tied for second place, each on a total of 8-under the card.

Australian tournament golf’s evolution – and its audience – took another couple of ground-breaking strides at the weekend.

Across two states, Blitz Golf’s second and third editions played out to generous and engaged crowds.

For the record, Canberra golfing machine Matt Millar won the men’s crown at Curlewis in sweltering conditions on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula on Friday. The PGA of Australia pros then packed up and headed west across the border to Glenelg on Sunday when new pro Zach Murray was victorious.

But unlike your average golfing tournament, or story, this is not really about the final scores of a men’s only event.

On Friday, young Melburnian Montana Strauss won her first event as a professional as Blitz Golf extended its reach to the ALPG Tour for the first time.

And even more importantly, the revolutionary “tournament in a day” format took all the action – including concurrent amateur events in both Victoria and South Australia – to an audience that isn’t those rusted on to more traditional events.

Around the clubhouse precincts of both clubs, players ran through mist machines and were introduced as rock stars by an MC who engaged spectators throughout the day with information from on and off the course as spectators devoured the produce of food trucks and local wineries while listening to music.

It’s golf, but not as we know it.

The format is equally funky.

The field is split into two “sides”, with each playing one nine to eliminate the bottom half. Those who advance then do the same over six holes on the opposite side of the course to that first played. Again, the field is halved with another cut for the final three holes not already played.

Throughout the day, ties are broken by chipping to a short playoff hole with those nearest the pin moving on.

And so it all comes to a gripping finale with the top two players from either “side” among four players in a sudden-death shootout on a hole that ends near the clubhouse to ensure a “grandstand finish”.

Fans were glowing in their assessment of the events, the second of which this past weekend was also the second time it had visited Glenelg which had hosted the inaugural Blitz Golf in April last year.

The extreme weather of Friday doubtless kept more away, but still, 700 people liked what they saw at Curlewis, which also had a generous gallery at the club’s Range facility for a warm-up event the night earlier. Estimates put Sunday’s Adelaide crowd at double that figure.

The consensus among many in the crowd was that the event’s pace was encouraging, its atmosphere energetic and length “about right”.

It makes a lot of sense, especially among a holiday crowd, that precious few – let alone families – can allocate the time or energy to follow a golf tournament over four days.

But with kids’ activities, impromptu coaching clinics from eliminated professionals and smaller competitions around putting greens and the tie-breaker hole, there is enough to keep a younger audience entertained for the lone afternoon it takes to play Blitz Golf.

So what of the players? Is it a bridge too far to have such noise, colour and movement – not to mention the intoxicating aromas of local food and wine – spilling out across the course?

Millar, a veteran of high standing among his PGA peers and no less an authority than to have finished second on the Tour’s 2018 Order of Merit, was glowing in his assessment of the Blitz as a “fantastic concept”.

“I’m not sure you change your major tournaments into that, you need some tradition,” Millar said.

“But any events like this or `Super Sixes’, to get the community out and see it, I think it’s a fantastic introduction for people to tournament golf.

“The new events coming on board need to be a mix of formats, particularly in Australia, I don’t think we can continue to just sell the ones we’ve sold traditionally. The men’s and women’s together at the Vic Open is a great example … in getting people together and generating a talking point that interests new people.

“But all these things we’ve introduced, whether they’re through Golf Australia or the PGA, I think we’re on a winner (as a country).

“You’ve seen the European Tour play Sixes in Belgium this year and I can’t see it being too long until it lands on the PGA Tour as well.

“For different formats, we (Australia) are leading the way and it’s great to see – golf needs it.”

And what of the talk in the locker room?

“They love it, too,” Millar said.

“It’s great to see people out here and happy, having a bite to eat and a quiet drink. That’s the direction we need to take, to be able to get more people and a more diverse range of people at tournaments.

“More music, maybe people feel more relaxed, maybe even more with a drink or two, and I think it’s great.”

It’s easy to see why plans are already underway for another couple of venues to be added for next summer’s Blitzes — and maybe one internationally.

Welcome to the newest addition to the next generation of golf tournaments.

A course record 58 has seen Jack Wilson return to the winner’s circle to take out the RACV Healesville Pro-Am over the weekend.

The event was being played in the modified stableford format and heading into the second round on Sunday Wilson was on 15 points, four points behind overnight leader Rory Bourke.

