Gavin Flint takes honours at Australasian Q-School Final

BY Bruce Young | Australasian PGA Tour | 2004 Australasian PGA Tour Q-School - Final Stage | Wrap | 17 Dec 2004

The 2005 Australasian PGA Tour School was completed today at the Peninsula Golf Club in Victoria with Queenslander Gavin Flint taking the medallist honours.

Flint, one of this country’s outstanding amateurs in recent years and who turned professional just prior to heading for the USPGA Tour School stage in late October, has played three events as a professional since. He successfully made the cut at the Toyota Queensland PGA Championship, the NSW Open and the PGA Championship. He briefly held the lead on day one at the PGA Championship at the Hyatt Regency Coolum before a double bogey at his last hole on that day saw him fall back.

Flint’s final round of 65 today saw him edge out New South Welshman Darren Beck, who finished on the same seventy two hole total (12 under 276) as Flint. They had the race for top honours to themselves with a gap of seven shots back to NSW golfer, Neven Basic, in third and another back to Andrew McKenzie from the ACT in 4th. Luke Hickmott from Victoria was 5th with Henry Perks from South Australia in 6th place.

There was much interest further down the list with Davis Cup tennis player Scott Draper securing a card after closing the day in 12th place. 2003 US Amateur Champion Nick Flanagan, who has struggled since making the decision to turn professional after this year’s British Open, finished 21st.

The top 35 and ties (37 in total) now have playing rights on the Australasian PGA Tour if and when they can secure starts but perhaps more realistically for most it will be the Von Nida Tour where they can expect starts. With all the events in the New Year on the Australasian Tour co-sanctioned with either the European (Heineken and New Zealand Open) or Nationwide Tours (Jacob’s Creek and New Zealand PGA), those who have finished outside the top five or six will struggle to get starts in those events.

The first Von Nida Tour event the Mitsubishi Victorian Open starts at the Woodlands Golf Club on Jan 28th 2005.

Photo – Anthony Powter