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February 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au THE FIRST TEE 5 Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. Gary Player did. OUR page seven profile on a 89-year-old Gary Player has prompted this editorial, however at the same time, it is somewhat common when someone meets one of their idols, sporting or otherwise, when it doesn’t always work out how they may have hoped. An old Tour colleague of mine, big cricket fan, once partnered an Australian player of note at a pro-am event. The cricketer, now deceased (and it’s not Shane Warne) spent his day in full competition mode, trying to ‘beat the pro’ when they weren’t even playing for the same prize. He was less than engaging and the experience ruined his perceptions of his sporting hero. I’ve worked in rugby league for a long time, and while the majority of players are knock about types and engaging with the fans when away from the spotlight, there were a few who weren’t quite what their public profile would have you believe. As for those golfing and sporting stars I looked up to as a young and impressionable youngster, a couple I was fortunate enough to come into contact later in life, I found engaging and personable. Others not so much. An experience of playing with Tom Watson at an Australian Masters was something I’ll never forget. I was on ‘Team Tom’ when he was coming down the stretch against Jack Nicklaus at Pebble Beach, before holing that chip shot at 17 to win the 1982 US Open. As a youngster I was up late at night to see him beat Jack again in that legendary Open Championship shootout at Turnberry in 1977. Paired up just days after the birth of my second son, Tom had done the research, found out who I was, including the fact that I had a brand new, three-day old son, and upon introducing himself - as if I didn’t know who he was – he congratulated me on the first tee. As the saying goes, from whatever that movie was, from there he ‘had me at hello’. Despite not having his best day on the course, Tom was nothing but a gentleman. In my days playing through Asia, often international stars would be attracted to the events with generous amounts of appearance money. I played either in competition or practice with a couple of major champions, with a European Order of Merit winner, and while I get it, on the course in a competitive environment the best of the best do put the game-face on, it costs nothing to be polite and respectful. Without naming names, that wasn’t always the case. Following a good week in Dubai back in the late ‘90s, after which you tend to meet the right people, and I was upgraded to first class for a flight to London. I turned left, proceeded to seat 2B and in 2A was Fred Couples. I’d watched Fred win the Masters, loved that sweet swing, from afar he appeared to be a ripper bloke and over the next five-six hours I was looking forward to hearing his golfing tales and words of wisdom. As I’d finished third in the tournament which wound up just a few hours before, Fred fourth, he had to know who I was. While I’ve since given him the benefit of the doubt, he was probably a little weary after four days in the desert heat, probably bunkering down with a flight that was likely to continue long after arriving in London, he buried his head in a book, caught a little sleep and all I got was a nod of hello on sitting down, a goodbye and good luck after landing. I’m sure he is a lovely fella, maybe I just got him at the wrong time. Then there was Gary Player. In this February issue David Newbery details a meeting with Player and has penned an editorial on how he continues to embrace and enjoy life at almost 90 years of age. The story brought back fond memories of a chance meeting with the great South African. Early in the week of a tournament at The Vines in Perth, regular practice partner Steve Conran and I played the front nine and were wandering over to the 10th, when this little old bloke in black walked over and asked whether there was a chance of him joining us. We accepted very quickly. While probably in his late 60’s, his game wasn’t quite where it was when he was winning his nine majors, more than 150 tournaments around the world or his seven Australian Opens, but as they say, class is permanent. He talked, told a few tales, I can’t really recall but probably shamed the both of us in showing off his abs, at the same time boasting how many sit-ups he does every day, and he was brilliant company for two- and a-bit hours. On occasion they don’t, but sometimes your sporting heroes deliver. Gary Player certainly did. 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Combined print and online national monthly readership over 210,000. AUSTRALIA’S MOST-READ GOLF MAGAZINE www.insidegolf.com.au Cover photo: Hideki Matsuyama, pic courtesy PGA TOUR/Getty Images. Inset: Gary Player. Get in touch If you have an opinion on this or any other topic in the magazine, send your letter to the editor to rob@insidegolf. com.au and you’ll be in the running to win a gripping prize. Rob Willis rob@insidegolf.com.au • Daily grade prizes plus overall prizes • Complimentary tee gift valued at $200 • Complimentary lunch 2 x Snack packs & 2 x Seated lunches • Complimentary carts at all 4 courses Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday • 4 days of golf at Maroochy River, Palmer Coolum, Pelican Waters & Twin Waters SUNSHINE COAST CLASSIC $795 PER PERSON ESCAPE... Escape... and play in the Sunshine Coast Classic, held at 4 premium golf courses located within one of Australia’s best holiday destinations! 