Jordan Zunic with an incredible round of golf! 11 birdies with 3 drops shots left him with an impressive 8-under par round 3 performance.
Catch up all the highlights from his round.
Jordan Zunic with an incredible round of golf! 11 birdies with 3 drops shots left him with an impressive 8-under par round 3 performance.
Catch up all the highlights from his round.
What a day of golf at the RACV Royal Pines Resort! The star of the day Jordan Zunic shooting 11 birdies, only to be undone with 3 drops shots in the last two holes to leave him 8-under for the day.
What a day of golf at the RACV Royal Pines Resort! The star of the day Jordan Zunic shooting 11 birdies, only to be undone with 3 drops shots in the last two holes to leave him 8-under for the day.
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
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
Adam Scott reflects on his career, what inspires him and where golf is at today.
Adam Scott reflects on his career, what inspires him and where golf is at today.
Greg Norman Medalist Marc Leishman has shot the round of the tournament, a 7-under 65 to have a share of the lead following round two of the Australian PGA Championship.
Greg Norman Medalist Marc Leishman has shot the round of the tournament, a 7-under 65 to have a share of the lead following round two of the Australian PGA Championship.
Teeing off at 6:10am in much kinder conditions than round one, Leishman was able to take advantage from the get go with birdies on three of his first five holes.
“I felt really good on the range and felt good yesterday as well. I was striking the ball well and thought I would be pretty aggressive all day, especially after making birdies on the first couple of holes,” Leishman said of his strong start.
“When you’re on a run like that and playing well, you sort of can afford to be aggressive. If you make a few mistakes, you feel like you can make some birdies.”
Winning one of Australia’s biggest tournaments is a significant omission from Leishman’s impressive resume and after his first two rounds in front of family and friends; the Warrnambool native is in a good spot heading in to the weekend’s play.
“We play tournaments all around the world and a lot of the places you don’t have a whole lot of support, so I think that would be the big thing.
“To win a tournament that you’ve grown up watching on TV, that you’ve gone and watched as a kid, you go there and of course one day you hope you’re going to play in it and possibly win it. But yeah, if it was to happen, it would be pretty huge.
“Playing in front of friends and family, that’s always nice no matter where it is. Here there seems to be more friends and family because it’s a bit closer to home. I think it would be huge.”
South Australian Adam Bland shot 6-under 66 again for his share of the lead on 12-under the card, with just the one bogey amongst his seven birdies today.
Bland said he was looking to keep the momentum rolling and is now in a strong position heading in to the weekend.
“It’s always great to get off to a flying start, but if you can’t back it up in the second round or at least be thereabouts, you’re kind of just chasing your tail for the rest of the week,” said Bland.
“So it was really important to get off to a good start this morning and I seemed to do that, so it was great.”
The hot start to the tournament hasn’t come as a surprise to Bland who knows he can post low scores if his game is in a good rhythm.
“I feel like my game, like when I’ve been playing well, it’s been good. I just haven’t caught the momentum so I can’t really ride it and it’s been on and off.
“This week I’ve hit a lot of shots close, which I haven’t in previous weeks. So I’ve had a lot of real free birdies which has been nice and birdied a few par-5s today so it was great.”
Two-time Australian PGA Champion Greg Chalmers stayed in the hunt for a third Kirkwood Cup following a round of 6-under 66 to sit third outright at 10-under the card.
He said his short game has been crucial on the RACV Royal Pines Resort layout.
“My short game saved me a few times. I’ve been working really hard on my chipping and putting and I did a lot of that very well today. So I’m really pleased with the turnaround in my game over this week,” said Chalmers.
“Every green’s elevated, you’ve got a lot of runoffs around the edges, so you’ve got to have a lot of confidence and be able to read the green and what sort of shot to hit based on that because it can make you look pretty silly sometimes.”
Queenslander Cameron Smith is 9-under par after his round of 5-under 67 but can still see improvements heading in to Saturday. Like Chalmers, Smith’s short game was the savior in round two.
“Yesterday I hit it really solid and didn’t really do much around the greens. Today I hit it not my best but good enough, and then was really good around the greens and with the putter.”
Jordan Zunic and Rhein Gibson join Smith on 9-under par to share fourth position.
Defending champion Harold Varner III put himself in touch of the leaders after his round of 6-under 66 to be 7-under the card. Sergio Garcia is one further shot back on 6-under the card after a frustrating round for the Spaniard who shot 1-under 71.
“It wasn’t my best day out there today, I hit a couple really nice putts but probably a little bit tired I think physically and mentally,” said Garcia.
“Because of that, obviously my golf game wasn’t as sharp as I would like it to be. But I guess the good thing is we still fought hard, we stayed in it, and as uncomfortable as I felt out there, to be able to still shoot 1-under, it’s a positive thing.”
Adam Scott had a disappointing round, his 50th round in the Australian PGA Championship tournament, shooting 2-over and will miss the weekend rounds.
It’s the first missed cut at the Australian PGA Championship for Scott since 2010.
“Like I said at the start of the week, I’ve got to lift my ball striking up. That’s where I lose too many shots and that’s the strength of my game,” said Scott.
“I’ve got to bring that back up to standard and that will just take some work when I get myself some time and I’ll be able to put some work in.”
The cut was made at 1-under the card.
Round three will begin at 6:26am with the leading group of Marc Leishman, Adam Bland and Greg Chalmers teeing off at 11am.
For round two scores visit pga.org.au.
For round three tee times visit pga.org.au.