The layout, redesigned by PGA Professionals Mike Clayton and Geoff Ogilvy along with their team at Ogilvy, Clayton, Cocking and Mead was the perfect setting for a tournament of this type.

The par-68 course could be deemed short by today’s modern standards at just over 4,800m but was the perfect venue for a changed up scoring format like modified stableford with a number of drivable par-4’s and two reachable par-5’s. With an eagle worth five points and birdies worth two, players were encouraged to attack the holes to maximise their score and that’s exactly what Wilson did with a total of ten birdies and an eagle.

Wilson’s round began on the uphill par-3 2^nd hole with a par, however, he hit a snag a few holes later. After making a birdie on the 4^th he gave that straight back on the next with a bogey. He traded another birdie with another bogey before lightning in the area halted play with Wilson on the par-5 8^th fairway and with a good chance to get home for two.

When play resumed Wilson’s approach left him with a great eagle chance which he converted before adding another birdie to his card on the 9^th.

Wilson headed to the back-9 on 3-under the card and on 24 points under the modified stableford format. In impressive form, he then rolled in three birdie putts in a row to move to 6-under for the round and 30 points. He added three more birdies on the 15^th, 17^th and 18^th holes and now had only to make par on the 1^st hole, his last of the day, to shoot the magical 59.

A towering fade off the tee over the corner left Wilson with nothing more than a lob wedge for his approach which he stuck to 15 feet.

Wilson’s putt found the bottom of the cup and he subsequently signed for a career-low 58 and a new course record at RACV Healesville.

“That’s obviously the best score I have ever had, but it still did include two bogeys,” said Wilson.

“It hasn’t been the year I had planned. I got close in a couple of events on the Asian Tour but just faded late and back home the last five weeks have been a real grind.”

Wilson was also full of praise for the redesigned layout at RACV Healesville.

“I came here not knowing what to expect and I am just blown away by how good this course is. The greens are wicked and it’s great fun to play, especially in this type of format,” added Wilson.

Hot scoring was the order of the day at the MMC Northern Territory PGA Championship as Jack Wilson and Damien Jordan fired into the lead.

Shooting 7-under 64 on Saturday, Wilson was inspired by the sage wisdom of his now infamous caddy, Rizz, and heads into the final round on 14-under the card.

“I set myself the goal of shooting 6-under each day on the weekend, I thought it might be enough, so to shoot 7-under today was really good,” said Wilson.

“I have been on the phone to Rizz a couple of times and ‘unreal brother’ has been the theme. He is just calming which is what he is there for.

“But he is learning about golf, his message yesterday was ‘good work on capitalising on the par-5’s maybe you should work on the par-4’s now.’ So the backhanded compliments are what he does best,” added Wilson who played the par-4’s in 4-under and the par-5’s in 3-under today.

With a big end to the year coming up, Wilson, who won the 2013 WA PGA Championship as a PGA Trainee, is looking for his second career win to lock up his ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia card before turning his attention to the Asian Tour.

“I really started to find a groove around that back-9 today, hopefully, it can roll on,” added Wilson.

“I have been putting in a bit of work, we have a big summer coming up and I need to finish well in Asia, so to get some form and get that confidence boost would be a big help.”

Playing in the group behind Wilson, Jordan fired 6-under 65 to ensure his place in the lead heading into the final round.

“Once again the putter was good to me today, I was holing putts at the right time and so I am happy to be up there with Jack (Wilson),” said Jordan.

“I was 4-under through the turn and made a soft bogey on 12. But I knew there were some good holes coming up to get it back and I managed to make some good putts.”

Jordan is also chasing his second ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia victory after he won the 2017 Victorian PGA Championship.

“I have been here before and managed to get the win. Every day is different but I definitely have some confidence from that win,” added Jordan.

“I just need to play within myself. I know what I can and can’t do so I need to play to my strengths and just worry about myself. I can’t control what Jack (Wilson) is doing.”

Sitting two shots off the lead, Cameron John (VIC) and Campbell Rawson (NZL) each fired 6-under 65 in the third round.

A shot further back on 11-under the card and rounding out the top-5 are Queenslanders Maverick Antcliff and Daniel Nisbet.

Turn up, keep up, shut up. Inside the mind of the rarest caddy on Tour! Thanks Jack & Rizz for taking us on a ride in round two of the Australian PGA Championship

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