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dominated by younger players, many of whom are approaching or just turning 50. The result guaranteed Brosnan’s Legends Tour status into his 80th year and that his remarkable career will continue. February 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au 6 INSIDE NEWS IN THIS ISSUE AMATEUR GOLF 21 INDUSTRY NEWS 24 CLUB NEWS CELEBRITY SWINGER GOLD COAST EVENTS 34 32 46 PRO NEWS 7 SPECIAL FEATURE 22 BUNKER-TOBUNKER 45 LETTERS 44 64 Matsuyama the King of Kapalua JAPANESE star Hideki Matsuyama savaged par at the season opening The Sentry event, shooting a record score en-route to a threeshot victory. With the trade winds staying away and the course at the mercy of the 59-man field, Matsuyama shot rounds of 65-65-62-65 around the par 73 Plantation course, with his 35-under par total bettering the lowest ever score on the PGA TOUR in relation to par. It was the 11th PGA Tour win for the 2021 US Masters champion and also the second on the Hawaiian Islands for the 32-year-old who won the Sony Open at a Waialae Country Club in 2022. Matsuyama moved up to fifth on the Official World Golf Rankings with the victory, which was worth US$3,600,000. Collin Morikawa was second at The Sentry on 32-under par, Sungjae Im third, three shots further back, while of the Australians Cam Davis was 13th (22-under), Adam Scott 15th (21-under) and Jason Day tied for 40th (14-under). “That last putt, it felt like if I make it, it’ll give me the record. I’m so happy that it went in,” Matsuyama said in surpassing the previous record of 34-under set by Australian Cam Smith in the same event in 2022. “Yeah, excuse my language, but f--., 35-under par, that’s low,” runner-up Morikawa said. In an incredible week of scoring, every player in the Sentry field who completed the event (American Davis Riley withdrew during the final round) shot under par for the week, former Open Championship winner Brian Harman bringing up the rear on threeunder, while 25 players shot 20-under or better.. Matsuyama Career Notes • It was his 11th PGA TOUR victory in his 265th start at the age of 32 years, 10 months, 11 days • He extended his lead for most wins by an Asian player on the PGA TOUR: Hideki Matsuyama (11, Japan), K.J. Choi (8, South Korea) • With wins at the 2022 Sony Open and 2025 Sentry, becomes the seventh player to win both Hawaii Jiyai to play Vic Open events. Cameron Smith (2020 Sony, 2022 Sentry) is one of the seven to have won the Hawaiian double. • Collects 700 points and moves to No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings after finishing the 2024 season No. 9. Matsuyama currently has 11 consecutive finishes inside the top 50 in the FedEx Cup, the longest active streak on the PGA TOUR. • Moves to No. 5 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Has a career high World Ranking of No. 2 (2017). • Is 5-for-8 in converting the 54-hole lead/colead to victory. • 257 equals his lowest 72-hole total on TOUR (257; 2022 Sony Open in Hawaii/Won). • Bogey on the par-four seventh during the final round snapped a personal-best streak of 47 consecutive bogey-free holes. INSIDE NEWS FORMER world No.1 and reigning Australian Open champ Jiyai Shin will look to complete a rare Summer of Golf double after confirming her entry at the 2025 Vic Open to be played at the 13th Beach Golf Links. A former Vic Open champion, the star Korean will be aiming to go back-to-back in Victoria after securing December’s ISPS HANDA Women’s Australian Open title at Kingston Heath. Shin’s victory at the Australian Open was the 65th of her celebrated professional career which has been highlighted by two major championships. The Vic Open women’s field will include defending champion Ashley Lau, LPGA Tour star Jenny Shin and a quality contingent of locally based players from the WPGA Tour of Australasia. Shin has made the trip to Victoria a regular part her golfing year, not only competing at the Vic Open but also taking part in a training camp to get ready for the season ahead. The Vic Open, which sees men and women compete for equal prizemoney on the same courses, at the same time but for different titles, will be played on February 6-9 at 13th Beach on the Bellarine Peninsula for a 12th year. Rob Hurley – General Manager, 13th Beach said: “Having Jiyai return just a few weeks after her Australian Open victory is a big boost for the women’s event and the men’s field has the best of the rising talent on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.” News, views and observations from around the golfing world Cam’s costly mistake CAM Davis enjoyed a strong 2025 debut at the US PGA Tour’s season opening Sentry tournament in Hawaii, however it could have been even better. Davis shot a 22-under par total in finishing tied for 13th, however a two-shot penalty on the 15th hole during the final round would ultimately prove very costly for the young Australian. Just short of the par five in two, playing partner Will Zalatoris pitched his third onto the green, before Davis followed suit in hitting his approach towards the pin, setting up what seemed to be a birdie opportunity. However, to the despair of both Davis and Zalatoris, once arriving at the green it was discovered they had played each other’s ball, obviously the wrong ball, with penalties imposed. Zalatoris and Davis had to return to the spot where they hit the incorrect golf balls and play from the correct spot. Both players were hitting their fifth shots after the penalties and made double bogies on the par five hole. On a bunched leaderboard and in still shooting a final round of 69, Davis would collect US$410,000 for his efforts. Two shots better and he would have tied for fifth, with a payday in excess of US$700,000, not to mention the valuable FedEx Cup points that go with it as players scramble to qualify for the seasonending Tour Championship. Going forward the chances are the markings on Davis’s golf balls will be easily identified and there won’t be a repeat. With Inside Golf Editor Rob Willis rob@insidegolf.com.au Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama set a PGA TOUR record with his 35-under par total in winning the Sentry at Kapalua in Hawaii. Cameron Davis enjoyed a strong start to his 2025 PGA TOUR season at The Sentry event, but it could have been even better. Brosnan’s stunning 69 shows that age is no barrier SENIOR professionals defying the advancing years is usually reserved for Bernhard Langer and the amazing results the German star is producing on the PGA TOUR Champions in the US. However, as good as some of his scores were in 2024, not even Langer can boast a tournament round 10 shots better than his age. Playing in the Australian PGA Legends Tour Qualifying School, PGA life member and Queensland golf industry icon Dennis Brosnan managed to do just that. Now 79, Brosnan shot a two-under par score of 69 at the Murwillumbah Golf Club course, with his round including seven-birdies. When added to his first day score of 76, Brosnan would finish the event in sixth place against a field PGA Life Member and Queensland golfing industry icon Denis Brosnan, age the age of 79, shot a remarkable 69 in the Legends Tour qualifying school. 62 NEW GEAR INSTRUCTION NSW SOUTH COAST FEATURE 55 TRAVEL 51 DEMO DAYS 65 GOLF DIRECTORY 68 19TH HOLE 66
