Dale Crothers has taken a three shot lead at the Vic/Tas/SA PGA Trainee Championships, firing 4-under 68 on the Captain’s course at the Tocumwal Golf and Bowls Club to sit at 10-under 134 after 36-holes.

The Year 1 Trainee at the Yarrawonga and Mulwala Golf Club Resort held a 7-shot lead but two late bogeys and some great golf in the afternoon wave of players reduced that to three shots with 36-holes to play.

Crothers leads Brayden Petersen (Asquith Golf Club, NSW) who shot the best round of the day of 6-under 66 included seven birdies.

Mitch Gannon (Kogarah Golf Club, NSW) sits in outright third position on 6-under 138 and his round of 71 included an eagle 2 on the 1st hole.

A further shot back is Cooper Eccleston (Victoria Park, Qld) who fired a 3-under 69 during the afternoon.

Rounding out the top five is Year 2 Trainee at The Ridge Golf Club (NSW), Jayden Cripps on 142, Jack Sandic (Ranfurlie Golf Club, Vic), Ethan Andrews (Lakelands Golf Club, WA) and Neville Hogan (Tambourine Mountain Golf Club, Qld) are tied-6^th at even par.

The cut fell at 8-over par with 56 trainees progressing to the 3^rd and 4^th rounds. There were 10 women in the field, three of which made the cut. Rebecca West, Emily Pell and Corinna Bryant will all contest the final two rounds.

Play begins on the Presidents course at 7.45am with the leaders teeing off the first at 8.57am.

Beautiful weather greeted the field of 111 Trainees today at the Tocumwal Golf and Bowls Club for the 1^st round of the 2019 Vic/Tas/SA Trainee Championships. Clear skies and only a slight breeze meant low scores were expected and the players did not disappoint around the President’s course.

Dale Crothers, a Year 1 trainee based at the Yarrawonga & Mulwala Golf Club Resort, shot a 6-under 66 to lead by one stroke. Starting from the 1st tee, Crothers was 4-under par through seven holes before his lone bogey on the par-3 8th hole. Crothers then birdied the 11^th, 13^th and 17^th holes to finish off a great days work. In describing his round Crothers said, “I hit the ball well today, particularly the driver which gave me a lot of birdie opportunities. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

In second place is Mitch Gannon, a Year 2 Trainee based at the Kogarah Golf Club in New South Wales. His 5-under 67 included six birdies and one solitary bogey as he attempts to go one better than his runner-up finish here in 2018.

Three players sit tied for sixth place after opening with a 1-under 71. This group includes Brayden Peterson (Asquith, NSW), Neville Hogan (Tambourine Mountain, Qld) and Mitchell Hall (Rosanna, Vic).

Earlier in the week the PGA Trainees hosted a Junior Clinic for local primary schools. A total of 115 children from six Primary Schools enjoyed over 1.5 hours of tuition learning the basic skills of golf in fun and interactive games.

Also on Monday was the Championship Pro-Am which saw 150 players consisting of Club & Tournament sponsors join the trainees for the Ambrose event on another beautiful day. Later that evening the Golf Club hosted the welcome dinner for the all players in the Championship plus sponsors, members & guests. The gathering was treated to a wonderful evening in which the club and the Berrigan Shire announced contract extensions which will keep the tournament in Tocumwal for a further five years.

The second round will be played on the Captains course with play beginning from 7.45am. The forecast is for the sun to keep shining but the wind is expected to get up overnight and into tomorrow.

The PGA of Australia is pleased to announce that Windaroo Lakes Golf Club will play host to the QLD PGA Trainee Championship for the next two years.

To be played from 3 – 6 June 2019, the state championship is the marquee event on the PGA Trainee calendar in Queensland where both local and interstate Trainees will aim to have their name engraved on the Carnegie Clark Cup alongside previous winners such as Rod Pampling and former world number one Greg Norman.

Victoria Park Golf Club rising star Cooper Eccleston is confirmed to defend his 2018 title following a year which saw the 20-year-old crowned Australian PGA Trainee of the Year.

In addition to a prize purse of $35,000, the winner of the QLD PGA Trainee Championship will also be awarded an invitation to the 2020 Coca-Cola QLD PGA Championship on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia.

PGA QLD/NT State Manager Broc Greenhalgh believes Windaroo Lakes Golf Club will provide the perfect platform to showcase Australia’s up and coming talent.

“The PGA Trainees are the future leaders of our sport and to put them on show in the City of Logan will provide golf fans with an opportunity to see them in full flight,” said Greenhalgh.

Windaroo Lakes Golf Club is a regular host of Ladbrokes PGA Pro-Am Series events, though the QLD PGA Trainee Championship is the biggest event hosted by the club since 1996 when they staged the QLD Open.

