Wilson times two - PGA of Australia

Wilson times two


The flamboyant Jack Wilson’s return to form continued with his second win on the 2017 Ladbrokes PGA Pro-Am Series whilst Peter Wilson’s push for the National Pro-Am Order of Merit title is another step closer with his sixth win of the season as the two tied for the honours at the SBI Pro-Am.

The flamboyant Jack Wilson’s return to form continued with his second win on the 2017 Ladbrokes PGA Pro-Am Series whilst Peter Wilson’s push for the National Pro-Am Order of Merit title is another step closer with his sixth win of the season as the two tied for the honours at the SBI Pro-Am.

""In a week where the Greg Norman designed course and the master planned community of Settlers Run Golf and Country Club celebrated its 10th anniversary, leading PGA Professionals joined sponsors for their first Pro-Am.

Overcast and drizzly conditions held on throughout the morning field. Despite the rain taking the sting out of the greens scoring was tough. With the recent spell of warm weather the rough was well and truly up and causing problems for anything wide of the fairway.

ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia veteran David Diaz recovered from a slow start and found his groove on the back-9 to finish at 1-over the card 73. Brighton Golf Course’s Zac Morwood soon went one better.

In a round that included three bogey’s, a double and five birdies Morwood soon took the lead on 1-under 71. He was soon joined by the big hitting Andrew Schonewille after he birdie his last hole, the 15th leaving them both tied for the clubhouse lead at the end of the morning’s play.

The early morning breeze dropped and the rain that had dogged the morning players disappeared as the afternoon field got going.

Ashley Hall resumed pro-am duties fresh off a start in the WGC HSBC Champions event in China last week. However Hall’s day didn’t start as planned.

A lost ball on the 1st resulted in a double bogey; this was followed by a bogey on the Par 3 second to see him 3-over through the first two holes. Hall rallied with birdies on 5, 8, 9, 12, 16 and 17 to finish the day on 2-under par 70.

Mitchell Brown soon joined him at 2-under after an outward nine of 34. Brown couldn’t take advantage of some of the shorter Par 4’s on the back nine and finished at 2-under 70.

Josh Younger soon went one better, two solid nines of 1-under and 2-under which included only one bogey saw him move to the lead on 3-under 69.

Ryan Lynch continued his good run from last week’s Isuzu Queensland Open with a blistering 4-under 32 on the front nine. Steady golf coming in saw him finish on 4-under and move a shot clear of the field.

Six birdies and only one bogey saw Peter Wilson then take the lead on 5-under 67. Wilson who now has jumped ahead of Matthew Millar on the National Pro-Am Order of Merit into first place credits much of today round to a local.

“I hadn’t played here for a long time and I had a 15 year member on the bag today telling me where to hit it so that was pretty handy,” Wilson said.

Whilst winning taking out the National Pro-Am Order of Merit can’t be understated, Peter’s focus is now on the next stage of the lucrative Japanese Golf Tour before returning to play the Emirates Australian Open in Sydney at the end of the month.

“I’ve got Japan Q School next week and then NSW Open, Aussie Open and then hopefully back to Japan for final stage but it’s always good to be able to drive just 40 minutes down the road and play a Pro-Am like this”

Wilson, of the Peter variety, might have thought he’d done enough to claim the win on his own but Wilson of the Jack variety had other ideas. His round also featured six birdies and a bogey and he soon tied Peter for the lead at 5-under.

This is Jack’s second Pro-Am victory of the season coming after a win at the Border Open in September and couldn’t have come at better time post a recent trip to Las Vegas.

“It’s nice to make a cheque, this will certainly help pay down the credit card from Vegas,” Wilson said.

Jack’s focus remains the three events left on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia schedule culminating in the Australian PGA Championship at RACV Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast in November.

“If I can play well in these last three events and finish high enough up the Order of Merit I can hopefully skip a few stages of Q School’s next year and I’ll look to go to Asian Tour Q School early next year on the back on the Aussie Tour finish."

The Ladbrokes PGA Pro-Am series moves to Box Hill Golf Club on Friday for the annual Gorilla Ladder Box Hill Pro-Am where no doubt the Wilson’s will be somewhere close to the top of the leaderboard.


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