February 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 7 “I go to the gym and still push 300 pounds (136kgs) with my legs and I run the treadmill at maximum speed, lift heavy weights and I do hundreds and hundreds of sit-ups. “It such a great feeling to get to nearly 90 and have great vitality and energy. It’s such a thrill because most people my age are dead.” Player says when he goes out to hit golf balls or play golf he skips going to the gym. “I don’t go to the gym every day because I hit golf balls,” he said. “You take a full swing with the driver and it’s a massive exercise and walking the course means you are exercising.” Gary Player shares his secret to longevity OKAY senior and veteran golfers, what’s your plan to remain healthy so that you can extend your golfing careers into your 80s or 90s? One man who knows something about longevity is 89-year-old Gary Player, who in a long career has racked up 159 professional tournament victories including nine majors and seven Australian Opens. Perhaps we aging golfers can take a leaf out of Player’s play book. The South African continues to follow a strict workout regimen and watches his diet. “Most people are dead at my age,” he told Biznews.com. “You know, really think about what the odds are living to my age. Not much in your favour.” So, what is Player’s secret to longevity? Eat less, exercise, sleep, laugh (a lot), read to keep your mind sharp, learn to speak, build your vocabulary, have many friends and have love in your heart. I played a round of golf with Player at Sun City some years ago and in his wallet is a list of 10 must-do things he relies on to extend his years on the planet. Effectively, it’s his bible. “I like to study and read and I have travelled the world – to India, Singapore, China and America and other places – searching for longevity because I love life, I love people, love travelling and I love my work. David Newbery david@insidegolf.com.au “So, I’m trying to reach 100,” he said. “The conclusion was meeting people who work on longer lifespans and they gave me 10 things to work on. “One of the most important things to do is wake up and have an ice bath. I get into this ice bath which takes away inflammation and rejuvenates the cells. “I sleep nine hours a night unless I have an appointment early the next morning. “The other important thing is people must undereat. Two meals a day is ideal. Having big dinners is not healthy. “A man in India said, ‘Gary, you don’t put petrol in the car when you park it in the garage at night’. “And there is a great message in that, but people have these big dinners at night, go to bed on a full stomach and they put on weight. “And once you put on weight you are starting to die. Your heart has to pump more and it affects your whole system and the body cannot work in the morning as it should do so undereating is important. “I don’t tell people what to eat, but I don’t touch bacon, I try to eat as little bread as possible, I don’t drink milk – I might have a little in one cup of coffee a day – and I drink a lot of water and take vitamins. “You have got to learn and study what keeps you alive and keeps you Gary Player keeps on keeping on as he takes aim at a century. going because there is nothing worse than getting sick and to live in pain is a terrible thing.” Player says regular laughter is also important. “I laugh all day because laughter is the best medicine,” he says. “Look at the discrepancy in laughing or being miserable. It’s enormous. “I read a lot and I have friends and that’s important so I do these 10 things every single day. So, to live to 100 you have to work at it. “Everybody thinks it’s luck – luck is the residue of design. So, I work at it very hard and do it with great enthusiasm. Inside Golf Editor-at-Large David Newbery enjoyed a round with the great Gary Player at Sun City in South Africa.
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February 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 10 Stolz targets 2025 as the year to make his mark IF you thought playing 58 events across the country in a single year, as well as tournaments in New Zealand, Fiji and the United States, was tough enough for a 54-yearold with a dicky wrist and bad feet, just wait until you hear what Andre Stolz has planned for 2025. Stolz, who has been a champion player on the Australian Legends Tour for the past four years, is putting together a schedule that will see him trek back and forwards between Australia and the US, seeking starts on the PGA TOUR Champions circuit, while defending his status as our best over-50 golfer. And, if things work out, he might even make a trip to the United Kingdom in July to have a crack at the Senior British Open. Realising that his window of opportunity isn’t getting any wider, Stolz is throwing everything at making 2025 the year that his talent – and his ability to overcome adversity - is recognised throughout the world. “I’m going to back myself,” he said. “I’ll be blowing a lot of cash but I know what I’m doing and I know what I’ve got to do.” Stolz flew to the US in December and came frustratingly close to qualifying for the Champions Tour, finishing just one shot behind the five veterans who won the right to play on the world’s most lucrative over 50’s tour in 2025. He’s still agonising over missed putts in the first couple of rounds, divots in which his ball twice landed, leading to a double bogey on the final hole of his third round, and his failure to birdie the easy par-five 17th on the final day. “They say it’s the hardest tour to get onto,” Stolz said. “You’re playing for one of only five By Peter Owen spots and there’s a lot of very good golfers trying to get on. You really need everything to go your way.” Stolz’s tied sixth place earned him the right to play PGA Tour Champions Monday qualifying events in 2025 – a concession that was already his for being a winner on the PGA Tour (he claimed the 2004 Michelin Championship at Las Vegas) – and he’s going to take up the challenge. He’ll play on our Legends Tour until March, then fly to the US to tackle four qualifiers over a five-week period, before returning to Australia. Then he’ll be back to the US in May to contest the US Senior PGA, for which he’s already qualified by taking out his fourth Legends Tour Order of Merit title in 2024. He’ll then stick around and play a couple more Monday qualifiers. “They’re not easy,” Stolz stressed. “There are only