“We are really proud of the facilities here at the Windaroo Lakes Golf Club and when combined with our challenging layout including one of Australia’s hardest par-4’s, the 437m double water carry 16th hole known as Snake Gully, we are looking forward to having our club on show during the event,” said Windaroo Lakes Golf Club Head Professional, Jared Love.

“We have a great community which surrounds the course and to provide them with an opportunity to watch and engage with the best PGA Trainee Professionals from around the country is really exciting.”

Logan City Council sought to host the tournament under it’s Event Attraction Strategy which aims to use top level sports events to encourage economic growth and profile the city. Acting Mayor Cherie Dalley congratulated Windaroo Lakes Golf Club on securing the Queensland PGA Trainee Championship for the next two years.

“We want to position Logan as a specialist sporting and cultural events destination,” said Cr Dalley.

“Hosting this prestigious championship is further evidence of our commitment to grow economic opportunities in Logan as well as putting a spotlight on all that our city has to offer.”

For more information or to keep up to date with all the information on the QLD PGA Trainee Championship visit www.pga.org.au

With a final round of 4-under par 68, 19-year-old Cooper Eccleston has taken out the 2018 Tony Hollands Funerals QLD PGA Trainee Championship.

Starting the day two clear of Brayden Petersen, the Victoria Park PGA Trainee Professional got off to a steady start with birdies on his third and ninth holes and found himself leading by four shots at the turn.

A bogey on the 11^th, however, was only a slight stumble before making birdies on the 12^th, 13^th, and 15^th holes. Despite a soft bogey on the par 3 16^th, a final hole birdie was enough to record a four-shot victory over Victorian Frazer Droop who carded a great final round of 5-under 67.

“Yesterday I couldn’t believe my name was on top of the leaderboard though I gradually got used to it and in general felt pretty calm and composed for most of the day,” said Eccleston.

“I drove it really well in the closing holes and never really gave the chasers a chance to get a look in which took the pressure off down the stretch.

“I feel like my game peaked at the perfect time. My preparation was great going into this week and the support I received from my employer Tim Porter and all of the team at Victoria Park Golf Complex has been very humbling.”

In addition to the lion’s share of the $35,000 in prize money, Eccleston also receives an exemption into the 2019 Coca-Cola QLD PGA Championship and reflected on what that meant.

“Opportunities to mix it with the country’s most seasoned professionals not only provides a great experience, it allows me to see where my game is at in order to ensure I am ready when I finish my PGA Traineeship at the end of 2019.”

For Droop it was a second consecutive runner-up finish at the championship though he is pleased with where his game is at for this time of year.

"Winning the Victorian Trainee Championship a few weeks ago and now runner-up here this week is really confidence boosting,” said Droop.

“I played really solid today and if a couple more putts had dropped who knows what kind of pressure I could have put on Cooper though he was extremely solid today, and deserves all the accolades.”

The PGA Trainee Professionals were extremely pleased to have been able to play on one of South East QLD’s best golfing facilities, Indooroopilly Golf Club, and much discussion was had about the unique concept of playing on four different layouts during the tournament.

“There is no doubt playing on four different layouts brings some challenges with preparation though it certainly allows the cream to rise to the top,” said 2017 Australia PGA Trainee of the Year, Ben Pisani.

“We are all very appreciative of the Indooroopilly Members giving up their golf courses during the week and given I started my Traineeship here before moving south, their amazing commitment via volunteering and general interest in the tournament, does not surprise me."

PGA Trainees will now return to their respective states to resume regular PGA Trainee events and ongoing education requirements before reconvening at Riverside Oaks Golf Club for the NSW/ACT PGA Trainee Championship in August.

In the second year of his PGA Traineeship, Cooper Eccleston will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Tony Hollands Funerals QLD PGA Trainee Championship after shooting 69 in today’s third round to be 5-under par for the tournament.

Eccleston who is conducting his PGA Traineeship at Victoria Park Golf Complex has had three wins already this year in PGA Trainee tournaments in addition to winning the QLD Trainee Order of Merit Championship in 2017. However the 19-year-old finds himself in unfamiliar territory heading into tomorrow’s final round.

“I have never lead in a four-round tournament before and am pretty excited for what tomorrow might bring,” said Eccleston.

“Going through nine holes today I saw my name at the top of the leaderboard, it is a pretty cool feeling and hopefully I can keep it there tomorrow.

“I was a little nervous going into today given I was a total of 5-over par earlier this week for the two nines we were playing, though other than a soft bogey on my ninth hole, I was really pleased with the way I played.