In the second round of the 2017 Australian PGA Championship, Greg Norman Medal winner Marc Leishman lit up the course with a blazing 7-under 65 to share the lead with ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit contender Adam Bland.
In the second round of the 2017 Australian PGA Championship, Greg Norman Medal winner Marc Leishman lit up the course with a blazing 7-under 65 to share the lead with ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit contender Adam Bland.
Jordan Zunic and Adam Bland share the lead at the Australian PGA Championship but Sergio Garcia set the early pace.
Jordan Zunic and Adam Bland share the lead at the Australian PGA Championship but Sergio Garcia set the early pace.
Garcia was pleased to fire a bogey free 5-under 67 despite feeling like his best golf had eluded him today.
“I played pretty solid. I wouldn’t say that it was amazing but it was good,” added Garcia.
“The most positive thing for me would be to go a bogey free round, which I didn’t realise until we got done.”
Teeing off at 6.10am was a first for Garcia and he was pleased to see plenty of fans there to greet him, Adam Scott and Wade Ormsby as they teed off the 10th.
“I’ve never teed off at 6:10 in a tournament. I think probably the earliest I’ve teed off is 6:50, maybe 7:00. So that was interesting,” said Garcia.
“I think it was probably ‑‑ I want to say it was the closest I’ve had a dinner and a breakfast ever. Yeah, I woke up at 4:00am this morning, had a bit of breakfast and then I got to the putting green probably just after 5:00am.
“I got to the 10th and I was impressed how many people were there at 6:10am in the morning. I was expecting people to kind of come throughout.”
Playing in the afternoon, Zunic chipped in for eagle on the 9th, his final hole of the day to finish 6-under par and surprise himself with a share of the lead.
The 2015 New Zealand Open champion hasn’t enjoyed his best season so far but after reading fellow Professional Nick O’Hern’s book, ‘Tour Mentality’ at the suggestion of his girlfriend and caddy this week, Olivia Marlow, has put in a great showing to open the Australian PGA Championship.
“My girlfriend Olivia put me on to it. She said I should give it a read because mainly I’ve been struggling with more of my mindset, the mental aspect of the game,” said Zunic.
“It was a great read, Olivia sent Nick an email to saying how it’s really helped me a lot. He got back in touch with me, and then fortunately this week I managed to have a practice round with him on Tuesday.
“Next thing you know, I’m having like an 18‑hole mentor playing lesson with Nick O’Hern. I mean, what can I say, what an awesome bloke. He just gave me such an insight on how to think better.”
Conversely, Bland dropped a shot on his final hole to finish 6-under par and in a tie for the lead with Zunic.
“I was just trying to make a few more birdies coming in; especially on the par-5s there I was going for it in two but it didn’t pan out,” said Bland.
“And obviously it would have been nice to not make a bogey on the last, but 6-under’s still 6-under.”
Now with a share in the lead, Bland puts himself in a good position for the tournament that could see him take out the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit after a runner-up finish in the Oates Vic Open, third in the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth and a top-5 finish in the Fiji International this year.
“That’s always the goal every year if I can get starts in Australia and play; I always want to try and finish high up on the Order of Merit or win one of these big tournaments if I can.
“I’ve been close in the past but not really, so it would be awesome to cap off one of these big ones, that’s for sure.”
But the story of the afternoon lies with three-time Australian PGA Champion Peter Senior who fired an impressive 5-under 67 to sit just one shot off the leaders.
Senior officially retired Tour golf following his withdrawal at the Australian Open in 2016 but was swayed to play at the Australian PGA Championship by PGA of Australia CEO Gavin Kirkman.
“I didn’t want to play, but Gavin Kirkman from the PGA, he’s been on to me about playing. He said, ‘you would be a great asset even if you come out and play two days.’ I said, if I’m coming out, I’m not playing two,” said Senior who will turn 59 in 2018.
“The PGA’s always been good to me and I’ve had a great time out here. I only live 15 minutes down the road, it’s an easy walk for me and I play this course quite a bit so I feel like I’m at home.
“I was on the 14th hole at Killara Golf Club in Sydney and we had 15 minutes before the entries closed and I rang Gavin and I said, ‘I’m hitting it all right, you may as well put an entry in for me,’ and here I am.”
Marc Leishman made a late charge to finish his round on 5-under, including an eagle on the par-5 15th.
“It was a really nice way to finish. The back nine I played a lot better, a couple birdies. That eagle was really nice. And then to follow it up with a birdie and birdie the last was really good,” said Leishman, who is now tied for third with Garcia, Daniel Nisbet (QLD) and Michael Wright (QLD).
“My game is in a good spot, putter feels good, so hopefully can get out early with no wind and have a low one.”
For round one scores visit pga.org.au.
For round two tee times visit pga.org.au.
A fantastic round 1 at the RACV Royal Pines Resort, as Adam Bland and Jordan Zunic hold the top spot heading into round 2 with Sergio Garcia, Marc Leishman and Peter Senior right behind them, at 5 under the card.
A fantastic round 1 at the RACV Royal Pines Resort, as Adam Bland and Jordan Zunic hold the top spot heading into round 2 with Sergio Garcia, Marc Leishman and Peter Senior right behind them, at 5 under the card.
See the moment Queenslander Cameron Smith won the 2017 Australian PGA Championship!
See the moment Queenslander Cameron Smith won the 2017 Australian PGA Championship!
The best shots of the 2017 Australian PGA Championship!
Courtesy of the European Tour!
The best shots of the 2017 Australian PGA Championship!
Courtesy of the European Tour!