three spots to be won and there will be 50 to 80 players trying for them – all of them very good players.” But Stolz knows he, too, is a very good golfer and, as he says, he’s backing himself to succeed. He’s considering a trip to Britain in mid-July to try to earn a spot in the Senior British Open, but acknowledges that playing in the UK brings with it additional challenges. Jones to join Aussies on PGA TOUR Champions AS reported in the January edition of Inside Golf, while Andre Stolz will attempt to earn starts through pre-qualifying events, in claiming one of five tour cards on offer Brendan Jones will enjoy full status in joining the Australian contingent competing on PGA TOUR Champions in 2025. Jones will play alongside the likes of Richard Green, Rod Pampling, Greg Chalmers, Mark Hensby, Stuart Appleby and Cameron Percey on the world’s richest over-50’s circuit. The 2025 Champions Tour was scheduled to begin at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai GC in Hawaii during January. Jones will be eligible to play when he turns 50 on March 3. Stolz suffers from plantar fasciitis – painful inflammation of a thick band of tissue that runs across the bottom of each foot – and finds it difficult to walk 18 holes. In Australia and the US, Stolz is allowed to ride in a cart, but not in the UK. Over the years he’s also been troubled by a wrist injury, which has twice forced him out of golf for lengthy periods, though he’s managed to overcome it in recent years by completely rebuilding his swing. Stolz won 14 times on the Legends Tour last year, including the Australian PGA Senior Championship in November. He’s still working out his schedule for the second half of the year. Andre Stolz, the winner of 14 events on the Legends Tour in 2024, including the Australian PGA Senior Championship, has set an ambitious playing schedule in 2025. MARCH 13TH – 16TH, 2025 COFFS HARBOUR GOLF CLUB WALK THE FAIRWAYS WITH SOME OF THE BEST PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR PLAYERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD SCAN THE QR CODE TO REGISTER FOR YOUR FREE SEASON PASS – VALID FOR ALL FOUR DAYS OF THE TOURNAMENT. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT WWW.AUSWOMENSCLASSIC.COM.AU
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February 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 12 Green adds the icing to Brown’s cake GEELONG’S PGA Professional Darrell Brown still pinches himself when he walks along the practice tee at the US Champions Tour. “I look one way and there’s Bernhard Langer, beside him Jose Maria Olazabal, over there Fred Couples and think ‘what am I doing with these guys, am i dreaming? All around me are legends of the game, some of them well into their 60’s and still all competitive beasts.” It isn’t a dream of course but the result of a chance meeting with veteran Australian professional, Richard Green at a national PGA championship at Royal Pines a few years ago. Michael Davis michael.davis@insidegolf.com.au “My good mate Philip Hodge, we had played on the Australian Tour together, was caddying for Peter Lonard, and I was up there for a look,” Darrell said Green was drawn to play with Lonard and “hit the ball sideways all day. He had a shocker.” “I had known Richard a bit because he was in the VIS as a youngster under Dale Lynch and I had worked with ‘Lynchy’ a bit, when I was on tour. “Anyway, after the round I asked him, ‘How long has it been like this?’.” Suffice to say, it had been happening for what seemed like ages. Darrell had played on the Australian Tour for close to a decade, winning a dozen pro-am’s along the way but never breaking through in a fourround tournament. He knew enough to know things were grim for Green. “He asked me if I could fix it, and I said I was very confident I could.” With the help of modern technology and lots of work with Darrell over almost four years, Green was ready to launch himself on the Champions Tour in the US in 2023. He won first stage qualifying by 11 and final stage by three and in two years on the lucrative tour has pocketed $5.5 million. Brown has enjoyed the ride and goes to the US three times a year to help Green fine tune his game. “Richard always had the game and at his best was very, very good and won a lot in Europe and Australia. The problem was that when his swing was off, he did not know how to get it back. At his best he was a good as anyone which he’s proving yet again.” Brown has been amazed by Green and says what has always separated professional Deyen Lawson and many elite youngsters. “Everyone has natural ability but these things filter the top players out from the pack. “I am still not sure if all the talented players I coach are fully aware of what I keep telling them about how hard you have to work to get there.” Brown says he’s been very lucky in the game and coaching Green has been the icing on the cake. “I was not that gifted. “I realised when I was young that I had to work very hard to get to the top level. I was not blessed with the natural ability that others had. “Now I see myself in a coaching sense as a bit like a Mick Malthouse or Allan Jeans in the AFL. As players they had to work very hard and that made them really good coaches. “I don’t know what else I would have done, though, without golf in my life. I gave it my best shot knocking around in a 1974 Toyota Corolla from one side of the country to another, chasing my dreams from tournament to tournament. “I’ve met some wonderful people along the way especially in regional Australia playing the pro am circuit who would happily billet you in their homes. I am still friends with many of them today.” Golf has been good to Darrell Brown and he has been good for the game. him and other from the pack is drive, resilience in coping with off-course setbacks, mental strength on course and keeping himself in peak physical shape. Other factors come into it like a fiercely competitive nature and a love of the game. “I still say this to a lot of the young kids I coach, including emerging Geelong teaching professional Darrell Brown. Richard Green enjoyed an outstanding 2024 season on the PGA TOUR Champions, with plenty of help from Darrell Brown. Elevate your game with the experts in golf. PGA Professional: Michael Cooney, Sandhurst Club