“The key so far this week has been my preparation. I have been working really hard with my coach Peter Heiniger and experimenting with what phase of my practice I would be in leading into the tournament and when combined with having four practice rounds over the last month, I feel I have prepared as good as I could for what is one of the most important weeks of the year for me."

Eccleston won’t have it all his own way though with a battle of the states looming with New South Welshman Brayden Petersen firing three consecutive rounds of 71 to be just two back. A further three shots back is last year’s runner-up Frazer Droop, the Victorian is certainly thinking he can make a late charge in the final round.

“I struggled last year on the red nine during the final round and given today is the last time we will play it for the week, I feel if I can put some pressure on early, anything can happen,” said Droop.

In a unique concept, the PGA Trainees will play their fourth consecutive different rotation at Indooroopilly Golf Club. The PGA Trainees will play the ‘River Course’ layout tomorrow with the leading group due to tee off at 11:12am.

Starting the day two shots behind, PGA Trainee professional Gavin Fairfax from Redland Bay Golf Club took the outright lead heading into the final two rounds of the Tony Hollands Funerals QLD PGA Trainee Championship after consecutive rounds of 2-under 70.

Fairfax, who returned to QLD earlier this year after conducting the first year of his PGA Traineeship in Victoria, had high expectations this week and will take a two-shot lead heading to round three.

“At the start of the week I thought 9 to 10-under was going to be about the mark so hopefully I can put another good one together tomorrow and give myself a chance come Thursday,” said Fairfax.

“I have played Indooroopilly a fair bit given I went to school at Kelvin Grove State College and we trained here so I feel pretty comfortable standing on most tee shots.

“My longtime coach Richard Harris is also based here at Indooroopilly and I think when you are familiar with your surroundings it definitely helps to keep your emotions in check during these big events.

“I have PGA Professional Tom Callender on the bag this week so it has been good to keep things light on the course whilst having someone else to bounce decisions off during the round."

Overnight leader Angus Porter continued where he left off making a birdie on the first hole today though two bogies on the front-9 and a double bogey on his final hole saw him card 75 and still well in the mix heading into the final two rounds.

Round of the day however went to Dean Jamieson shooting 4-under 68 in challenging conditions. Jamieson, who is based at Hills Golf Club south-west of Brisbane is currently leading the QLD PGA Trainee Order of Merit with five tournament wins already in 2018.

“I played really nice today and given the red nine at Indooroopilly Golf Club is certainly one of the more challenging layouts we will play all year, I am really happy to be there or thereabouts with a couple of rounds to play,” said Jamieson.

With the top-50 players plus ties making the final two rounds, the cut was made at 10-over par.

Playing their third different rotation in as many days, the PGA Trainees will play the ‘Long Pocket’ layout at Indooroopilly Golf Club today

Angus Porter has taken the first round lead at the Tony Hollands Funerals QLD PGA Trainee Championship at Indooroopilly Golf Club after an opening round of 4 under 68.

Porter, who is the PGA Trainee Professional at Carbrook Golf Club in Brisbane’s south, opened his championship with birdies on his first and fourth holes before a double bogey on the fifth and a bogey on the eighth had him turn in 1-over par.

Normally busy coaching students from Kimberly College, due to his playing commitments Porter couldn’t conduct his coaching this week though the school decided to send the 30 students to the tournament to watch their coach in action.

Arriving as Porter played the 10^th hole, the students must have been a good luck charm helping him reel off three straight birdies on the back-9 and when combined with birdies on the 15^th and 18^th holes, got off to the kind of start he was looking for in the championship.

“It was great to see the students out there today and they were a great support on the back-9 when I finally started to get it going,” said Porter.

“I had 24 putts today and only missed one putt inside 15 feet so I walk off the course today knowing I didn’t really leave any out there."

Porter won’t have it all his own way though with 19 players within four shots of the lead including Charles Wright who is in outright second position at 3-under par. The Arundel Hills Country Club PGA Trainee was content with his start to the tournament.

“I played pretty solid today and apart from a couple of soft bogies on par-3’s, the signs are definitely good for the rest of the week,” said Wright.

Also in the mix is last year’s runner-up Frazer Droop who carded a round of 70 along-side five others including one of the pre-tournament favourites Gavin Fairfax.

Indooroopilly Golf Club will certainly show it’s diversity this week with the state’s premier 36 hole facility configured to ensure the PGA Trainees will play four different combinations over each round of the tournament.

With $35,000 in prizemoney and an exemption into the 2019 Coca-Cola QLD PGA Championship up for grabs, there is still plenty of golf to be played by the record number of PGA Trainees competing this week.

Round two begins tomorrow morning playing with the PGA Trainees playing the West Course, Angus Porter will tee off at 10:54am.