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February 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 14 Sandbelt win another turning point in Peake’s career IT was not the first time nor the most important occasion on which venerated WA coach Ritchie Smith has given 32-year-old Ryan Peake valuable advice. Winning the recent Sandbelt Invitational in Melbourne after beating David Micheluzzi in a playoff, the big-hitting left hander said Smith had told him prior to the event to ‘hang in there’ because things can turn quickly. But it was far from the most important advice Smith has given him. That came when his former protégé Peake was languishing in a WA prison after being sentenced on two counts of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm. “He reached out to me half way through my jail time and said, ‘what about giving golf another try?’ I hadn’t touched a club for seven or eight years and was thinking of an electrical apprenticeship while I was in jail. But Ritchie knew me as a youngster and convinced me to give golf another try,” Peake told IG in a frank interview when he joined the Australasian tour some time ago. His life had certainly been a roller-coaster. He had gone from being one of the WA’s Michael Davis michael.davis@insidegolf.com.au Celebrities and pro’s tee it up at the Portsea Pro am ORGANISERS could not have been happier with the success of the 2025 Peninsula Sotheby’s $40,000 Portsea Celebrity Pro Am. “This was the third year we have held the event after a 10-year hiatus and the tournament has continued to grow after a humble re-launch,“ Portsea GM, John Burbergs said. Despite the heat, a crowd of over 1000 locals and holiday makers turned out to see a strong pool of celebrity and professional talent led by leading pro David Micheluzzi and comedian Andy Lee. “They were treated on both fronts, especially with the winner of the pro event, Chris Wood shooting a superb 64. It was a great day for us as we continue to realise the club’s potential,” Burbergs added. He said having almost completed its irrigation upgrades, the club received great feedback from the pro golfers about the course and greens. “We are excited to see what Kyle Wilson (the club’s recently appointed course super) and his team will be able to present in the next 12 months and beyond.” Burbergs thanked the club’s sponsors and event experts, White Top. The event also raised Ryan ‘Peakes’ to claim Sandbelt title IN an event hosted by major champion Geoff Ogilvy and featuring Mike Clayton as Tournament Director, Ryan Peake became Sandbelt Invitational champion by defeating Victorian David Micheluzzi in a suddendeath playoff after the pair finished tied on three-under par in the event contested at Melbourne Sandbelt courses Royal Melbourne West, Woodlands, Yarra Yarra and Commonwealth. Peake forced his way into the playoff courtesy of a final round of five-under-par at Royal Melbourne. Coming off his outstanding season on the US Champions Tour, Richard Green finished in a tie for fourth, three shots behind the leading pair. In the Women’s professional section Caitlin Peirce came out on top, beating Karis Davidson by three shots, while talented youngster Amelia Harris edged out Shyla Singh as the leading women amateur. NSW junior Kayan Mudadana finished on top as leading men’s amateur while also finishing the week in sixth place overall. best amateurs as a teenager before becoming completely disillusioned with golf soon after turning professional. He admitted losing his way in life altogether. “I spiralled into depression, I was dealing with a lot going on in my personal life and got into some very anti-social behaviour.” Putting it bluntly, life had spun out of control. So much so that he joined an Outlaw Motorcycle (OMG) gang in Perth and ended up being sentenced to seven years on the two counts – one of them for assaulting a drug dealer. In 2014, out of jail but still on parole for two years, the WA Parole Board gave him permission to travel to what he calls “my first major.” It was the Australian Amateur Championship held at the Royal Queensland and Brisbane golf clubs. He qualified top 10 but was eventually was pipped 1-down in the match play section of the event – ironically by an emerging youngster, Elvis Smylie. “I turned pro again just after Covid hit and there were no tournaments. “I let golf slip again and went to work as a trade assistant in the mines up north, playing golf only occasionally.” Then, late in 2022, Peake turned his attention turned to full-time golf again. About this time an anonymous benefactor contacted Ryan and was willing to sponsor him. The details of the contract he has signed with the local business man are confidential. “But it is not about him making money. It is about me having a second chance and being given the opportunity again. I am very fortunate. He just wanted to be involved in something different,” Peake said in his interview with IG. Ryan is now a member of the PGA Tour of Australasia and thanks that body for letting him join in spite of his background. “You can’t escape from the past and sometimes it will put obstacles in my way still. I am just so grateful to be given another opportunity in life.” “ He said winning the Sandbelt Invitational at Royal Melbourne just before Christmas had given him a “bit of self-belief.” “I mean, you can only beat who you’re playing against, but I think just in an event like this, like I said, at the start of the week, I really just wanted to embrace the whole Sandbelt culture and just really enjoy being out here. “My coach, Ritchie Smith, said I’m pretty much in the same predicament as Elvis (Smylie). It was so close to switching (winning an event). You just don’t know when, and then Elvis just went bang, bang, bang … He told me after I missed cuts at the Open and PGA. He said, just hang in there. Because it (winning) is so close.” His coach was right (again) and this could be a turning point in Peake’s career as a golf professional. Ryan Peake (far right) was joined at the presentation by women’s amateur winner Amelia Harris, men’s amateur winner Kayan Mudadana, tournament host Geoff Ogilvy and women’s pro winner Caitlin Peirce. Ryan Peake celebrates his win in the Sandbelt Invitational. money for Breast Cancer Network Australia and the Sorrento CFA. The winner was looking to fine-tune his game for the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia series, with Wood’s form even surprising him a little. The Queenslander’s seven-under included six birdies and an eagle to edge out Victorian Andrew Kelly by a shot. Todd Sinnott, Brendan Smith and Darcy Brereton shared the third line after carding 67s – three behind the winner. “I generally have a bit more of a break and come out of the blocks pretty slowly in the New Year,” Wood said. “But I wanted to get the clubs in hand and put a bit of work in and the last couple of days have been nice.” Level with the best of the morning wave with a birdie on 16 and eagle at the par-5 third, Wood made his move around the turn. After a birdie four on the sixth, he reeled of four more from the eighth to 12th to be 8-under before his lone bogey of the day at the short par-three 12th “I got off to a bit of an adventurous start,” Wood said. “Teeing off on 16, I hit my tee shot straight into a divot and then hit the next shot about 10 or 15 metres. I then chipped in for birdie so it was sort of the golfing gods paying me back there.” AFL players, Carlton’s Jack Silvagni and Elijah Hollands, Essendon’s Sam Durham and former footy stars Isaac Smith and Robert ‘Dipper’ Dipierdomenico also hit the fairways at Portsea along with Celebrity hairdresser Joey Scandizzo and comedian Lee. The pros played for a $40,000 purse with $100,000 cash and a car on offer as hole-inone prizes on separate holes. The annual event began in 1976 and is popular socially with spectators particularly at the seventh – the ‘party’ hole The course entrance was lined with Pink Lady silhouettes for the day to symbolise the more than 20,000 Australians diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Melbourne sports journalist Sam McClure teeing off in the Portsea Pro-am. - Photo by Josh Delgorge Crowds of over 1000, including area locals and holiday makers enjoyed the action at the 2025 Portsea Pro am. - Photo by Josh Delgorge Michael Davis michael.davis@insidegolf.com.au
February 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 15 Queensland teen scores first pro win SHE may be just 16-years-old but there’s already a star beside her name. That star indicates a win after young Queenslander Godiva Kim showed maturity beyond her years at Bathurst Golf Club to win that provincial city’s 2025 Ford Women’s NSW Open Regional Qualifying Event. And despite her tender years, Kim had already caught the eye of the golfing world with a win earlier in 2024 in the NSW Amateur Championship. Still, this was her first professional win and Kim showed a liking for the Bathurst course, the original home of such seasoned former touring professionals as Peter O’Malley and Gavin Coles. Kim played some brilliant golf over the twoday event. She shot a four-under-par 68 in the first round and followed that with a three-under-par 69, finishing seven-under-par overall. Her final round included an impressive bogeyfree back nine with four birdies, putting her four shots ahead of the rest of the field. “I’m feeling pretty good,” grinned Kim postround. “I’m feeling pretty proud of myself that I held myself up all day.” And when quizzed about whether she had gone into the event expecting to win, she said: “Honestly, not really. Well, not until around halfway through the second nine. “But I think after that kicked in I think I held myself together pretty well. “I think even though the score wasn’t the same I played a bit better in the second round, considering I did make up for some mistakes that I made.” The highlight of her day came on the parthree 13th hole. “Definitely it was on one of the par threes,” she said. “It was on the 13th, I lobbed it in, so I was pretty proud of myself on that one. “ Kim also reserved some special praise for having her father on her bag as caddie. “He was much nicer than yesterday. So, yeah, I’d say he was pretty great today,” she grinned. Kim was excited at what the victory would bring, which was a start in this month’s 2025 Ford Women’s NSW Open at Wollongong Golf Club. “Looking ahead, I’m really excited for that one,” she said. “I have high hopes for that one. “I’m just really proud that I made it in,” she said. Also qualifying for the Ford Women’s NSW Open was Kathryn Norris from Western Australia, who secured second place on a countback. She finished tied with South Australia’s Caitlin Peirce, who qualified earlier at Narrabri, and fellow West Aussie Jess Whitting. Michael Court michael@insidegolf.com.au PROUD MOMENT: 16-year-old Godiva Kim was all smiles after her tremendous Bathurst win. Nikki’s sizzling 63 at Shelley Beach TWO-TIME European Ladies Tour winner Nikki Garrett doesn’t spend much time on the golf course these days. A former calendar girl for the Australian Ladies Pro Tour, Garrett is much busier looking after her two children, leaving not much time for practise. Yet the talent is still there as evidenced by her recent round in a stableford competition at her home course, Shelly Beach on the NSW Central Coast. The 41-year-old didn’t expect anything special when she teed it up in the club’s weekly competition – let alone shooting one of the rounds of her life. In her first competition game for almost 11 months, Garrett shot a personal best around Shelly Beach . . . a 12-under-par score of 63, which included an incredible three eagles, seven birdies and one solitary bogey. “Golf is a silly sport . . . maybe I need long spells between games,” she said. Garrett began her heroics right out of the blocks, starting birdie-birdie-eagle-par-birdie to re-ignite those competitive fires. Still her eagle on the par-four 17th was one the locals wanted to hear about. Measuring 305m from the women’s tee, Garrett later explained that her eagle was relatively simple. “I hit driver off the tee and finished one foot away, so I simply tapped it in for a two,” she said. “Pretty simple stuff.” For the record, Garrett finished with 42 stableford points – off her plus-six handicap – including eight three-pointers and a fourpointer on the 17th. No pressure in the run home, her last four holes were birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie. Garrett is best remembered for a momentous year in 2007 when she won back-to-back titles on the European Ladies Tour, winning the Tenerife Ladies Open and the Open de Espana Femenino in successive weeks. While she’s always been one of the best women players NSW has produced, she has also done her bit to promote the sport as well, appearing in a calendar for the ALPG several years ago which did a lot to help promote the women’s game. Michael Court michael@insidegolf.com.au Nikki Garrett showed that class is permanent with her 12-under par 63 at Shelly Beach.
February 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 16 the sport and inspiring the next generation of female athletes.” An immaculate 27-hole championship course in the idyllic surrounds of the Coffs Coast. Coffs Harbour Golf Club prides itself on “big city standards with friendly small-town charm.” Rain brought a premature halt to the 2024 tournament with WA’s Jess Whitting, Dane Nicole Broche Hestrup and Taiwan professional Peiying Tsai declared joint winners, with Frenchwoman Celine Boutier and Australian Steph Kyriacou amongst the past champions. The NSW Government supports the Australian Women’s Classic through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW, and the Department of Regional NSW. – DAVID TEASE, GOLF NSW Australian Women’s Classic returns to Coffs Harbour GET set for a spectacular showcase of women’s golf as one of Australia’s most prestigious championships returns to the national sporting stage in early 2025 at an exciting new home. The Australian Women’s Classic, after six years at the renowned Bonville Golf Resort, will now take place at the stunning Coffs Harbour Golf Club on the State’s mid-north coast from March 13-16. This picturesque location promises an unforgettable experience for players and fans alike, showcasing some of the finest talent in women’s golf against a backdrop of the delightful city of Coffs Harbour. Over 130 of the world’s best female golfers will battle it out, with a lucrative $500,000 prize purse up for grabs in an event co-sanctioned by the Women’s Professional Golf Association Tour of Australasia (WPGA) and the Ladies European Tour (LET). The Australian Women’s Classic also offers a golden opportunity for players, their families, and supporters to explore the beauty and charm of regional NSW. For those unable to attend in person, the event will be broadcast live, bringing excitement to fans across Australia and Europe. Golf NSW Chief Executive Officer, Stuart Fraser, expressed enthusiasm for the tournament’s new host venue on the NSW mid-north coast. “Golf NSW, with the support of the NSW Government, is thrilled to bring the Australian Women’s Classic to a fabulous venue like Coffs Harbour Golf Club,” Fraser said. “It will be exciting to watch some of the sport’s best female athletes from around the globe competing in regional NSW for one of Australia’s most prestigious championships,” he added. Karen Lunn, CEO of the WPGA Tour of Australasia, highlighted the exceptional opportunity for players to compete against world-class opposition on home soil. “Competing on some of NSW’s most esteemed regional courses is a game-changer for women’s golf in Australia,” Lunn remarked. “This level of competition and reward is instrumental in advancing West Aussies on top at the Webex Perth THE locals reigned supreme at the Webex Players Series Perth, with two Western Australians on top, while leading lady Kirsten Rudgeley was a close third, in an event hosted by Minjee and Min Woo Lee. In the end it came down to the all-West Australian play-off, with 25-year-old Jordan Doull outlasting Haydn Barron on the second extra hole to claim his maiden Australasian Tour title. The pair had tied on 17-under par at the Royal Fremantle Golf Club, one shot ahead of Rudgeley and Queenslander Anthony Quayle, with Doull’s birdie on the par-five 18th at the second play-off hole securing the victory. Flawless throughout the final round, Doull appeared to be cruising to the finishing line, before a three-putt bogey on the 72nd hole opened the door for Barron, who would birdie his final hole to force extra holes. The pair both made birdie at the first playoff hole, headed back to the 18th tee to do it all again, before Doull holed a birdie putt from 12feet to clinch a breakthrough tour title. A playoff loss to Jack Buchanan at the WA PGA Championship in October gave Doull, who was ably assisted by girlfriend and his caddy over the weekend Kathryn Norris, also a professional and joint runnerup at Webex Players Series South Australia, the confidence to get the job done this time around. “You dream about this kind of thing your whole life and for it to finally come to a head, you just let it all out. I think that’s mainly where it comes from,” an emotional Doull said immediately following his win. The Webex Junior Players Series Perth also required a playoff hole with Krishav Sheth edging out Kloden Brown, while Steve Alderson made it two on the trot with his 10-shot win in the Webex All Abilities Players Series. – ADDITIONAL REPORTING TONY WEBECK GOLF.COM.AU With girlfriend and fellow golf professional Kathryn Norris by his side, Jordan Doull captured his first Australasian Tour title with a win at the Webex Series Perth event - Photo: Cassandra Edwards/PGA of Australia The Coffs Harbour Golf Club course and clubhouse. – Photo Scott Campbell Joint Australian Women’s Classic winners in 2024 (L to R): Nicole Broche Hestrup, Jess Whitting, Peiying Tsai. FOLLOW US ON WWW.GOLFWORLD.COM.AU AND MUCH MORE! TaylorMade Cobra BEST PRICES ON THE LATEST GEAR
February 2025 www.insidegolf.com.au PRO NEWS 18 Young’s trophy cabinet doesn’t reflect his talent HE WAS Rookie of the Year in his first season on the PGA Tour, has earned more than $US16 million in prizemoney, is one of the few golfers to have shot 59 in competition, represented his country in a Presidents Cup and is estimated to be worth more than $US17 million. But you get the strong impression that Cameron Young would trade a good share of that if he could just win a tournament on the PGA Tour, where the 27-year-old American plies his trade almost exclusively. He owns one of the game’s most bitter-sweet accolades – the best golfer to have never won a tournament. Indeed, some say he might be the best player in history to have not won on the world’s premier golf tour. To be fair to the long-hitting New York native, Young has actually won a golf event or two – just not on the PGA Tour. In 2017 he became the first amateur to win the New York State Open, and the following year claimed the Westchester Open. Young, who was taught to play the game by his father David, a part-time professional and the director of golf at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in New York, turned pro in 2019 and, a year later, Monday-qualified into the Korn Ferry Tour’s Pinnacle Bank Championship in Omaha, Nebraska, finishing 11th. That gained him a start in the following week’s event, where he again performed well enough to play the next week. He gained enough points that season to secure special status on the Korn Ferry Tour and two wins there in 2021 saw him finish 19th on the Order of Merit, which By Peter Owen Close, but again no cigar CAMERON Young opened with a seven-under par round of 66 at the PGA TOUR’s seasonopening Sentry tournament, was there or thereabouts on the leaderboard for most of the week, but again he came up short in his quest for a first tour victory. Young shot a four-round total of 23-under around the par-73 Kapalua course, however such was the hot scoring throughout the week, the American could only finish in a tie for eighth, 12 shots behind winner Hideki Matsuyama who returned a record-breaking score. Interestingly, for a player recognised for the quality of his ball striking, Young relied on his short game in the PGA TOUR signature event, the stats ranking him first in strokes gained around the green, first in putts per green in regulation and third in feet of putts made for the week. Burns wins final event, but Stolz again the champ A CLOSING birdie on the final hole of the year’s final event earned Brad Burns victory in the rainshortened Queensland Senior PGA Championship played in December. Heavy rain forced officials to abandon the second round of the Maroochy River event, with Burns shooting five-under-par 67 on the opening day to finish one stroke clear of John Wade, Michael Wright and Adam Henwood with Peter Lonard (69) and Richard Gilkey (69) sharing fifth. Andre Stolz again claimed the tour’s Order of Merit in emphatic fashion with more than $129,000 in prize money. His performance matched Burns’ record of four consecutive Order of Merit titles, from 2017 to 2020. Meanwhile, a session in a hyperbaric chamber helped Adam Henwood complete a two-stroke win at the $30,000 Sunshine Coast Masters at Twin Waters a few days earlier. Battling a rib injury, Henwood resorted to a remedy commonly used by divers to overcome the effects of the bends. He found it so useful he intends to make the treatment a permanent part of his recovery. “I’m going to buy one as soon as I sell my house and put it in the truck I’m going to build,” said Henwood after his ninth win of the season from 63 starts. “I’ve spent some time in some and as soon as I head south, I’m going to spend two hours a day in one for about 20-30 days and see if I can get rid of this rib injury.” A three-stroke leader after day one, Henwood (65, 68) held off a late charge by two-time PGA Tour Champions winner Rod Pampling (69, 66) to complete a two-shot win with a two-round total of 11-under. Queenslander Brad Burns birdied the final hole to win the rain-shortened Queensland Senior PGA Championship. Murray Lott was third with rounds of 69 and 68. Earlier, Victorian John Wade brought a 15-month winless drought to an end with a three-stroke victory at the Legends Pro-Am at Headland. Wade, 56, who has twice played the British Open, went bogey-free in a round of six-under 66 – the best score recorded at Headland since its major redevelopment - three clear of fellow Victorian Roland Baglin (69) with six players sharing third at two-under. “The form’s been pretty ordinary,” said Wade, who received the Glenn Joyner Memorial Jug for his win. Wade was a close friend of Joyner, the highly-decorated PGA member who served as course marshal at Headland before he died of cancer in August 2023. – PETER OWEN earned him a PGA Tour card for the 2021-22 season. To say that he made an immediate impression would be an understatement. In his fifth start he was runner-up in the Sanderson Farms Championship, and in February 2022 tied for second in the Genesis Invitational. Three months later he was third in the PGA Championship at Southern Hills after taking a double-bogey from the bunker on the 16th hole and missing a playoff by a single stroke. Then came the Open at St Andrews, arguably Young’s finest achievement. He led with a first-round 64 and, on a gripping final day, shot 31 on the back nine, including an eagle two on the last. The trouble was that Cameron Smith shot 30, and beat him by a stroke. That made four runner-up finishes for the rookie – he was also second in the 2022 Well Fargo Championship – and he’d go on to be runner-up again in the Rocket Mortgage Classic in late 2022. Those performances, and his remarkable consistency, saw him make the US team in the 2022 Presidents Cup and win the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year award with 94 percent of the vote. In 2023 Young was runner-up in the Dell Technologies Matchplay Championship and finished seventh in the US Masters. Last year he shot 59 in the third round of the Travelers Championship – just the 13th time anybody has gone sub-60 in PGA Tour history – and was runner-up to Peter Malnati in the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort’s famous Copperhead course. That was his seventh runner-up finish on tour. And still no win. When asked after that event how he stays patient while chasing that elusive first victory, Young replied: “I haven’t really. I’ve definitely let it get to me at times.” But he went on: “I’m in a really nice place mentally and I’m just trying to hit each shot the best I can. I think I’m handling my own thoughts really well and, for me, that’s a big win regardless of the outcome.” One man who knows what it’s like to struggle for a first victory is veteran David Duvall who, nearly three decades ago, was a seventime runner-up before claiming his first PGA Tour win at the end of his third season. He then went on to win 13 times over his next 79 starts, including the 2001 Open. “Once you realise as a player that you’re doing everything you can and you don’t have to do anything different, it opens up the gates,” Duval said. “You feel like you have to win. But really you’ve just got to play.” That’s sound advice for a young man who is saddling up for his fourth year on tour, already with an imposing record, but with the weight of expectations growing heavier with each event. Not that it’s causing him any financial pressure. He’s averaging prizemoney of about $US4 million a year, and has sponsorship deals with Nike, Titleist, Gillette, Optus and the Seattle Seahawks, and an exclusive sponsorship agreement with Major League Basketball. Together his endorsements bring him at least as much as the prizemoney he earns. Young is ranked in the world’s top 40 professionals with a career high in the mid-20s. He’s not doing much wrong. His scoring average in all of those runnerup finishes is just below 68. And, though he’s made the odd mistake in the last few holes at times, there’s no question of him being a choker. He’s just not winning. But his turn will certainly come. Perhaps as early as this year. And you can’t help but think it might just open the floodgates. Cameron Young is still looking for his first win on the US PGA TOUR. - Photo USGA
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